Κυριακή 17 Δεκεμβρίου 2017

Healing on the Sabbath (& about the spiritual warfare & armour)

Jesus healing an infirm woman

Icon from here

Orthodox Metropolis of Zambia and Malawi

When we are hearing about spiritual warfare, one way or another, we are often speaking about ourselves as some kind of Star Wars warrior or something. Very often images pass through the mind (especially today when the Apostle is talking about putting on the whole armour). It’s not so simple as this because the spiritual Fathers, and Mothers, who have experience, understand, and they repeat frequently, that it is not the way.


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Very often we are carried away by rules, and regulations, and that’s very much the case in today’s Gospel reading, because this woman was healed of her illness on the Sabbath Day. (In this particular case it was not simply an illness, but it also had to do with a demonic oppression.) A very important thing to remember is that underlying everything in the relationship with the Lord, is this saying: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath Day, the day of rest, was given to us as a blessing, a day on which we could rest from doing all sorts of work, and instead, devote ourselves to worshipping God. That should take precedence over everything.
However, the worship of God should not be unreasonable. Human beings like to take liberties, of course. That old saying: “Give them an inch, and they will take a yard or even a mile” applies to all human beings. So when it is understood by human beings very often that there is freedom to do whatever their heart moves them to do on the Sabbath Day, the tendency is to do whatever you feel like on the Sabbath Day. People would naturally begin to do all sorts of things that are not exactly restful, and make excuses for not attending worship services. Those who were in charge of the congregations in those pre-Christian days, like people still do today, said: Well, since people are getting all unruly, we have to regulate life, and put things in order. Therefore we are going to have to make extra rules to make sure that people don’t do any work at any time on the Sabbath Day.


 
Photo from here (Malawi)

The rules that they came up with became almost ridiculous. If you had been doing some sewing some other day, and if you accidentally on the Sabbath put on a coat or a cloak that had a needle in it, and you got caught by someone, you would be accused of working on the Sabbath Day, and you would be given penalties because you were carrying a needle in your cloak. This doesn’t work, of course, because we get ridiculous in our attempt to protect something that is holy. The Sabbath Day is holy. Society, sad to say, used to keep the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath. We didn’t lose Saturday as the Sabbath, but we added Sunday in particular, the day of the Lord’s Resurrection. On this day, we worship the Lord, attend church, pay attention to the Lord, and put the Lord first.
We have to let the Lord guide, and govern our hearts, and direct us correctly. Worshipping the Lord, being in His presence, being together in the House of the Lord, at the Table of the Lord, on the Day of the Lord is the most important thing for us no matter what else seems to be important. We cannot survive the rest of the week, really, without coming here, being here at the Table of the Lord, among the people of the Lord, where He feeds us with Himself, with His life, so that we have strength to continue to follow the right way, with hearts that are open to the Lord, and able to hear everything by the Grace of the Holy Spirit.


The Gospel of the Day 
(in English, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic and Swahili)

Orthodox Metropolis of Zambia and Malawi

Luke 13:10-17


10 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years, and was bowed down and could in no way lift herself up.
12 And when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said unto her, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.”
13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Thou hypocrite! Doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering?
16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
17 And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.


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Lucas 13:10-17
A cura de uma mulher paralítica
10 E ensinava no sábado, numa das sinagogas. 11 E eis que estava ali uma mulher que tinha um espírito de enfermidade havia já dezoito anos; e andava curvada e não podia de modo algum endireitar-se. 12 E, vendo-a Jesus, chamou-a a si, e disse-lhe: Mulher, estás livre da tua enfermidade. 13 E impôs as mãos sobre ela, e logo se endireitou e glorificava a Deus. 14 E, tomando a palavra o príncipe da sinagoga, indignado porque Jesus curava no sábado, disse à multidão: Seis dias há em que é mister trabalhar; nestes, pois, vinde para serdes curados e não no dia de sábado. 15 Respondeu-lhe, porém, o Senhor e disse: Hipócrita, no sábado não desprende da manjedoura cada um de vós o seu boi ou jumento e não o leva a beber água? 16 E não convinha soltar desta prisão, no dia de sábado, esta filha de Abraão, a qual há dezoito anos Satanás mantinha presa? 17 E, dizendo ele isso, todos os seus adversários ficaram envergonhados, e todo o povo se alegrava por todas as coisas gloriosas que eram feitas por ele.


