Calgary, Alberta
Friday, July 17, 2026
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 7:35–8:7 · Gospel: Matthew 15:29–31
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
My beloved children in the Lord – In the rather short reading from the Gospel of Saint Matthew appointed for today, we heard how, departing from a certain region, Jesus came near the Sea of Galilee, went up into a mountain, and sat down there. And great multitudes came to Him — bringing with them the lame, the blind, the mute, the maimed, and many others — and they laid them down at His feet, and He healed them. Seeing these miraculous healings, the multitude marveled, and glorified the God of Israel.
The movements in this account are similar to the one we hear during the Paschal season, on the Sunday of the Paralytic. That account, which offers up the miraculous healing on the Sabbath of the paralytic by our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, is longer but the actual moment of healing is equally brief: the Lord says to the paralytic: “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately, we are told, the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
In today’s Gospel, the multitude bring the many broken people and simply lay them down at the feet of the Lord and, as we are told “He healed them.” There is a simplicity to these movements should not go unnoticed. In fact, it is striking to note what that crowd, in this case, did not do. They did not come to the Lord with an argument, or with a plan for how healing ought to work, or a theory about what was wrong with those who were ill. They came with an attitude of humility, the only way those who are desperate can come — carrying their own broken bodies, and the broken bodies of people they love, and they simply laid them down. As we should all do, they brought forward all their affliction with honesty but with quiet hope.
But in both of these simple accounts, there is a lot of activity surrounding the brief moments of healing: in the case of the paralytic, there are the years of patient waiting at the pool that this man endured, hoping for healing; there is the fact of his isolation, having no man to help put him into the water; there is the complicated ritual followed by all those who waited for the moving of the water by the angel. Afterwards, there is the drama raised up by those who accused the Lord of breaking the Sabbath.
One can imagine that there is a similar level of activity in the lives of all those who approach the Lord, both those who were suffering and broken and those who cared for them and brought them to the feet of Christ.
In all this activity, there is a reminder to all of us, as we experience the complexity and difficulty of our modern existence, and that reminder is found in the words that conclude both of these accounts. In the case of the Paralytic, we hear that: The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And today, the multitudes received not only healing of their bodies but worship, because we are told that they glorified the God of Israel.
Christ, the one whose name is made known and the one to whom glory is offered, is the center and the foundation of our lives, both in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in health and in sickness, when we are hopeful and when are despairing. It is good for us to remember this, that is to remember Jesus Christ, the one who makes us well, and not to be distracted by the loud voices of this world that remind us constantly of the brokenness of that world.
We certainly know of the brokenness of the world. We know that ancestral sin has brought in three things: suffering, corruption and sickness, and finally death. All these realities are not new to us. But the ultimate cause of suffering, corruption, and death is the separation from God that was first brought about by Adam and Eve through their sin, that is from the loss of grace that came about by their separation from God.
Today’s Gospel account is therefore an encouragement to all of us who live in this world, an encouragement to continually reach for the light of Christ, by which we are guided back to wholeness. It is the light of the resurrection that illumines the darkest regions of the world but also the darkest parts of our own hearts. And when we see the dark parts of our hearts, we do not despair but rather see more clearly the direction we need to take. And that direction is towards the Lord who makes us well, who heals our brokenness, and dispels our paralysis.
In the most fundamental way, the simple Gospel reading we heard today provides us with an image what it means to hand the faith to those who come after us. The multitude on the mountain did not glorify God because their situation had been explained to them. They glorified Him because their brokenness had been carried to Him, and He had not turned it away.
We find a parallel simple image in today’s Epistle. Saint Paul, writing to a congregation full of its own knowledge and its own certainties, says something quite plain: “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.” Knowledge is not the enemy. The Apostle does not tell us to stop learning, stop discerning, stop building the structures our life together requires. But he is clear that knowledge held without love does not build the Church. It only inflates the one who holds it. Even more clearly, the Apostle reminds us of this truth: “If anyone loves God, this one is known by him.”
This is a gentle reminder to us that often the complexities we are presented with in life are not problems to be solved but opportunities to love God so that we might be known by him, that is, receive his divine grace. And in this simple movement is where healing begins and where worship flows forth.
May we all persevere with the patience of the lame, the blind, the mute, the maimed, who were brought to the feet of the Lord today. And may we kindle in our hearts the love of those who carried them, knowing he himself, the one who trampled down death by his own voluntary death, always remains the divine physician who brings healing to all who strive to follow him. And in so doing, may we be united to him through repentance, through prayer, and through love so that we might in oneness of mind praise and worship him, together with his Father without beginning, and the most holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.