GREAT MULTITUDES FOLLOWED HIM

 A SERMON FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY

“When Jesus was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.”  These opening words from today’s Gospel reminded me of another Gospel we heard a few short weeks ago on the 2^nd Sunday in Advent, when our Lord asked the crowd why they followed St. John the Baptist in such great numbers.  “What went ye out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken with the wind?  A man clothed in soft raiment?  A prophet?”  His questioning of the crowd is meant to show us exactly what the multitude were not seeking in this forerunner of the Messiah.  It can equally be applied to the Messiah himself—the multitude followed Jesus not because he was a reed shaken with the wind nor a man clothed in soft raiment, nor even a prophet.  They followed him because they recognized in our Lord something very special.  His miracles of healing, his teachings, his very persona all indicated to them that this was no ordinary man.  And so they followed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the divine.

Times change, cultures change, circumstances change.  But the nature of man does not change.  Why do you come to church today?  Is it to sit in awe at the beauty of our architecture, the majesty of our liturgy and music?  Is it to be entertained, distracted from the world’s problems for a few minutes?  No.  You come here, just as the multitude who followed Jesus, because you too want to catch a glimpse of something divine.  There are bigger and better churches, choirs, preachers out there, but do they offer what our modest little chapel can give you?  Do they offer the actual things of God?

Today’s Gospel describes two miracles our blessed Lord performed in the presence of the multitude that followed him.  We here in this church who have followed our Lord here this morning, are rewarded by witnessing the same two miracles.  In the first miracle, Christ heals a leper.  “And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.  And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”  This same miracle is performed here this morning.   How exactly?  For behold, there came a sinner to the confessional, saying, Father, if thou wilt, thou canst absolve me.  And Father puts forth his right hand over the sinner, saying, “I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  “Be thou clean.” If anything, this is an even greater miracle than healing mere leprosy.  For in the confessional, Christ heals the soul and not just the body.  And that’s something you won’t get down at your local protestant megachurch, no matter how good their coffee and donuts are!

In the second of the two miracles, a Roman centurion approaches our Lord to ask him the favor of healing his sick servant.  His words to Jesus are very familiar, we hear them at every Mass as we approach our blessed Lord at the communion rail, and we’ll hear them again this morning: “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.”  Apart from changing the word “servant” to “soul”—speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed,” the humble request of the centurion is exactly the same as what we ask of God when we receive his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in holy Communion.  The centurion was a man of authority over many soldiers.  He says to this man, “Go, and he goeth; and to another come, and he cometh.”  But no matter how much power we wield, whether we’re a king or a peasant, we approach God with the same humility, the same lowly acknowledgment of our unworthiness to receive God, to be in union with him in this our Most Blessed of Sacraments.  “And his servant”—our soul—“is healed in the selfsame hour.”  Miracle of miracles, we have followed Christ as he came down from the mountain of heaven this morning to this little chapel, we have followed him, and we have witnessed great wonders!  Hidden miracles they may be—after all, it is our hidden soul that is healed—but miracles nonetheless.

If there is a lesson to be learned from the observation of this phenomenon, it is that in order for our souls to be healed, we must first follow Christ.  It is not enough to merely believe that he is our Lord and Saviour, as the protestants do, it is not enough merely to be “good people” who are “nice” to our neighbors.  We must do both.  We must believe in our Saviour and follow the commandments he gave us, summed up in the love of God and our neighbor.  We must keep the true faith and we must practice true charity, love.  This is what is meant by following Christ.

We know where not to look for the true faith.  The leaders of the post-conciliar Church teach a faith that is not of Christ, they preach a whole new Gospel of globalism, climate-change, vaccinations, and other made-up political and divisive doctrines.  How do they show their allegiance to the traditional faith that was revealed by God and passed down to the apostles and their successors to us the Catholic faithful?  Is it by preserving that Tradition unsullied and perfect?  Or do they try to abolish the Traditional Mass, water down our doctrines, replace all that is holy with all things ugly, false, and godless? Do they actually pretend to claim that their loyalty to Tradition lies in their hatred of Tradition?  Do they expect us to follow them as they lead us down to the path to hell?

We can no longer comply with their agenda, because, quite simply, if we do, we will surely lose our souls.  And so, here we are, in somewhat uninspiring surroundings perhaps, but nevertheless in the presence of our Lord and Saviour.  Like the three wise men, we have followed our star of destiny to our little Bethlehem here, and in so doing, we have found our blessed Lord in this humble stable.  Let us present our gifts of faith, hope and charity, and return to our homes not by way of King Herod and his evil palace, but by another road, the Way of Christ, of him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, healed in our heart and mind and soul.