These past few Sundays, we have been hearing in the Gospels, how our Lord confronts mankind in its worst conditions. In the Gadarenes, Christ confronted Legion, a man possessed by demons, whose life was shattered. He couldn’t keep relationships. He couldn’t keep clothes on his body. He was completely dominated by evil, and our Lord came and brought him peace and to his right mind.
After this miracle, we hear about how our Lord comes from the Gadarenes into Galilee, and is confronted by Jairus, who was a very esteemed ruler and the leader of the synagogue. We learn that he is overcome with sadness, as I’m sure many of us would be, because his 12-year-old daughter is near death. He comes to Christ and begs for His help and for his deliverance from this unspeakable pain that his family is going through.
On the path to Jairus’s house, our Lord is then confronted by a woman, who for the same amount of time that Jairus’s daughter had been alive, has been hemorrhaging blood. This woman had spent all of her resources to try and fix her health problems, and was eventually left in social and financial decimation. Her faith in the healing power of Christ was so powerful, that if she could just touch a tassel of his garment, all of her problems would melt away. And as soon as she touched him, by the Grace of God, the power went out from Christ and into this woman’s body…and she stood up healed.
Our Lord, by his mere presence to this point shows that He is above the fallen world. He has overcome the demons which plague us and the diseases which ail us. If that was not enough, Christ continues to Jairus's house and is met by Jairus's friends who say “Send Jesus away…it’s too late. Your daughter is already dead.” What does our Lord do in the midst of this grief? He comforts the family, and raises up their daughter…destroying the sting of death itself.
These three miracles, all happening one after another, are a beautiful picture of what Christ does for us. The demons cannot stand to be near us when we sign ourselves with the cross of Christ. Sickness melts away in the presence of Him. Death is transformed into eternal life.
Despite these miracles however, Jairus’s daughter, after receiving an incredible healing, no doubt lived her life as a living witness to the power of Christ…but eventually, she too departed this life. The woman in the Gospel today, who we know from Holy Tradition as St. Veronica, after she received her healing, no doubt experienced other sicknesses in her life, and eventually passed away. When we look at the world, we still see wars being fought, children being slaughtered, hunger plaguing nations, and people who are still under the grasp of the demonic powers. Why does God allows these troubles to befall us, knowing full well He has the power to stop them?
Our Lord allows these things to happen to us, so that we might draw closer to Him.
Look at the life of St. Nektarios of Aegina. There is a famous miracle that happened at the end of His life, while he was laying in a hospital bed about to die. He shared a room with a man who had fallen off of a cliff, and was left paralyzed from the head down…unable to move, to feed his family, to hug his children.
One might ask, why did God allow this man to fall off the cliff and live? Yet, God had a purpose for Him. As St. Nektarios breathed his last his cassock and bed sheets were removed, and accidentally were placed on the paralyzed man, who immediately received healing. His life had been restored to Him, so that He might glorify God, and help the world recognize the holiness of St. Nektarios.
Dear ones, no matter what trials we face, Trust in the providence of our Lord in all things. He holds power of the demons. He has power over sickness, and yes, even over death itself. And while we sometimes don’t understand why He allows trials to befall us, we trust in His Tremendous Love for us.
There is a small phrase that I have shared with many who have had trials…and have had to say it to myself all too often. It was a popular meme that I have preached about before that is on the internet that says: “Keep Calm, and Kyrie Eleison”. Keep Calm, and Lord have mercy.
That is the attitude that we all must have in the midst of the trials and tribulations of our life. Because if it hasn’t already, the waves of life will eventually catch up to everyone that is sitting here today. And in the midst of grief, if we have not learned to put our complete trust and life in God’s hands, nothing will be clear. But if we train ourselves to keep calm…and say, “Lord have mercy”, we will be given the grace to go through life and take whatever comes…because we know that the presence of our Lord has overcome the world.
He did not come to save us from sickness and death…but rather THROUGH sickness and death. Why? Because He Loves us more than we can know. It is this knowledge will give us the strength to face the trials of our life with peace.
Keep Calm Dear ones…and Kyrie Eleison.