Liberation

Homily of the 4th Sunday of Pascha.

“Do you want to get well?” Jh 5:6

Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen! Dear family, today we have heard the recount of the meeting between our Lord and the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda.

Here our Lord preforms one of His many miracles however, what is interesting to note is that Christ asks the man if he would like to be healed rather than just healing him 'straight off the bat' - as the saying goes.

Here we see the Lord's promise and gift onto humanity in affect - Free will! God will never intrude in our lives nor that of others as He has done throughout history; always asking or advising rather than forcing or demanding, as we know is the style of opposing powers! (fallen spirits)

Several years ago Presbytera and I invited our friend to attend the Divine services as she was going through certain issues in her life. This friend of ours continued to attend the services for several months and was showing promising signs of improvement within her life.

However, just like the seeds that fell amongst thorns (Mt 13:7) the worries of life got the better of her and she slowly went back to her old ways; once again falling into a deep depression.

We attempted several times for her to see reason and showed her many times how she had made good progress but sadly she had already made up in her mind that there was no hope.

Therefore, this is one of many examples of God offering His love, support and salvation onto a person. However, as I stated before He will never go against our free will, the decisions we make and the paths we chose to travel upon.

In addition, I clearly remember when I began the journey of my conversion to the true Apostolic faith which is Orthodox I was very scared at times to take the leap this happened at Holy Baptism, ordination to the Diaconate and ordination to Holy priesthood. Not once was I forced into anything that was against my will.

However, the fallen powers did everything in their perverse powers to stop me from partaking from the fount of the life giving spring - Jesus Christ our King, God and Sole Bishop of His Church to whom is due all Honour, Glory and Worship now and ever and onto the ages of ages! Amen.

This is the reality for the 'fair dinkum' Christians (Australian slang meaning; True, Honest and Genuine) when we are on the right path towards salvation, adverse powers will throw all sorts of road blokes to impede us from reaching our goal.

It can be compared to something out of a fictional movie were the good guys are trying to save the friend that was kidnaped but as they draw closer and closer to finding them, the bad guys keep popping up out of the blue; doing everything in their power to prevent them from reaching the person.

Therefore, the Apostle Paul uses sports as an example of a person striving to reach every Christians ultimate goal. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2Tim 4:7

Hence, this is why it is essential that we as a community gather and pray as often as we can so we have each other as support; knowing and understanding that as well as having our Living God with us as our daily bread. We also have each other and know that we are not alone in this race; we are a team running alongside each other.

Moreover, attacks will not always be supernatural in nature but they will many times be from people whom call themselves Christians or from those within the family unit. We must remember what Jesus exhorted in the gospel of Matthew; “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Mt 10:34-36

In addition, let us not forget Christ's sermon on the mount - “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Mt5-7

Therefore, as Jesus further exhorts within Holy scripture to love thy neighbour, (Mark 12:31) let us as the Church not only pray for one another but encourage each other and those around us to never stop running the race that leads to Christ and Salvation which is only through Him. To further never give up fighting and when we see one of our own struggling, lets role up our sleeves and give them a helping hand.

“Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. Jh 5:9

Through the prayers of the Theotokos, Lord Jesus Christ our God Have mercy on us and save us. Amen