Today, 9 June 2013, the 6th Sunday after the Holy Easter, the evangelical text on the healing of the blind born man was read in all churches.
His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church emphasised in the sermon delivered in the chapel dedicated to “Saint Great Martyr George” the teaching of the evangelical pericope of the day: “The Gospel shows us how Jesus Christ, our Saviour, healed a blind born man which thing was never seen or heard of before. The Gospel has several teachings very useful for the life of the Church and of every Christian. First of all, it shows us that disease or sufferance is not always the result of the sin, but very often a work of God in the life of some people for other people’s salvation. Secondly, we see that God the Word who was made man out of earth takes earth and saliva now and anoints the eyes of the blind born man and sends him to the pool of Siloam to wash, showing in this way that the divine power heals the blind born man. Thirdly, we see that as soon as he was healed, the blind born man was enlightened in faith and admitted that Jesus is the Son of God, while the scholars and Pharisees, full of envy and lack of faith remained darkened and hardened in their hearts. Fourthly, the Gospel shows us how God can change a blind born man into a confessor, into a missionary of Christ who confesses that Jesus is coming from God and God listens to only such a man”.
Rather often man reaches repentance through sufferance and it is also through sufferance that man is strengthened in faith, His Beatitude said.
“Jesus Christ, our Saviour, teaches us in the Gospel of the day that we should not judge very quickly when somebody is ill or suffering saying that it is the punishment of God or that it is the result of a curse from the parents, or over the parents, over the family, but we must venerate in silence one’s sufferance and the unknown work of God, not understood by us, even in sufferance. Very often sufferance leads to repentance, but it is also through sufferance that man is strengthened in faith and very often not only the one who is suffering is strengthened, but many of those around him when they see his firm faith, as Job who suffered a lot, but never rebelled but thanked God for everything with constant patience”, the Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church said.
“The Gospel shows us in its final part that this blind man healed confesses Christ. He shows us in his dialogue with the Pharisees that He comes from God, because if He would not come from God He were not able to work miracles, the blind man healed says. This confession of his makes him a teacher for all of us. We see that a blind man, a disabled and helpless man, becomes a confessor and a teacher for those who although can see with the eyes of the body cannot see the presence of God in their life and in the world with the eyes of the soul. Therefore, the Gospel shows us that the wonder was made so that Jesus Christ, our Lord, should give a spiritual lesson to the scholars and Pharisees who did not believe in Him and who did not spiritually feel and see the power of God working in the miracles made by Jesus”, His Beatitude said.
To end with, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel urged us to pray for the sick and those who suffer.
“Let us pray Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who healed the blind born man to give us the power to spiritually see around us those who suffer and help the confused ones, the senseless, disappointed ones who do not know how to pray, and help them with our prayers”, the Patriarch of Romania said.
The Gospel of the Sunday named the Sunday of the Blind Born Man continues the series of the Gospels after the Holy Easter, which present us a lot of healings made by Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that we should understand His saving and life giving power.
