The Holy Apostles Stachys, Amplias and others with them; the Holy Martyr Epimachus (250)
2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 7:1-10
Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
It is always important for us to remember as Christians that our bodies matter. God fashioned our human bodies, gave us flesh so that he might be glorified through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who took on human flesh. In taking on human flesh Christ takes on our suffering even to death so that He might conquer those things that are so deeply foreign to us. What are these things? They are what came into the world because of the fall of humanity: suffering, sin, and death. We have not embodied souls, or embodied minds. That is not who we are. To argue this is to veer into the great and persistent heresy of gnosticism, which argues among other things that our true selves are imprisoned by the body. Some eastern religions speak about mindfulness or how we have to transcend the body, get beyond it. No, brothers and sisters, this is not the Christian faith. We confess the resurrection of the dead when we will gain a glorified body through the Resurrection of Christ. Think of the troparion of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday: “Assuring us before Your Passion of the general resurrection, You raised Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God.”
We are human beings made in the image and likeness of God: body, mind, and soul. While we are in this world, this “earthly tent we live in” there is disorder between these three parts of ourselves. As the Holy Apostle Paul says, “here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling.” We are called to that heavenly dwelling by Our Lord, who shows us what it means to be fully human, integrated, and whole. We know and yearn in our deepest selves for that unity within us that Christ brings. We will find that unity ultimately through the Resurrection of the Dead, but now we must “make it our aim to please Him.” This means to do His will and to earnestly desire union with Christ so that He might heal our disorder through the Holy Mysteries and a life centred on prayer. Then, please God, we will be saved body, mind, and soul and all disorder will be healed.