The Holy Martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphtonius, Elpidephorus, and Anempodistus.
1 Thessalonians 2:9-14; Luke 11:14-23.
Read Luke 11:14-23
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In today’s reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus states a universal truth: a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand (11:18). This truth extends beyond the temporal and political realms; it reverberates through the corridors of fallen human experience.
At the heart of all divisions lies the primal fracture, the estrangement of humanity from God—the wellspring of life and goodness. This estrangement permeates our experience, manifesting itself as discord within our families, our parishes and within ourselves. It is a wound that festers, a chasm that widens with every passing generation.
Yet, at the end of the day we know that this wound is not unto death (1 John 5: 15) In His boundless mercy, God sends forth His Son, Jesus Christ, to bridge this abyss. The Incarnation stands as the apex of divine intervention, the moment when God, in the person of Christ, assumes our human nature, bearing our burdens, our pains, and our divisions – making it possible for us to be reunited with God and with each other in Him.
Christ’s casting out of Satan in today’s Gospel is a tangible manifestation of this reality, as St. Cyril of Alexandria explains, “Although he is by nature God and the Giver of the Spirit from God the Father to those who are worthy and employs as his own that power which is from him, he spoke as a man. He is consubstantial with him, and whatever is said to be done by God the Father, this necessarily is by the Son in the Spirit. He says, “If I, being a man, and having become like you, cast out devils in the Spirit of God, human nature has in me first attained to a godlike kingdom.” (Commentary on Luke, Homily 81).
As Christians, we are called to internalize this truth, to recognize that in Christ’s victory over sin and division, we find our own hope and restoration. United in Christ, by faith and baptism, and continually striving to live the life of repentance and asceticism, we become living testimonies to the reconciling power of Christ’s Incarnation. Let us, then, strive to embody this unity in our thoughts, words, and actions, so that, in the words of St. Cyril, “the kingdom of God has come upon us” in all its resplendent majesty.
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