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От Луки 13:10-17
Иисус исцеляет женщину в субботу
10 В субботу Иисус учил в одной из синагог. 11 Там была женщина, скорченная духом болезни. Она не могла выпрямиться вот уже восемнадцать лет. 12 Увидев ее, Иисус вызвал ее вперед и сказал:

– Женщина! Ты свободна от своей болезни!
13 Он возложил на нее руки, и она сразу выпрямилась и стала славить Бога. 14 Но начальника синагоги разозлило, что Иисус исцелил в субботу, и он обратился к присутствующим:
– Есть шесть дней для работы, вот и приходите для исцеления не в субботу, а в один из этих дней.
15 На это Господь ответил ему:
– Лицемеры! Разве в субботу вы не отвязываете в стойле вола или осла и не ведете его поить? 16 Так не нужно ли было освободить в субботу и эту женщину, одну из дочерей Авраама, вот уже восемнадцать лет связанную сатаной?
17 Когда Он это сказал, всем Его противникам стало стыдно, а весь народ радовался чудесным делам, которые Он совершал.

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Luka 13:10-17
10 Siku moja ya sabato, Yesu alikuwa akifundisha katika sinagogi mojawapo. 11 Na hapo alikuwapo mwanamke mmoja alikuwa ameugua kwa muda wa miaka kumi na minane kutokana na pepo ali yekuwa amemwingia. Hali hiyo ilimfanya mwanamke huyo apindike hata asiweze kusimama wima. 12 Yesu alipomwona, akamwita akam wambia, “Mama, uwe huru, umepona ugonjwa wako.” 13 Yesu akamwekea mikono, na mara akasimama wima, akamtukuza Mungu. 14 Mkuu wa sinagogi akakasirika kwa kuwa Yesu alikuwa ameponya mtu siku ya sabato. Kwa hiyo akawaambia watu, “Kuna siku sita ambazo watu wanapaswa kufanya kazi, katika siku hizo, njooni mpo nywe; msije kuponywa siku ya sabato!”
15 Lakini Bwana akamjibu, “Ninyi ni wanafiki! Kila mmoja wenu humfungulia ng’ombe wake au punda wake kutoka zizini akampeleka kumnywesha maji siku ya sabato. 16 Je, huyu mama, ambaye ni binti wa Ibrahimu aliyefungwa na shetani kwa miaka yote hii kumi na minane, hastahili kufunguliwa kutoka katika kifungo hicho siku ya sabato?” 17 Aliposema haya, wapinzani wake wakaona aibu lakini watu wakafurahi kwa ajili ya mambo ya ajabu aliyoyafanya. Mfano Wa Punje Ya Haradali.

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ﻟﻮﻗﺎ 13:10-17

يَسُوعُ يَشفِي امْرأةً يَومَ السَّبت
10 وَكانَ يَسُوعُ يُعَلِّمُ فِي مَجمَعٍ يَومَ سَبتٍ. 11 وَكانَتْ هُناكَ امْرأةٌ فِيها رُوحُ ضَعفٍ مُنذُ ثَمانِيَ عَشرَةَ سَنَةً، حَتَّى إنَّ ظَهرَها كانَ مَحنِيّاً فَلا تَقدِرُ أنْ تَستَقِيمَ. 12 وَحِينَ رَآها يَسُوعُ، ناداها وَقالَ لَها: «أيَّتُها المَرأةُ، أنتِ حُرَّةٌ مِنْ مَرَضِكِ!» 13 ثُمَّ وَضَعَ يَدَيهِ عَلَيها، فَاسْتَقامَ ظَهرُها فَوراً، وَشَكَرَتِ اللهَ.

14 فَغَضِبَ رَئِيسُ المَجمَعِ كَثِيراً لِأنَّ يَسُوعَ شَفَى يَومَ السَّبتِ. فَقالَ لِلنّاسِ: «فِي الأُسبُوعِ سِتَّةُ أيّامٍ يُمكِنُ لِلنّاسِ أنْ يَعمَلُوا فِيها، فَتَعالُوا فِي تِلكَ الأيّامِ وَاستَشْفُوا، لَكِنْ لا تَأْتُوا لِتَستَشْفُوا فِي يَومِ السَّبتِ.»
15 فَأجابَهُ الرَّبُّ وَقالَ: «أيُّها المُنافِقُونَ، ألا يُخرِجُ كُلُّ واحِدٍ مِنكُمْ ثَورَهُ أوْ حِمارَهُ مِنَ الحَظِيرَةِ فِي السَّبتِ وَيَقُودُهُ لِيَسقِيهِ؟ 16 وَالآنَ هَذِهِ المَرأةُ هِيَ مِنْ نَسلِ إبراهِيْمَ، وَقَدْ رَبَطَها الشَّيطانُ ثَمانِيَ عَشرَةَ سَنَةً. أفَلا يَجوزُ أنْ تَتَحَرَّرَ فِي السَّبتِ مِمّا رَبَطَها؟» 17 فَلَمّا قالَ هَذا، أخزَى الَّذِينَ كانُوا يُعارِضُونَهُ. وَكانَ النّاسُ مُبتَهِجِينَ بِسَبَبِ كُلِّ الأعمالِ العَجِيبَةِ الَّتِي صَنَعَها يَسُوعُ.

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