The greatest miracle of all miracles is the forgiveness of sins – Fr. Gavril Galev
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Refer: Matthew 9, 1-8
Through this event and conversation, the Lord Jesus Christ revealed much good news to the Jewish people at that time, as well as to us today.
This occurred at the beginning, soon after his appearance as a preacher amongst the nation and the people, who still did not know exactly who He was. They heard about His miracles and therefore sought Him.
The greatest miracle of all miracles performed by God is the forgiveness of sins. Healings of diseases had occurred previously, but never has it occurred that someone could forgive the sins of someone else. That is why the scribes were right when they said that no one can forgive sins except God Himself (Mt. 9:3). But their mistake was that they did not know Him through His works.
Indeed, the greatest miracle is for a sinful man to repent, confess his sins, be forgiven and become righteous. The first and basic condition for the forgiveness of sins is true faith and life in the Church. This signifies dwelling in His boat and city (Mt. 9:1). There is no salvation outside that boat and city, outside the Church of Christ.
In this world and age we are all sinners and we all have a need of forgiveness of our sins. And indeed that is the most crucial thing in life for us, to free ourselves of our sins and inherit eternal life. Everything that happens to us in life, whether it be illness, whether it be poverty, whether it be some mishap, originates from our sinfulness and fallen human nature, and it happens for our own salvation (good).
Unfortunately, we are ungrateful and unrighteous. When we are healthy and well, young, strong, beautiful, rich…, we are not looking for God. We think that the whole world is ours and we can do anything. We forget about Him, we think we are powerful and we declare ourselves gods and place ourselves in the place of God. However, God does not abandon us and He desires our supplication. That is why He allows various tribulations (temptations) so that we understand and see our weakness and poverty, so that we can seek Him and ask for His help.
Another thing that Jesus Christ reveals to us here is that He is the true God, the incarnate Word of God, the chosen Messiah, and He also reveals to us the secret of the human heart.
As you can notice yourself, they were just beginning to think to themselves, He already knew their thoughts, and addressed them with the words: “Why do you think evil in your hearts?” (Mt. 9: 4) Who else can know what is in his heart, except that man himself and the One God, who is Lord and Creator of all creation.
God also reveals to us that the heart is the psycho-physical centre of man and in which all human forces are gathered. From the heart, as a source, all our thoughts, feelings and desires originate. The heart is to be the throne of God, the place where God dwells through His energies. It should be a pure source of grace, light, warmth, love, joy and every perfect gift of God. But our heart is closed, has become cold and darkened, has become full of defilement and corruption, and the greatest evils originate from within it.
Our free will has become captive to sin and the devil, and therefore it is more difficult to forgive the sins of the heart than to heal the diseases of the irrational body. God saw that sincere faith and humility in this sick man and his relatives who brought him, and therefore forgave his sins. And in order to show that the forgiveness is true and real, He also frees him from the disease, telling him to take up his bed and go. The bed, on the other hand, is our passions, which we should control, and not be held captive by them and nailed as in a bed (Mt. 9: 5-7).
Therefore, in accordance with today’s Gospel reading, we will be justified if we glorify Christ, as this sick man glorified Him and the simple-minded people with him. Otherwise we will be condemned as proud, vain, insubordinate and bad people, as the Jewish scribes were.
Therefore, the most crucial thing in this temporary life on earth is to recognise our sins, through our weaknesses, and to confess. The act of confession means to live according to the God’s will, according to the image and likeness of God, and that is to have love between us, to humble ourselves before each other, to tolerate each other and in this way to acquire the Kingdom of Heaven which has been made and created only for us.
Amen.
Fr. Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
25 / 07 / 2022
