In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

Child, Arise! (Luke, 8.54)

Today’s Gospel reading (Luke, 8; 41-56) tells us about the core thing of the New Testament – about the Victory of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ shows us that He came to this world in order to defeat evil and sufferings that appeared on the earth as a result of the first people’s sin.
Our Saviour triumphs over the most frightening types of diseases and death by the way that is directly opposite to that by which these plagues of humankind came upon it. The Holy Bible teaches us that diseases and death originated as a result of destruction of the unity between God and people at the beginning of human history; Jesus Christ descends to our world in order to restore this connection that was once cut off by the fall of man.
Undoubtedly, the most grievous malady is that one that does not have an end and is not to be cured. Today’s Gospel story tells us about such a sickness of a woman that spent all her money on medicine without finding the necessary remedy… The doctors refused to cure her…
It is also widely agreed that the most awful death is the death at the beginning of life, the death of a child. You have also heard today in the reading of the Holy Scriptures about a sudden death of the twelve-year old girl. And how does Jesus Christ conquer these illnesses and death?
The sick woman, after having lost any hope in earthly cure, touches with faith the edge of Jesus Christ’s vestments – and becomes healthy again! It is very interesting that she does it by herself and secretly, as once Eve stretched secretly her arms to the forbidden fruit… But at this time it is the reverse movement: Eve, by transgressing the Will of God, had detached herself and her descendants from our Heavenly Father, while this sick woman of the Gospel story tries to reach God and to establish the connection with Him and, thus, obtains her health. God did not create us to be miserable; He never wanted us to be unhappy or get sick, or die. The sick woman touches Jesus Christ and receives from Him the power to live. This Divine Power defeats her long-term disease… By virtue of her faith in God, the Heavenly Healer, she became again healthy and intact.
In order to make the girl to recover from death, Our Lord Jesus Christ enters the house of her father Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, who had invited Him to come. At the presence of just a few witnesses Jesus takes the girl by her lifeless hand and says to her: “Talitha cumi, which is, My child, I say to you, Get up!” (Mark, 5:41). The girl, quite oppositely to the disobedient Eve, obeys God. She gets up from the bed and starts to eat. The death runs from her, as a shadow, and the life returns to her again…
This story clearly teaches us a lesson that if we want to be healthy and have an eternal life, we should always obey our God, and live in compliance with His Old Testament Commandments, and according to His New Testament teaching. We should always be with Christ in His Holy Church! Let us endlessly touch Jesus Christ and constantly reconcile with God through kissing and venerating His Holy Cross. Let us invite Jesus Christ to enter the house of our heart at the moment of the Holy Communion of the Immortal Mysteries of His Holy Body and Precious Blood during the Divine Liturgy. Amen.
November 18, 2012. Holy Trinity Orthodox Patriarchal Church, Wostok.