Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

And again He entered into Capernaum . . ., and it was reported that He was in the house.  And straightway many were gathered together, . . ., and He preached the Word to them.  And they came unto Him, bringing one sick with the palsy, who was borne by four.

Our Lord returns to His base of operations, having completed a preaching itinerary (Mk. 1:38-39).  As some of the Fathers remind us: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised as a boy in Nazareth, but lived His adult life in Capernaum.  And so, today, we find Him returned to the place of His cathedra, so to speak.  He enters a home which at once becomes a cathedral with the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls in residence (1 Pe. 2:25).  That house there in the dusty streets of Capernaum becomes a true house church.  It is transformed from an ordinary domicile into the Church by the very Presence of the true and living God in the flesh!  It is sanctified by His abiding Presence and is transfigured into a place where God and man meet.  That house, with the Presence of the Son of God, becomes an abode of saving and sanctifying grace, where sinners can go to find healing of soul and of body through the very ministry of the Word of God incarnate.  It goes without saying that God is indeed “everywhere present and fillest all things” (O heavenly King), and yet, by divine design and promise, God may be found in specific places, encountered in particular ways associated with those specific places.  I think here of the Patriarch Jacob who encountered the very Presence of God at Beth-el (Gn. 28:10-22), of the Patriarch Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre (Gn. 18:1-8), of Israel’s deliverer Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 3:1-12; 19:16-20), and of the Prophet Elijah in the cave (3 Kg. [1 Kg.] 19:1-18), to note but a few.  Christianity has its holy places and spaces, its shrines and holy sites, and its relics.  Most recently, the wonderworking icon, Our Lady of Sitka, was present at Holy Apostles in Mechanicsburg where several hundred of us gathered to pray and to venerate this most dear gift of God’s grace.

But, today, we hear of our Lord Who has come to His people in a house situated somewhere in Capernaum, and the people gather together, so numerous, it is said, that there was “no room in the inn.”   They come to encounter God Himself, although they may not have so refined a belief yet.  What they may know – all that they may know – is that this Jesus is different, very different from all others for, as the Evangelist notes, this Jesus taught as One Who had authority (Mk. 1:22) and with authority He commanded the demons to depart (Mk. 1:27).  Authority rests with Him.  He doesn’t teach what someone else has taught.  He is the source of the teaching and its authority; He is the source of the healing.  Doctrine and healing flows directly from Him because He is God.

Like those souls – and with them – we come together here in this place.  It is our Beth-el, our Mt. Sinai, our cave, our Mamre.  It is our Calvary.  We come because we know it is here that Jesus dwells in His Church and makes Himself present to us . . . . . . “for us men and for our salvation” (Nicene Creed).  He has promised that wherever “’two or three are gathered together in My Name, I am in the midst of them’” (Mt. 18:20).  He grants to His Church His own authority to teach and to preach and to heal in His Name because the Church is the presence and the sign of His Kingdom in the dusty streets of this fallen world (Mt. 18:15-20; 28:18-20).  “’He who hears you hears Me,’” our Lord assures the Seventy He sent out (Lk. 10:16).  Furthermore, He has promised His Church upon His Ascension, “’And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age [world].’”  The Church and her Lord are inseparable, sharing an intimacy and a union akin to that of the Mystery of Marriage, according to St. Paul, which is an icon of the Bride and her Bridegroom (Ep. 5:22-33). 

And so, our Lord comes to His Church preaching the Word before anything else.  It is the Word of God that sets things in context, that paves the way for that which is to follow, that prepares the soil of hearts to receive the seed sown by the Sower so that faith in God might prevail and spring up (Mt. 13:3-9, 18-23).  This is what St. Paul tells us.  He asks,

How then shall they call on [God] in Whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!’ . . . So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rm. 10:14-15, 17).

In the midst of those assembled around Him, Jesus, the Word of God in the flesh, preaches God’s Word for the salvation of those souls.  His is not a word, but the very Word of God for He is Himself God (Jn. 1:1-18).  His words are Light and Life bringing into hearts and souls and minds the illumination of God’s grace.  His words are Spirit and they are Life.  “’It is the Spirit Who gives Life,’” our Lord declares, to which the Apostle Peter cries out, “’Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of Eternal Life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God’” (Jn. 4:42; 6:63, 68-69; 11:27).  Our Lord is the very Life-giving, soul-saving and sanctifying Word of God.  To listen to Him, we hear God Himself; to obey His Word, we find faith and salvation and healing.  His Word binds and looses; His Word retains and sets free; His Word is like fire and like hammer (Jr. 23:29; Mt. 16:19; 18:18; Jn. 20:23).  Indeed, when God’s Word goes forth from His mouth it does not return to Him void, “’but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it,’” says the Lord God Almighty the Creator, the Redeemer, the Sanctifier, the Great Physician and Healer of souls and bodies (Is. 55:11).   

