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10th Sunday in Luke Ocala,12-5-04 Today's Gospel lesson related to us the miraculous healing of an elderly woman, who had suffered for 18 years. The events surrounding this miracle bring for a very powerful teaching. Through this one incident, we see mankind portrayed with the lofty ideal of concern and compassion, as opposed to a widespread evil, which we recognize as envy. It wasn't unusual to see our Lord Jesus teaching in the Synagogues of His time. His visits often happened on the Sabbath, --a holy day set aside by the Hebrews, during which they abstained from any kind of work. On a certain Sabbath the Lord could not but notice a woman, who was bent over so much, that she could barely raise her head to look to see the Divine Preacher. With compassion, which radiated from His countenance, the Lord approaches the elderly woman and says: "Woman, you are healed of your infirmity." Immediately the woman stood erect and commenced glorifying God for His miraculous works. The whole congregation also rejoiced and praised God. Yes, everyone, --- except one, and he happened to be the ruler of the Synagogue. With a heart -- devoid of even a spark of love and compassion, but filled with envy and hate he speaks out from his position of prominence and chastises the Lord's act by saying: "There are six days in which one ought to work; on these days therefore, come and be cured, and not on the day of the Sabbath!" How vividly we can see the blinding, destructive and devastating force of envy, when the ruler of the Synagogue chooses to equate the miraculous benefaction with common labor. However, the position was made very clear by the Lord when he responded to the ruler: "You hypocrite; does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox, or beast of burden from the manger and leads it forth to water?" "And this woman, daughter of Abraham as she is, whom satan had bound, -- lo, for eighteen years, ought not she be loosed from this bond even on the Sabbath?" I do not know the etymology of the word envy. But in Greek, as stated in the Bible, envy is translated as "fthonos," and "fthonos" means the decaying or rotting away, A good example is the rusting of a piece of iron if proper precaution is not taken by painting. The lack of paint will readily eat through the thickest piece of iron until it is completely consumed by the rust. Envy will do the same thing to a human being, if he or she does not guard against it. Envy is much like the termites, which unsuspectedly eat through large supporting beams until one day the house collapses. The envy, as expressed by the ruler of the Synagogue in today's Gospel lesson, had blinded him to such a degree, that he sought to minimize even a supernatural act. This type of envy unfortunately, is not absent from our every day experience. We may witness it in our family circle; we may see its evil effects on the organizational, social, political, ecclesiastical, and even international level. The envious person will constantly seek to minimize or destroy that, which he or she cannot achieve, and thereby does not want to see anyone achieve that which he or she can't. I think that envy is one of the worst evils and sins that can befall any human being. If a person falls victim to this catastrophic evil, I think he or she ceases to be a human being. Proof of this, is the fact that the envious person is in his greatest misery, when he witnesses another's happiness, success, or glory, and is overjoyed, when the envied person suffers because of difficulties. Perhaps the earliest record of the extreme result of envy is the fratricide of Cain against his brother Abel. Wasn't it also the envy of the 11 bother of Joseph that prompted them to sell him to Egyptian merchants and report back to their father Jacob, that he had been killed? Unfortunately, this fratricide continues, and will continue as long as people persist to be estranged from their Divine calling and mission, that is to become a likeness of God. The roots of envy are surely to be found in egotism -- in false pride and vainglory, which have the power to delude a person to think that he or she is, without a doubt, much better, much more qualified, much greater, and more important than anyone in his or her circle. The pre-occupation of the envious person seems to be comparing himself or herself with others, and concluding, that by far they are superior. This is tantamount to a grand obsession, but in reality is a grand delusion! Without question, the envious person can possibly damage the person he or she envies. But, the greater damage comes to the person who envies, because the poison that springs from the heart, firstly poisons the one who envies. In the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 30, verse 24, the God-inspired writer states: "Envy and wrath shorten life." There is an historical anecdote, perhaps known to some of you, which teaches a vivid lesson. In ancient Greece, Aristides the just was banished by the Athenian Assembly as a result of envy. He was known as the just Aristides because of his integrity. This was a cause for envious people to commence their work of undermining. An illiterate citizen on the outskirts of Athens, not recognizing Aristides, approached him to ask him to write the name Aristides on a sea shell for him. That was the system then for voting to exile people. Sea shell in Greek means "Ostracon." Hence, the familiar term "ostracize." Aristides obliged the pleasant, and wrote his name on the sea shell. He then asked him if he knew Aristides, and if he had anything against him. "No" said the peasant, "I don't know him, nor anything about him; but I am tired of hearing his name as Aristides the just." Aristides was ostracized as a result of envy, but the phenomenon of the ignorant peasant is also not absent from our society. Oftentimes people will become part of a movement without knowing what the motives are. Therefore, everyone should always be on guard to cast out any seed of envy or jealousy that we may feel germinating in our heart. How often we've heard about a cancer patient, that, if he or she would have submitted to an operation months before there was a good chance of survival. Envy is like cancer. It must be dealt with in its incubative stages. If it is permitted to fully develop, to be sure, there is no surgery or medicine that can cure it. In our society there are people who are educated, and from a seemingly good background, who cannot bear to hear another person praised, -- especially if that person's activities lie in the same field of endeavor. The quarrels and bitterness that are witnessed among people of ability and education --- statesmen, artists, musicians, scholars, doctors, and even clergymen --- the quarrels and bitterness I repeat, are too notorious to call or more than a passing comment. Envy or " jealousy I think, is the spur, with which the devil will ride even the noblest tempers. People with a truly warped conscience, who envy even unto death, are hopeless and are to be lamented. That is why those, who sense even the slightest element of envy in their heart, must by all means commence the uprooting, while they still have the power to do so, --- before the roots spread widely and deeply. For all things, we personally must be our best diagnosticians. We must always submit ourselves to a sincere appraisal of self. Envy is a great evil, and unfortunately we are all susceptible to it. For envy there is only one antidote, and that is, love. Christian love--agape. When our heart is filled with love, rest assured that envy cannot even begin to take root. When we increase love within our heart, the danger of envy rooting is minimized. Petrarch, the Italian poet of centuries ago said that there are five great enemies to peace which inhabit with us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride. If those enemies were to be banished, we would undoubtedly enjoy inner perpetual peace." Amen.
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