An Instruction for the 24th Sunday After Pentecost

At the Liturgy today was read the Gospel of Saint Luke concerning Jesus Christ’s raising of the dead daughter of Jairus, a ruler of the Jewish synagogue, and the healing of the woman with an issue of blood through a single touch of the hem of Jesus’ garment. Let us repeat this Gospel for better remembrance and for the drawing of instruction from it. «There came to Jesus Christ a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue; and falling at Jesus’ feet, he begged Him to come into his house, because he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. And as He went, the people pressed upon Him. And a woman who had suffered a flow of blood for twelve years, and had spent all her substance on physicians and could be healed by none, came up behind and touched the hem of His garment; and at once the flow of her blood stopped. And Jesus said: who touched Me? And when all denied it, Peter and those with Him said: Master! the people surround You and press upon You—and You say: who touched Me? But Jesus said: someone touched Me, for I felt power going out from Me. The woman, seeing that she was not hidden, came trembling and, falling down before Him, declared to Him before all the people for what cause she had touched Him and how she was at once healed. He said to her: take heart, daughter! your faith has saved you; go in peace. While He was still speaking, someone comes from the house of the ruler of the synagogue and says to him: your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher. But Jesus, hearing this, said to him: do not fear, only believe, and she will be saved. And coming into the house, He allowed no one to enter except Peter, John, and James, and the father of the maiden, and the mother. All were weeping and lamenting her. But He said: do not weep; she has not died, but sleeps. And they laughed at Him, knowing that she had died. But He, having sent them all out and taken her by the hand, called out: maiden! arise. And her spirit returned; she arose at once, and He commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were amazed. But He charged them to tell no one what had happened» (Lk 8:41-56). This is the whole Gospel read today.

Let us bless happy Jairus, who saw his own dead daughter once more; let us congratulate, too, the woman who had suffered from her own ailment for twelve years and had despaired entirely of any help from earthly physicians, and who was healed by a single touch of the garment of the divine Wonderworker. Let us bless both of them for their great faith in Jesus Christ, for it was only through faith in Him that both of them received the greatest, most wondrous help and mercy. Do not fear, only believe—the Savior said to the ruler of the synagogue—and your daughter will be saved; take heart, daughter! your faith has saved you—the Lord told the woman who was healed. But let us ourselves also become imitators of their faith; even now, each of us, according to our own soul’s and body’s need and want, receives from the Lord, by the prayer of faith, the granting of a beneficial request: for the Lord even now abides with us continually—invisibly, by His divine omnipresence, by His grace and power, and visibly, in the Holy Mysteries of His own Body and Blood. «Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age» (Mt 28:20), He Himself says. «Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever» (Hebr 13:8). Behold, the Lord is with us now, in this holy temple, and receives our prayers, our repentance, our praise and thanksgiving, and shows us His mercy—deliverance from sins and sorrows—enlightens, cleanses, sanctifies, comforts all who pray here with sincere faith and take refuge in Him. Here, in the temple, we too can, in a special way, touch Him with our heart, by our own faith, just as that woman once did, who suffered from the ailment mentioned. Behold, I touch His holy altar: and, a wondrous thing! I at once sense a life-giving, saving power going out from Him who sits invisibly upon the throne; I am healed of every invisible wound of the serpents, delivered from every sorrow, from every anguish of sin, and I receive peace, freedom, boldness, strength of soul. He is there, my Lord and my God. There is no need to bring Him down from heaven, for He came down once from heaven for us men and for our salvation, and is now always with us, though in the flesh He has ascended into heaven. What, then, follows from what has been said? All of you, touch the Lord with faith, as that healed woman did. All of us, from our youth, suffer from a festering discharge of manifold sins; all of us suffer from a flood of impure, cunning, blasphemous, evil, tempting thoughts and feelings—from this daily, devilish flood. Who, besides the Lord, can heal us of this corrupting, foul, sinful flow? What earthly physicians can cure these human ailments? No one, except the Lord and His grace. Touch Him, then, all of you, with faith, in heartfelt repentance: and you will see, will feel with soul and body, how you are healed at once. The Lord is an inexhaustible Fountain of mercy and healing. Let us only have faith—and we will always receive healing. Do not fear, only believe—and you will be saved. Let us learn simple and living faith in the Lord from the healed woman who touched the hem of the Lord’s garment. Many people followed Christ, so that they surrounded and pressed upon Him; many, no doubt, touched His garment; but this was a touch without faith, a mechanical touch, just as today some come to church and stand in it, as it were, mechanically, without heartfelt prayer or faith in the Lord present there. Only one woman touched Him with great faith—and snatched from the Lord His wonderworking power. Let us too, then, come to the house of prayer in such a way that we always, by faith, by repentance, by heartfelt prayer, snatch from the Lord healing for the sorrows and passions of soul and body, and the cleansing of our own countless transgressions; for the Lord looks with favor on such a snatching, by us, of His own grace. I thank You, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, that You grant me, who sin against You at every hour, to snatch from You, the Fountain of healings and the deep of mercy and generosity, Your merciful, healing, cleansing, sanctifying, life-giving grace. I beseech You, teach all Your people, from the least to the greatest, to come to You always with boldness, freely, and to snatch, by faith, Your all-saving grace.

But let us follow the Savior into the house of Jairus, where his dead daughter lies, and look upon the miracle of resurrection, worked by the Lord through the faith of the dead girl’s father. The Lord enters to the dead girl with only Peter, John, and James, and with the father and mother of the dead girl; all who were with Jairus, by kinship and friendship, wept and lamented over the dead girl. The Lord says: do not weep; the maiden has not died, but sleeps, showing that He is the Destroyer of death and hell, and that from now on death will be entirely conquered. But those who did not understand the Lord’s words laughed, knowing that she had died. But He, having driven everyone out, and taking her by the hand, declared: maiden, arise. And her spirit returned; and she arose at once; and He commanded that she be given something to eat. O our Life and our Resurrection, O Lord, glory to You! O our Hope! You raised up the one who was dead! You will likewise raise up all who have died since the beginning of the age, by Your own command, at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet, which will sound on the last day of the world. This is certain. But You raise up, even now, every day, Christian souls, dying through sin, You raise them up through faith and repentance. Behold, I myself die many times every day through sin, and, through repentance, rise again by Your infinitely great grace and mercy toward me, unworthy as I am. You grant me a rebirth of salvation every day, and many times over. You grant me, in place of death, life; in place of the oldness of sin, a renewal of the spirit; in place of anguish, breadth; in place of darkness, light. So it is, brothers and sisters! The Lord raises up, even now, souls dying through sin, raises them up through repentance. So then, sinners like me, love repentance, and you will not die a sinful death, and will be alive, and will be counted worthy of renewal by grace every day and every hour; you will celebrate, every day, a spiritual resurrection, a renewal of soul and body. Amen.