Jesus preaches the Word of God and faith takes root and begins to send forth its shoots to blossom and bear fruit.  The Word our Lord speaks is that of repentance, picking up on and incorporating the very preaching of the Baptist and Forerunner, John.  Indeed, St. Mark records for us our Lord’s message, “’The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent ye and believe the Gospel’” (Mk. 1:14-15).  In this Jesus of Nazareth, God’s time for mankind is come, fulfilled, completed, and perfected.  In Jesus of Nazareth, the Kingdom of God is present and active bringing to those who believe in Him the salvation of God, the sanctification, the healing of soul and body.  Jesus Christ is both Kingdom and King for there can be no kingdom without a king nor can a king be without a kingdom.  Thus, the Priest announces the Glad Tidings of this true reality at the start of every Divine Liturgy, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” to which the assembled body of faithful declare without reservation, “Amen” meaning “So be it” or “Truly.”  The Kingdom of the Holy Triune God is not some far off and distant reality, but is, in truth, made present to all souls gathered in the Name of our Lord, most especially in the Mystery of His own Body and Blood.  The Eucharist is the banquet of the King in His Kingdom.  Hence, when we encounter the King and His Kingdom, or better yet, when They encounter us in this holy Body of the baptized faithful, the immediate and proper response on our part is to repent in all humility and believe the Gospel of the King!  To put it quite colloquially, “There is a new sheriff in town!  Things are different now because the living Word of God Himself is present, utterly powerful, rightly dividing the Truth, pealing back the layers of falsehood we have accumulated around ourselves, exposing the darkness of our sin-preferred lives, and revealing to us the height, depth, and breadth of His compassion for us sinners who rightly turn to Him” (Jn. 3:16-21; Hb. 4:12-13).        

Beloved, there is in this encounter between God and man, a synergy that occurs – that must occur – if we are to partake of the Glad Tidings of the King and His Kingdom: God acts, man responds; man prays, God hears and does according to His will.  Our Lord comes to the Church in the house and preaches the Word of God.  His preaching is not some preliminary act that must be tolerated in order to get to what’s really important.  It is rather preparatory and necessary.  The four men respond to our Lord and His preaching by bearing up their friend and companion to Jesus.  It is quite clear that Jesus sees their faith.  That’s what the Evangelist says.  Faith is the fruit of hearing the Word of God, and so they come as intercessors bearing their friend up in prayer.  For their act of praying and their act of bearing are intertwined, one and the same.  In this case, they have faith on behalf of their friend which our Lord accepts.  Eventually, the man, once healed, will be called upon by Jesus to act in faith, that is, he will be commanded by our Lord to arise and to pick up his bed and go to his house.  This will be in response to God’s goodness.

However, we should note here that the answer of our Lord initially to their prayer is probably not what they had at first expected.  They come interceding on behalf of their paralyzed friend and Jesus absolves him of his sins – not necessarily the priority they had in mind!  But, it was in accordance with God’s wisdom and will.  This miracle demonstrates well that, even if we don’t receive the healing of our bodies we pray for, we always receive the healing of our souls so long as we repent with broken and contrite hearts (Ps. 50 [51]:1-19).  We can certainly go to Heaven with broken bodies, but we cannot go to Heaven with broken, impenitent souls.  So, our Lord heals the man’s soul first – the priority of God – and later heals his body to manifest to the unbelievers in that congregation (remember, the Church on this side of eternity is always composed of weeds and wheat, unbelievers and believers until the Day of Judgment) – Jesus heals the body to show that He has the power to forgive sins precisely because He is God among men in the flesh, as foretold by the Prophets (Mt. 4:12-17).

At every Divine Liturgy, in every Divine Office of prayer, the Church intercedes on behalf of the whole world.  She sustains the world, carries the world – much like these four compatriots carrying their friend – she intercedes all who ask for her prayers, making no distinction.  She sustains all with her faithful prayers, bidding the Lord to have mercy according to His divine will and wisdom.  It is the faith of His Church – the Bride of Christ God – our Lord sees, and in her fervor of prayer she leaves no stone unturned, no roof undug in order to present to the good God and Lover of mankind the souls of all in need of His mercy and compassion – for the healing of soul and body.

This is what our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ has come to do, beloved, for us and for all mankind paralyzed by sin and death.  And, it is here, in this holy House and Temple, we find the Master of all souls most present for our salvation and sanctification: in His Word and in His Mysteries.  Let us, then, take heart, gird up our loins, and come to Him, beseeching His mercy and compassion, not only for ourselves, but for all who stand in need this day.  Let us have faith in Him Who has shown Himself to be God, for ourselves and faith for the world, so that this world might be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth (1 Tm. 2:4). 

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

PROPERS:

Hb. 1:10-2:3

Mk. 2:1-12