Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Matthew
(4th Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
(4th Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
In the Gospel of Matthew, which is read today, we read about the Roman centurion who asked Jesus Christ to heal the centurion's servant, about the centurion's great faith in the Lord's omnipotence and His almighty power - to do what He wants, to heal all kinds of diseases with one word and command, to raise the dead, etc., etc. - about how the Lord was amazed at the centurion's simple, unphilosophizing faith, and at the same time pronounced very important words that were instructive for all of us, and, finally, about how the Lord rewarded the centurion's faith with the healing of his servant through a single word.
Here is the Gospel in Russian: "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.' The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.' When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour." (Matt. 8:5-13). Here is the end of the Gospel of this day.
How kind, gracious, and humbly simple is the centurion in his petition to the Lord for his sick servant! The Lord answers his request that He will come personally to his house, and heal his servant; and the centurion said to Him, "I am not worthy that you should enter into my house; but You shall speak only the word, Your almighty word, and my servant shall recover. My words and commands," he says, "are carried out by my subordinates; but You are the God without beginning, omnipotent, Who has brought the whole world from non-existence into existence by Your command, and has contained and governed all things by Your word: therefore Your one creative, sovereign word is sufficient for my servant to be healed, for illness to flee and health to return."
The Lord was amazed, it is said, at such faith, and spoke the following moral teaching to the people who followed Him: "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" (Matt. 8:10), i.e. in the Jews, a chosen people, brought up in the true faith, who saw the miracles wrought in them, the many and innumerable blessings of God. "And I say to you," the Lord continues, "that many shall come from the east and the west, that is, from various countries and peoples, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the forefathers of the Jews) in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom, that is, the Jews, shall be cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:11-12).
We all know what the Jews did to Christ the Savior when He lived and interacted among people on earth; many of them did not believe in His Divinity, misinterpreted His words and His miracles, for example, that He deceived the people, that by the power of Beelzebub He worked miracles, etc., and finally slandered Him before the Roman authorities and condemned Him to a shameful death; and for this the unrepentant among them were condemned to exile into utter darkness, and instead of them, the Jews, the pagans were called to the faith of Christ, among whom we, the Russians, and of these newly called peoples, many who pleased God inherited the Kingdom of Heaven. How many saints shone forth in faith and life from the people of Greek, Roman, Persian, Russian and many other languages. Let us be grateful with all our hearts to the Lord that He has called us to His faith and has granted us innumerable blessings with it; let us avoid Jewish unbelief and hardness of heart, Jewish treachery, in order to avoid their terrible fate. Because of the centurion's faith, the Lord said to him, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour (Matt. 8:13). Such is the power of faith! Such it was then, and so it is now; for the simplicity of faith, as always, so now the Lord works miracles both in believers themselves and according to their faith – He works miracles in other people as well.
And truly, beloved brothers and sisters, how often, every day, according to our faith alone, according to one prayer of repentance, the Lord gives us life, deadened by sins, has mercy on us and saves us. How often and unceasingly, every day, He heals our souls that are sick with passions! How often does he heal bodily illnesses according to our faith! How He shows us innumerable blessings for the mere invocation of His salvific and wondrous name with faith! It is impossible to count from the multitude of all the miracles of the Lord's mercy that the Lord has wrought in us, for faith in His goodness, wisdom, and omnipotence, when we called upon Him fervently! The Lord especially performs miracles of His mercy in us when we live according to faith, in repentance and virtue, in simplicity, humility, abstinence, in mutual love, mutual sympathy and mutual help. For He Himself exhorts us: "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36).
And so, let us hold fast to our faith in Christ, the Son of God, and strive to live according to faith in all goodness and in the doing of good works. Otherwise, it will be the same with us as with the Jews, and we, the new Israel, the sons of the Kingdom, will be cast out into utter darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Our Orthodox faith will not save us if we are of little faith and unfaithful, proud and hard-hearted, incontinent, unclean, foul-mouthed, quarrelsome, disobedient, treacherous, deceitful, disrespectful, lazy, if we do not bear each other's burdens and help each other in life's needs. "Faith without good works is dead" (James 2:20) and will not save us; for even the demons believe in the Lord and tremble at Him, but all remain the same demons, and eternal torment and eternal fire are prepared for them.
And so, let us examine ourselves, whether we are in faith, and whether we live according to faith, whether we sincerely repent, whether we correct ourselves, whether we are illuminated, whether we exercise ourselves in blessed works and deeds every day.
