Sermons & Homilies

Today we are brought to the cusp of the fast which tomorrow will spill over into the celebration of the birth of the Messiah of the human race, Jesus Christ. In this brimming up, today we also commemorate all of the righteous who have lived up until the birth of Christ, not only His holy ancestors but all the righteous in whose lives the coming of the Son of God is announced by word and by deed. Moreover, for us, the eleventh hour has come, and soon we will participate in the incarnation of Christ, reaping the fruits of our labors in the fast and desiring God to be born in our hearts on this day.

In other words, we have come to view Santa Claus in many ways as we view God: a benevolent (and mythical) character who asks nothing from us, and who exists only in order to give us exactly what we want. His one commandment: “Have it your way.” And we are only too happy to oblige.

In today’s Gospel reading, we note the compassion of God for the woman who had suffered for eighteen years, bent to the ground, unable to straighten out. He was not ashamed to call her to Himself while in the Synagogue and to lay His hands on her and heal her so that she could straighten up amidst all those who looked on, His adversaries, as they were called, who were full of hate and accusation.