This Gospel lesson is profound, teaching us many things about the nature of healing, hypocrisy, and thanksgiving.  Today I would like to focus on three things that it teaches us.

One: You Really Should Come to Church

The first has to do with the context of the event: it occurs on the Sabbath.  This is what drives the encounter and makes it such a powerful lesson.  I want you to think about this for a moment: what was Christ doing in the synagogue on the Sabbath?  He was perfect and the fount of all knowledge - he certainly did not go there to learn.  As the second person in the Trinity, he was in constant, direct union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit - he certainly did not need to go to the synagogue to pray.  Moreover, he had plenty of other things on his plate... so why did he come to the synagogue on the Sabbath?

Christ came to church on the Sabbath because that is what the godly do.  That is what the the people of God do.  It is what the Church does, and, as He is the head, there is nothing more meet and right than for him to be there.

While we now honor the Sabbath on Sunday [to participate in the Resurrection and the beginning of the New Creation] rather than on Saturday It is the same for us.  We are to honor the Sabbath with our preparation, our attendance, and our love.  I know how many of you react to this; “why do I need to come to church every week - it’s always the same?!”  Yes, it is always the same; just like eating is always the same, sleeping is always the same, and breathing is always the same.  Are you going to skip any of those?  And those things only support your body (which perishes), while church (and preparing for church) supports your whole person; body and soul.

Moreover, if it is not convincing enough that Christ himself did it; if it is not convincing enough that he, through the Church of which he is the head and to which you profess membership, tells you that you should do it; if these things are not enough, then come to church every Sunday because you need to be healed.  And if you do not need to be healed, then come to church to that God that you are well.

Two:  Come and be Healed

In today’s lesson, Christ healed the woman in the Synagogue on the Sabbath.  This is what Christ does.  This is what the Church does.  This is what the Sabbath about: about healing and rejoicing.  Christ reaches out and touches the woman and the spirit of infirmity fled from her.  The Church continues this, his ministry  There is a special power - a special grace - in the touch of the Church.  It is the hand offered in love; the one that not only feels you pain and anguish, but provides warm comfort and the sure path to wellness.

The leaders of the synagogue missed that vital point: they thought that that “church” was about something else.  Over time, their worship had become separated from its intent; the Sabbath had become an idol to their own misconceptions – and to their own pride - rather than an icon of the Living, Loving, God.  They worshipped it instead of worshipping God THROUGH it.

Three:  We are the Jews.  We are the Leader of the Synagogue

When you hear of the encounter described in today’s lesson, you should be outrages at the attitude of the ruler of the synagogue.  He was upset that someone had been healed in a house dedicated to God on the day dedicated to his worship.  His hypocrisy should be obvious and appalling.  I want you to taste his wickedness; I want to you to hate his blasphemy.  He had taken things meant to spread God’s love and used it to defend his own malice.  Are you outraged?  You should be.  Now, I want you to take that outrage, that righteous indignation at the disjuncture and incompatibility between the requirements of love and what religious people actually do in the name of their religion... and I want you to apply it to yourself and to your church.

We are amazed that this man would correct the Christ in the place designed to prepare people for his coming; but at least he has the excuse of ignorance.  We have no such excuse.  We confess the Orthodox Church to be the body of Christ, with Him as its head – and yet we do exactly what the leader of the synagogue did: we put ourselves above Christ.  We put ourselves above His Church.  We dare to contradict when he teaches or shows us what we really should be doing.  We turn our religion against God.  The man was rebuked because he had turned his synagogue into a place where something other than God was worshipped and something other than love was practiced (idol vs. icon).  We are the Jews: we have done this ourselves.

If you cannot see this; if you can not see how we have fallen into this temptation ourselves, then I encourage you to make this introspective discernment part of your Advent preparation.  And don’t take the easy way out: it is all too easy to find the hypocrisy in others (and especially in your priest!).  I want you to find the things in your own life and in our routine parish practice that challenge the Orthodoxy which we claim to profess.  I want you to find the things in your own life and in our routine parish practice which would lead Christ to respond by saying; “You hypocrites!”  I want you to find how we are using religion against love. 

But don’t stop there.  Having found them, do what the woman did: come here to have that burden removed.  The hand of God will come upon you, while His voice will proclaim “my beloved, you are freed from your infirmity”.   And then, having been healed, join her and all the saints in praising God for all the glorious things that He has done.