10th Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 17:14-23

In the Gospel reading for today, our Lord is approached by a man whose son is sick and possessed by a demon. The child often falls into the fire and into the water. The disciples attempted to cure him, but they could not. Jesus responds ‘O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.’ The child is brought to our Lord and He immediately rebukes the demon and cures the child. The disciples are confused and frustrated, saying ‘Why could we not cast out this demon?’ Our Lord tells them that they could not cast out the demon because of their unbelief. He emphasizes that if only they had the faith of a mustard seed, they could move mountains. And finally, He clarifies that this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

Today’s Gospel reading underscores for us that the effectiveness of our spiritual life is directly proportional to the health of our faith in God. The disciples were not able to cast out the demon because of the weakness of their faith. When our faith is lacking, we become spiritually weak and unhealthy, and we are more easily susceptible to sin, doubt, and all manner of problems. In that weakened state, not only are we more vulnerable to sin, but that lack of faith makes our prayers feeble and less effective… and this has consequences not just for us, but for those close to us and even for the whole world.

Each and every person has been created by God and God has given to each of us a soul which has the marvelous capability of sensing the Divine. This higher part of our soul is called by the Fathers the ‘nous’ in Greek and that capability of perceiving and receiving God is called our noetic sense. Our noetic sensibility will be either strengthened or weakened according to our faith in God.

And how might we strengthen our faith? Tito Colliander, in his book The Way of the Ascetics sums it up very plainly: ‘Faith comes not through pondering but through action. Not words and speculation but experience teaches us what God is. To let in fresh air, we have to open a window; to get tanned, we must go out into the sunshine. Achieving faith is no different; we never reach a goal by just sitting in comfort and waiting, say the holy Fathers. Let the Prodigal Son be our example. He “arose and came”.’

What action can we take to enliven our faith? Our Lord teaches us the means by which we acquire an active and loving faith in God… it is through prayer and fasting. And let us qualify that… because sadly, the call to prayer and fasting may be taken as a troublesome burden to our life. Fasting is not about resentful submission to a limited diet. And prayer is not about hurried reading of prescribed texts. Such approaches might have some benefit in disciplining ourselves toward prayer and fasting, but they are not at all what prayer and fasting are about. Both prayer and fasting are offerings to God… they are both sacrifices and exaltations springing forth from a heart which yearns in love and gratitude for her Lord and Savior. It is from such earnest prayer and fasting that true faith is born and flourishes.

And that faith, even the faith of a mustard seed, can move mountains. Such faith can transform us and can manifest within our own lives the very life of Christ.

Today we celebrate the seven sleepers of Ephesus… seven young men whose bold faith in Christ indeed manifested a reflection of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. These seven youths - Maximilian, Iamblicus, Martinian, John, Dionysius, Exacustodian, and Antoninus – lived in the third century. They were friends from childhood and served together in the military. When the Emperor Decius arrived in Ephesus, he commanded all citizens to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Torture and death awaited anyone who refused. When the seven youths appeared before the Emperor, they confessed their faith in Christ. Their military belts and insignia were stripped from them, but Decius allowed them to go free, hoping they would change their minds. The seven fled from the city and hid in a cave on Mt Ochlon, where they passed their time in prayer and prepared themselves for martyrdom.

Indeed, the Emperor sought them out again, and learning that they were in the cave, ordered that the entrance of the cave be sealed with stones so that the seven youths would perish from hunger and thirst.

The Lord placed the youths into a miraculous sleep which lasted almost two hundred years. During this time, the persecution of the Christians had ceased, however there were heretics who denied that there would be a general resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of them said, ‘How can there be a resurrection of the dead when there will be neither soul nor body, since they are disintegrated?’ Others affirmed, ‘The souls alone will have a restoration, since it would be impossible for bodies to arise and live after a thousand years, when even their dust would not remain.’ In the midst of this confusion, the Lord revealed the mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead and of the future life through His seven saints.

The owner of the land on which Mount Ochlon was situated discovered the sealed cave and had his workers open the entrance to the cave. The Lord had kept the youths alive, and they awoke from their sleep, unaware that almost two hundred years had passed. Their bodies and clothing were completely undecayed. Having been discovered, the youths expected to meet their martyrdom, but they were astonished to learn that the land was now Christian. The local bishop and others perceived that the Lord, by waking them from their long sleep, was demonstrating to the Church the mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead.

St Justin Popovich has called the saints ‘experiential theology’… and that is indeed an apt description, for it is in the life of faith of the saints that the life and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to be manifested to our world. God calls all of us to sanctity… He wishes nothing less for us.

May we make even the smallest steps in this direction by increasing our faith, by strengthening it through prayer and fasting, and may that great grace of our Lord Jesus Christ then be with us, transforming us into the fulness of that which we are created to be.