Homily for the 7th Sunday After Pentecost and the 7th Sunday of Matthew in the Orthodox Church

 

Romans 15:1-7; Matthew 9:27-35

Today we continue to celebrate the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mt. Tabor, when the spiritual eyes of Peter, James, and John were opened to behold His divine glory.  They saw Him shining brilliantly and heard the voice of the Father proclaiming “This is my beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.”  We also continue to prepare to celebrate the Dormition (or “falling asleep”) of the Theotokos, when she became the first to follow her Son as a whole embodied person into the eternal life of the heavenly kingdom.  This spiritually rich season calls us to become transfigured in holiness like the virgin mother of the Savior, who received Christ into her life without reservation and lived faithfully as His holy temple all her days.  Regardless of our sex, marital status, or personal history, she remains the model for us all of obedient receptivity to Christ.  Our hope to follow her into heavenly glory is in the healing mercy of her Son, Who shares His victory over death with all who unite themselves to Him in humble faith and obedience.    

That is precisely what the blind men did in today’s gospel lesson.  They sat by the road and begged, for that was all that they could do in that time and place in order to survive.  We do not know the mental state of the man who was possessed by a demon and unable to speak, for others had to bring Him to the Lord for deliverance. The blind beggars were Jews who asked for mercy from the Son of David, a Jewish term for the Messiah.  Even though their faith was far from perfect, as symbolized by their blindness, the Lord had mercy on them and restored their sight.

The man who was unable to speak was a Gentile, which is why the people responded, “’Never was anything like this seen in Israel,’” while “the Pharisees said, ‘He casts out demons by the prince of demons.’”  Due to their idolatry, the mouths of the Gentiles had been shut to the glory of God, and the Jews at that time expected a Messiah who would bless them, not the other peoples of the world.  But Christ’s mercy restored the man’s speech, cast out the demon, and provided a sign of how He came to bring salvation to the entire world.  In today’s epistle reading, St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, both Jews and Gentiles, that “together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We Gentiles may now know and glorify Him every bit as much as the descendants of Abraham, for the ancient promises extend to all who have faith in the Messiah.  The Holy Spirit has united the divided tongues of the tower of Babel such that people of all cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities may join together in the praise of God as full members of the household of Christ in faith.

It should be no surprise that the Lord restored the abilities of sight and speech to these suffering men.  To see is to know and experience in ways that transcend rational description.  The spiritual eyes of Peter, James, and John were opened to behold the divine glory of the Lord, to the extent that they were able, at His Transfiguration, when they saw Him radiant with brilliant light.  We know God through the eye of the soul, the nous, not as a symbol or idea, but by true participation through His grace or divine energies.  Christ’s restoration of the sight of the blind men provides an icon of what He has done for fallen humanity blinded by sin, wandering in the darkness of those enslaved to the fear of death, and unable to share in the eternal life of God.  In Him, the eyes of our souls are restored, cleansed, and healed so that we may know the Lord not in images and ideas, but as a Person in Whose life we truly participate as His living icons.

Likewise, our ability to speak has profound spiritual significance, for the Lord taught that “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”  (Luke 6:45) The Scriptures contain many warnings about the dangers associated with mindlessly running our mouths.  We read in the Psalms, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” (Ps. 141:3)   Christ taught that we will have to give an account for every idle word that we speak, “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”  (Matt. 12:36) It is not what goes into our mouths, but what comes out of them that defiles us. (Matt. 15:11) As St. James wrote, the tongue is small, powerful, and very difficult to control: “It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (Jas. 3:6) The uncomfortable truth is that how and what we speak reveals the true state of our souls, for which we must give an account to the Lord at the last day.  Whether we are currently embracing Christ’s healing is not an inscrutable secret, but is plain for all to hear in the words we speak and in the actions we perform every day.  We must remember what the Lord said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” (Matt. 7:1-2)

Like the men in today’s gospel reading, we all need the gracious healing of the Lord for our eyes, our mouths, and every aspect of who we are.  Though physical and spiritual sight are different, what we fill our eyes with certainly impacts our hearts and how we think, speak, and act.  There is great danger to our souls in pornography, in any type of entertainment that glorifies sex, violence, and the love of money and power, and also in the many images of superficial happiness found on social media. Much of what passes for news or entertainment today is designed to inflame our passions in order to bring power and money to the sponsors, whoever they may be.   We may want only to be entertained or informed, but what we see and hear can easily keep us so wedded to spiritual darkness that we will become blind to the brilliant light of Christ.  The less that we fill our physical eyes and ears with what inflames our passions, keeps us from seeing ourselves and our neighbors as living icons of God, and otherwise weakens us spiritually, the more we will be able to open the eyes of our souls to experience and know the Lord from the depths of our hearts.  Keeping a close watch on our eyes, ears, and mouths is not a calling only for other people, for none of us is so advanced spiritually that we can safely let our own guard down before such powerful temptations. 

Especially in today’s culture, we must be careful not to fall prey to self-centeredness in our words and deeds.  As St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, concern for the wellbeing of our neighbors must take precedence over our own desires: “Brethren, we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good for his edification.”  We must not speak and act as though our will must always be done or think that we have some personal characteristic that makes it necessary for us to always have the last word.  In the family, the life of the Church, and in any other setting, we must embrace the humility of blind beggars who know that they must cry out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.”  Such humble trust is necessary for us to learn to see our neighbors as living icons of Christ whom we must serve with selfless love.  To see and speak about others in the light of our passions is a terrible form of blindness that will make it impossible for us to behold the glory of the Lord.

During the Dormition Fast, we all have the opportunity to reorient the desires of our hearts toward their true fulfillment in the love of God and neighbor.  Our transfiguration in holiness is a matter of following the example of the Theotokos in doing precisely that.  Like her, let us gain the spiritual clarity to lift up our hearts in humble obedience and receptivity to her Son, Who has conquered death and opened the gates of Paradise.  It is only through Him that our spiritual eyes will be opened and our tongues will be loosed to offer praise and glory to God.