The accounts of Jesus's miracles in the Gospels seek to teach us how we should approach Jesus Christ in order to receive from Him what we most need.
Everyone who sought healing from the Lord, whether for themselves or for their loved ones, had reached a point of utter despair. They had exhausted every means, and nothing or no one could help them. Yet, in their absolute helplessness—a form of emptiness reminiscent of the kenosis (self-emptying) of the God-Man Jesus—they did not let the darkness of despair consume them. Instead, they set in motion the one thing they had left: their freedom to turn, with all the strength of their devastated souls, to the God-Christ.
Then, all at once, the empty mirror of their soul, stripped of any earthly hope, was filled with complete hope in Him, the Saviour. In this state, the divine powers of the Lord—His love—could perform the miracle freely.
The miraculous interventions of the Saviour usually leave those who experience them in a state of ecstasy. The miracle allows the recipients to glimpse, as if through a small opening, the divine nature of the Lord who has performed it. This profoundly unsettles them, for they have asked simply for a miracle of healing, but are now ecstatically experiencing the Miracle of the Living God.
Now, the recipients of the miracle have a second opportunity to bring about their own freedom. They can either take the miracle of their physical healing and walk away, or they can return, compelled by the need to give thanks to the Lord. Thus the miraculous healings performed by the Lord remain incomplete until the healed person returns to give thanks to Jesus Christ. The Lord performs His Miracles not only out of compassion for our physical weakness or disability but primarily out of compassion for the distance that separates us from Himself. Thus, the purpose of the Saviour’s miraculous interventions is to restore our relationship with Him. The restoration of this relationship presupposes our thanksgiving.
By entering into a relationship of thanksgiving with the Lord, His Life becomes our life. Our existential aspects expand more and more, to the point that it becomes less important whether one is physically healthy or not, but rather whether one is with the Lord. Thus, the one who is truly healed is the one who has through thanksgiving restored their ontological relationship with the Lord, so that they may live in Peace. For if the Miracle of the Coming Age is the Hymn of Praise (Doxology), then the Miracle of the Present Age is Thanksgiving.
October 28, 2024
Archpriest Dr Georgios Lekkas is a priest of the Holy Orthodox Metropolis of Belgium.
No comments:
Post a Comment