Today's Gospel further teaches us how much intercession for others before God means, if it is combined with faith and love. A believing centurion, interceded with the Lord for the gift of health to his sick servant; and the servant, no doubt, gave glory to God for his healing, and said a heartfelt "thank you" to his master. This is a lesson for us to diligently resort to the intercession of the holy saints of God for us, "for the fervent prayer of the righteous can do much" (James 5:16), says the Apostle, and in general to the intercession of the Church for us. And every day we ask for us the intercession of the Mother of God, the Holy Guardian Angel and all the saints, through whose prayers and intercession may the Lord God save us all. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Here is the Gospel in Russian: "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.' The centurion answered and said, 'Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.' When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' Then Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour." (Matt. 8:5-13). Here is the end of the Gospel of this day.
How kind, gracious, and humbly simple is the centurion in his petition to the Lord for his sick servant! The Lord answers his request that He will come personally to his house, and heal his servant; and the centurion said to Him, "I am not worthy that you should enter into my house; but You shall speak only the word, Your almighty word, and my servant shall recover. My words and commands," he says, "are carried out by my subordinates; but You are the God without beginning, omnipotent, Who has brought the whole world from non-existence into existence by Your command, and has contained and governed all things by Your word: therefore Your one creative, sovereign word is sufficient for my servant to be healed, for illness to flee and health to return."
The Lord was amazed, it is said, at such faith, and spoke the following moral teaching to the people who followed Him: "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!" (Matt. 8:10), i.e. in the Jews, a chosen people, brought up in the true faith, who saw the miracles wrought in them, the many and innumerable blessings of God. "And I say to you," the Lord continues, "that many shall come from the east and the west, that is, from various countries and peoples, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (the forefathers of the Jews) in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom, that is, the Jews, shall be cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:11-12).
We all know what the Jews did to Christ the Savior when He lived and interacted among people on earth; many of them did not believe in His Divinity, misinterpreted His words and His miracles, for example, that He deceived the people, that by the power of Beelzebub He worked miracles, etc., and finally slandered Him before the Roman authorities and condemned Him to a shameful death; and for this the unrepentant among them were condemned to exile into utter darkness, and instead of them, the Jews, the pagans were called to the faith of Christ, among whom we, the Russians, and of these newly called peoples, many who pleased God inherited the Kingdom of Heaven. How many saints shone forth in faith and life from the people of Greek, Roman, Persian, Russian and many other languages. Let us be grateful with all our hearts to the Lord that He has called us to His faith and has granted us innumerable blessings with it; let us avoid Jewish unbelief and hardness of heart, Jewish treachery, in order to avoid their terrible fate. Because of the centurion's faith, the Lord said to him, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour (Matt. 8:13). Such is the power of faith! Such it was then, and so it is now; for the simplicity of faith, as always, so now the Lord works miracles both in believers themselves and according to their faith – He works miracles in other people as well.
And truly, beloved brothers and sisters, how often, every day, according to our faith alone, according to one prayer of repentance, the Lord gives us life, deadened by sins, has mercy on us and saves us. How often and unceasingly, every day, He heals our souls that are sick with passions! How often does he heal bodily illnesses according to our faith! How He shows us innumerable blessings for the mere invocation of His salvific and wondrous name with faith! It is impossible to count from the multitude of all the miracles of the Lord's mercy that the Lord has wrought in us, for faith in His goodness, wisdom, and omnipotence, when we called upon Him fervently! The Lord especially performs miracles of His mercy in us when we live according to faith, in repentance and virtue, in simplicity, humility, abstinence, in mutual love, mutual sympathy and mutual help. For He Himself exhorts us: "Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (Luke 6:36).
And so, let us hold fast to our faith in Christ, the Son of God, and strive to live according to faith in all goodness and in the doing of good works. Otherwise, it will be the same with us as with the Jews, and we, the new Israel, the sons of the Kingdom, will be cast out into utter darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Our Orthodox faith will not save us if we are of little faith and unfaithful, proud and hard-hearted, incontinent, unclean, foul-mouthed, quarrelsome, disobedient, treacherous, deceitful, disrespectful, lazy, if we do not bear each other's burdens and help each other in life's needs. "Faith without good works is dead" (James 2:20) and will not save us; for even the demons believe in the Lord and tremble at Him, but all remain the same demons, and eternal torment and eternal fire are prepared for them.
And so, let us examine ourselves, whether we are in faith, and whether we live according to faith, whether we sincerely repent, whether we correct ourselves, whether we are illuminated, whether we exercise ourselves in blessed works and deeds every day.
Today's Gospel further teaches us how much intercession for others before God means, if it is combined with faith and love. A believing centurion, interceded with the Lord for the gift of health to his sick servant; and the servant, no doubt, gave glory to God for his healing, and said a heartfelt "thank you" to his master. This is a lesson for us to diligently resort to the intercession of the holy saints of God for us, "for the fervent prayer of the righteous can do much" (James 5:16), says the Apostle, and in general to the intercession of the Church for us. And every day we ask for us the intercession of the Mother of God, the Holy Guardian Angel and all the saints, through whose prayers and intercession may the Lord God save us all. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.