Sermons & Homilies
It’s in this state that Christ comes to us and asks us the question upon which hinges the entire Christian life: Wilt thou be made whole? (Jn. 5:6). “Do you want to be healed?” The answer may seem self-evident. Why else would the man be laying there by the sheep pool? But significantly, the paralytic does not simply say, “Yes.” He begins to explain why he can’t be healed. Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool (Jn. 5:7). We do something very similar. We presume that we want what’s best for ourselves, we presume that we truly desire spiritual health and salvation. “Why else would I be living a Christian life? Why else would I have come to the monastery?”
Our feast today is called Annunciation, in Greek εὐαγγελισμός. It means no ordinary proclamation but the preaching of good news, glad tidings, of the gospel. Accordingly, the Angel Gabriel begins his salutation to the Virgin with the greeting, “Rejoice!” And as we heard in the Synaxarion reading last night, this feast is above all else a feast of joy: “Rejoice, thou through whom joy will shine forth! Rejoice, thou through whom the curse will cease!” The Mother of God herself is called the “joyous one” throughout the hymns of the Church.
