Homily – An End to Leprosy through Christ (St. Nicholas Sunday)

Our Orthodox Study Bible says that the most important lesson to be learned from today’s Gospel is that “worship is the number one priority.”  This is because “Christ came to heal all of fallen humanity, yet only a small portion receive Him in faith and thanksgiving to give glory to God.  Thus, ‘many are called but few are chosen’ (Mt 20:16)”  

In his commentary, Blessed Theophylact (who follows St. John Chrystostom’s lead), develops this, pointing out that the one who returned was a Samaritan, while the others were Jews.  For this reason, he says we should thank God all the more that he has allowed us – the Gentiles – to be included in God’s love.  [Because of the icon of the Baptism of Rus’ on the southern wall] One of the things we are reminded of every time we enter this temple is how God – through Sts. Andrew, Methodius, Cyrril, Ol’ha, and Volodymyr (to name just a few) – reached out to a fallen pagan people on the banks of the Dnepr river.  And we gather to respond to this act as did the Samaritan: we fall down in thanksgiving and worship of God’s great glory and of his love.

Many of you can trace your family back to the folks being baptized in that icon of the Baptism of Rus’, but the same story repeats itself elsewhere, with other gentile peoples being healed by Christ – operating this time through the new saints of His Holy Church.   And, getting back to today’s Gospel, we here in Woonsocket join the Samaritan and the people of Rus’ in glorifying God for his mercy and his power and his love.

But we can take St. Theophlact’s teaching to far: we are not really thanking Him for bringing Orthodoxy to the people of Rus’-Ukraine.  Or even for bringing it to us here in America.  Don’t get me wrong: Ukrainian Orthodoxy is a beautiful gift.   I love its rituals and I love its teachings.  It is a beautiful religion and we all love being a part of it.  But let me reiterate the central point:  we are worshiping God because He sacrificed Himself to heal us.  I hope that all of you have examples of specific pains that He has nurtured you through (times when you have felt His comfort), but this is not the healing I am talking about.  Your doctors, friends, and families have done the same and you certainly do not worship them.  God really does bring us healing and comfort, and we are certainly grateful for it.  And I believe that he works through our doctors, friends and family (and very occasionally even our priests) to help make us better.  These good works are to be celebrated.  But the healing that drives our worship is something much bigger, it is something that only He Himself could do.  Only He could get it done… and He did it.  And knowing this, we lift up our arms in adoration and throw our faces to the ground in thanksgiving for Him and the glorious thing He did.  What is it that He did?   Today’s Gospel lesson about the healing of the lepers helps us understand.

Lepers were isolated.  The were unclean.  But even moreso, they had no sense of touch.  They existed only within their skin.  In our fallenness, we are the same.  Our whole world exists within the confines of our minds.  This is pride (develop).  Our imaginations can pretty things up, but the reality of loneliness, the chasm of nothingness, the great abyss of darkness, is always there, haunting us, waiting to consume us in an unguarded moment.

Through Him, we regain our contact with creation.  We regain our community with others.  Love becomes more than an emotion.  We can actually live outside ourselves, beyond the confines of our skin.  We can become so close, so connected, that we share the same flesh.  And not only can we do this – it is joyful.  A continual movement from one blessing to another.

But some people prefer their imaginations, they choose to be separate from God,  outside of true love.  God makes it possible for all to join Him, but though He healed ten, only one returned to thank Him.  

You can say that the others were still healed: yes, their leprosy was taken from them.  And this is very easy to say, because we really are the Jews when it comes to thanking God through worship and adoration.  Yes, they were still healed from their leprosy, but to what end?  They still lived within their skin, separated from true community, separated from the benefits that come from a virtuous life in Christ.  It was easy for them to turn their back on God because they found their selfishness to be enjoyable.  Their new sense of touch allowed them access to new physical pleasures and their ability to live with other people gave them plenty of new distractions; but without Christ, without entering completely into His love, the abyss of loneliness remains.

Do you need to be healed?  Is your joy dependent on the quality of distractions that surround you?  Does you still see the abyss of loneliness yawning like a chasm before you?  Are you alone within your skin?  Do you fear that the imaginary connections you have made with others will eventually come down like a Jenga pile once a single piece is shown to be a lie?

Then cry out to the Lord as the Lepers did.  He will heal you.  Then turn to Him in thanksgiving.  Feel His touch.   Join His body, accept His flesh, and live in true and lasting fellowship with Him and all the saints forever.