In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
My dear Father, brothers and sisters:
With today’s reading we are still in chapter nine of St Matthew’s Gospel in Jesus’ home town of Capernaum on the north side of the sea of Galilee. This particular section of the Gospel of Matthew is especially dense and action packed with our Lord working miracle after miracle and wonder after wonder almost at every where He goes. Thus, no sooner had He healed the paralytic man, that He chooses Matthew the tax collector, sitting in the custom house, then He eats with the other tax collectors and publicans in Matthew’s house; next the disciples of John the Baptist come and ask Him about fasting; then He is invited to heal the ruler’s daughter and – whilst on His way there – He heals the woman with a hemorrhage before going on to successfully raise the ruler’s daughter from the dead. In today’s reading we have two miracles in close succession: first the healing of two blind men and then the healing of the dumb demoniac. Let us turn to our holy Father Hiliary of Poitiers to help us understand this Gospel on the day that we commemorate the Holy Fathers of the First Six Oecumenical Councils and our holy Father St Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain.
And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
As we so often find in the Gospel, it is so often the blind and the sick that can actually see things so much more clearly than the Pharisees and the Scribes. For although these two blind men perhaps could not say what the Saviour looked like exactly, or knew what He was wearing, yet they could see what was most important. We could say that their inner eyes, the eyes of their heart, their noetic sight, could see even if their physical eyes were clouded.
Although the blind men did not know who it was from whom they sought salvation, the Law indicated and showed them that their saviour would be from the race of David.
St Hiliary picks up that the two blind men reference Christ as the Son of David. This also of course indicates that these two men are of the House of Israel and despite their blindness they knew from the Psalms and the Scriptures that the Messiah, the Christ would be the Son of David. We could say that they first expressed their belief in the Humanity of Christ, of his human nature of the Virgin, from the House of David. They thus begin by simply and humbly asking that He – the Christ, the anointed One – would ‘have mercy’. Yet from what they say next we can see that their understanding deepened. That they could perceive that He was more than just the Son of David.
And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened;
It is clear that they could perceive that the one before them was greater than all the Prophets and held Divine Power to heal even the eyes of the blind.
Because the blind men had believed, they saw … which means that we must understand that what is sought for has to be gained by faith, not that faith is to be achieved by accomplishments.
St Hilary in his short commentary sees in their healing an important lesson of the nature of Faith, that it is only through Faith that we are granted healing and salvation. And also that Faith is so powerful it unlocks everything else, that we cannot do anything as it were to earn or merit this faith. That it comes to those who see, those whose hearts are softened, even though their eyes might be blind.
and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
Once they believed, he told them to be silent since it was the role of the apostles to preach.
Yet, as with so many of those who Jesus healed, they are so overwhelmed with joy and wonder that they cannot help but preach the Gospel, the good news of what Jesus had done for them.
As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
Then, almost immediately after this first miracle our Saviour is then confronted with another afflicted person, this time a dumb man possessed of a devil. St Hilary in his commentary sees in this poor soul a type of the Gentiles –
The pagans are presented in the mute and deaf demoniac as a people who need an all-encompassing salvation.
Whilst the Jewish people, represented by the two blind men, knew that the coming saviour would be son of David, and thus had some knowledge, some ability, the pagan Gentiles – as represented by this dumb man, is enshrouded in a deeper silence, a more profound darkness, unable to speak.
And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.
As St Hilary says,
The demoniac, for whom no help at all could come through the Law, was saved by the power of the Word, the dumb and deaf man declared everywhere the praises of God.
Yet again, as we saw in last week’s Gospel, there emerges once more this divison between those who could see and speak clearly but are Truly blind and Truly dumb, and those who physically may be blind or dumb, yet through their simple faith, and humbled hearts receive spiritual and then physical healing. The Scribes and the Pharisees could only see the miracles and loathe and hate Christ more than ever. As we hear in the Gospel –
But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Dear Father, brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the Fathers of the First Six Oecumenical Councils, a feast unique to the Slavic Typikon, as well as the memory of our holy Father Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain. St Nikodemos was one of the great Fathers of the 18th Century whose life was devoted to unearthing the great riches, the great treasures of our Orthodox Tradition or our Orthodox inheritance. He was a great student of the holy Fathers studying their lives, their teachings and producing new translations and compilations for the benefit of his fellow Orthodox Christians. He is particularly remembered for his great work of canon law, the Pedalion (Rudder), where he collated and edited with commentaries the canons of the Holy Fathers. However, what was also interesting about St Nikodemos was also his openness to the way in which the Logos has implanted seeds and signs of Truth throughout all the world. He thus translated and also significantly edited the book Unseen Warfare by a non Orthodox author, the Roman Catholic priest, Lorenzo Scupoli that we have been listening to for many months now during the Priest’s Communion. St Nikodemos saw that there was something useful here for Orthodox Christians to learn from, and also something that may help Western Christians find Holy Orthodoxy. On this day when we commemorate the Holy Fathers, who have given us the doctrinal foundations of our Orthodox Faith, through the prayers of St Nikodemos, let us ask that God would us fidelity to our saving Orthodox Faith, that most precious inheritance, through which may we find salvation for the healing of our souls and bodies.
Amen.