Fr.Vladimir's Sermon Delivered on Sunday of the Paralytic, May 18th, 2008:

"My beloved brothers and sisters, first let me thank all of you who in any way helped and contributed in order to make our Church Slava celebration such a wonderful and enjoyable event. May God bless all of you through the prayers and intercession of St. Basil of Ostrog.

Today, my beloved brothers and sisters, we have heard in the Gospel reading the story about a paralyzed man who was lying helplessly near a pool called Bethesda, in which, according to the Tradition an Angel would come down, stir up the water, and the first one who would enter the pool he/she would be healed immediately. But, the Paralytic was paralyzed for over 38 years without having one single person to help him come down and enter the pool first. And so, when Jesus saw His struggle for help and that there was no help from men, He approached Him and asked him: "Do you want to be healed?"

Do you want to be healed?! What a silly question! A man who was sick for thirty eight years, whose illness was a very painful and annoying one, and who was already there trying to get first into the pool many times, of course that he wants to be healed. That is obvious. And Jesus knows this, yet he asks: Do you want to be healed?

But, there is a reason why He asked that question. This question reminds me what happens in the Right of Holy Confession. Namely, before you come to the Holy Confession, while you are preparing yourselves for Confession, you have been thinking for a long time about your sins, and you made every effort to remember all you have done, some of the sins you even have written down so that you do not forget them, and you felt sorry from the bottom of your heart for what you have been doing, you spent a long time in prayer, you even shed some tears, and finally when you come to confession and after you confessed everything you had to confess, even the smallest thought, about which you were not even sure whether it is a sin or not, after all that the priest asks you: Do you repent? That question, my beloved brothers and sisters, is a very important one and for the same reason Jesus asks the paralytic: do you want to be healed? Do we really repent? Do we really want to be changed? Do we really want to be healed? So, my beloved brothers and sisters, the question that we are asked today as well is: do we really want to be healed? Again, to us it appears to be a silly question; of course we want to be healed, at least rhetorically.

Now, some may say, well Jesus asks the paralytic the question: do you want to be healed? What on earth I have to do with this question today? I am not paralyzed; I am not even sick. Yes, my beloved, you are not, but our parish is. The parish is sick and needs immediate help and is lying paralyzed. Last week we said that a parish represents the entire Church, because we have Christ on the altar table in our midst, we have clergy and we have the faithful, thus we are a part of the Body of Christ. Each time we come together and pray together and receive Communion together, we come and pray and receive Communion as the Church. Here, my beloved, we become one with Christ, and through Christ we all become one Body. This is why we say one Baptism, one Church, one Christ, one Teaching, one confession of Faith, one Chalice, so that we know that indeed here we become one. Dear brothers and sisters, please, listen carefully and write on your hearts what I am going to share with you now. The Church, my beloved brothers and sisters, is nothing less but an expression of God's mercy to His people. He so loved the world that He gave His own Son's life into the hands of people, us sinners. Once people got to bring decisions whether Jesus should be crucified or should be set free, he was crucified. But God still loves the world so much that he gives His own Son into the hands of every generation to decide what will they do with Him. The Church is not the Church without Christ, my beloved. And yet where the Church is there is Christ also. How do I know that? Because Christ said so. When Saul (later apostle Paul) was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians, Christ appeared to him saying: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Christ said that He and His Church are One. Our Lord identified Himself with His Church, with His people. That means that we who are one through His Church are also one with Him through Him. O, how wonderful God's Word is?! For He also said, where there are two or three gathered in my name, there I will be with them. He said two or three because He wants community, and He also gave us this word in order not to fall into despair when we see empty churches. Even two people are enough for a community. But, o ineffable wisdom, how much joy do we offer to Him when we gather together in a great number? How much joy do we offer to Him, who died for us in order that we may have life in Him, when we live in harmony, when we come in great number and praise Him with one hart, one mind and one soul? And the more of us come together, and the more of us become one through Christ (His Body and Blood) and through His Church, greater the blessing upon us. This is what St. Basil should be all about! And this should be our preaching; this should be our Gospel; this should be our entire life!

Our parish, my beloved brothers and sisters, is going through a very hard time. Financially, we are paralyzed. Having said that, let us not forget so easy the long readings which we hear every year during the Great Lent, more specifically during the Holy Week when the Passion Gospels are read and which talk about Jesus' trial. What happened then? Jesus was taken in front of a large crowd so that the crowd can decide what will happen with Jesus. Jesus stood there in silence and waited to be crucified. O, how could they crucify our Lord? O, how could they not see God? How could they not recognize their Creator?

Today, my beloved brothers and sisters, Christ is standing before us in silence, waiting for our vote, what are we going to do with Him. Today, my beloved we have the opportunity to show who we truly are. Today, we are put into position to confess Christ as the Lord and save Him. Today, my beloved, Christ is standing in silence to see who is giving Him the last kiss just like Judas did. Today, Jesus is waiting to see who will abandon Him, just like Peter did in the moment of His suffering. Today, Jesus is waiting to see, who will love treasure more then Him and who will withhold the treasure, just like Judas the betrayer and the lover of wealth did. Today, my beloved, Jesus is waiting to see who will be of little faith just like Thomas was. But, today my brothers and sisters, we can also buy our place in Paradise. Today, we can prove our love for Christ in practice. Today, we can imitate the myrrh-bearing women in their faithfulness to Christ, and expect to be first to see Him. Today, we can wash Christ's feet with our tears and wipe them with our hair, and can expect to be forgiven great sins like that prostitute. Today we can anoint our Lord with the most precious ointments and by doing so we will anoint ourselves with the multitude of blessings. Today, we can follow the example of the widow who gave her last two coins to the temple, a woman of great faith, and become a living sermon. This widow remains an icon of faith as she put her whole trust in God, not holding anything back.

Today, my beloved, Jesus is standing before us, as He did in front of the paralytic and is asking us: Do you want to be healed as parish, do you want to be healed as the Church? And, today we are also standing here having the opportunity to answer the Pilate's famous question: what do you want to do with Christ called Jesus? O, my beloved, once again our Lord's life is in our hands, let us not imitate those who put our Lord to death. Let us not be guilty before God for our negligence and indifference while others are trying to crucify our Lord. God has entrusted to us His Church. Our Lord is standing before us in silence waiting. If we do not act now, we will imitate those Roman soldiers, who although had nothing to do with any of the politics and the dynamics between Jesus and the Jews, yet they are known to be those who put Him to death. Dear brothers and sisters, if you are in the position to help, please do help now, by donating your time, talent or money! Your church needs you and we certainly all need Christ! May the Lord our God bless all our efforts and may He grant us the strength and wisdom to invest wisely our time money and treasure, and to choose Christ and His Church over all the earthly pleasures and temporary enjoyments, acquiring thus heavenly crowns and the life eternal. Amen."

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