The Physician – Page 2 – The Tao of Holy Orthodoxy

October 11, 2017October 16, 2017

16. Christ Heals the Sick

After his Holy Baptism, Jesus Christ began his public ministry on earth so that everyone would know His words were true: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14.6). Christ taught those who followed Him the Way of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the Way of Life that heals us from death. He healed the sick from illnesses ravaging the body. These physical healings pointed to the greater healing He came to accomplish: The destruction of death in soul and body.

Christ healed the paralyzed man to reveal His power to raise up souls paralyzed by sin and death. He gave sight to the blind to show that He, the Light of the World, is alone the Source of true spiritual Enlightenment. He anointed suffering soul with divine forgiveness and freed the possessed from their demonic tormentors. Christ even raised the dead to confirm His Life-Giving power over death in the soul and the body.

During His ministry on earth, Christ gathered together Twelve men to learn the Way as disciples and to carry the Way into the world as apostles. They witnessed what Christ said and did, announced the kingdom of heaven, healed the sick, and cast out demons. In addition to these Twelve, Christ also appointed Seventy apostles to share in this ministry.

By His teaching of the Way and His miraculous healings, Jesus Christ publicly demonstrated that He is the one Physician, being God and man, who can restore life to the whole human person, body and soul.

Read: Luke 4.14-30; 5.17-26; 6.12-16; 9.1-6; 10.1-18; Mark 5:21-43; John 5; John 9

October 11, 2017October 16, 2017

15. The Holy Theophany

In the wilderness, Jesus Christ fasted and prayed for forty days. He demonstrated the benefit of spiritual training for acquiring good health in the soul. After His time of preparation, He visited John the Baptist. This John is the prophet who prepared for Christ’s arrival by announcing, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose” (Mark 1.7, NKJV).

Jesus instructed John to baptize Him and so John did as the Master commanded. When Jesus rose up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven proclaimed, “You are my beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased” (Luke 3.21-22). The baptism of Jesus Christ is called the Holy Theophany because through this event the true and living God revealed Himself clearly to humanity as the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, One God.

In His Baptism, the Creator Who covered the earth with water was submerged into His creation. Since the water of the earth had been affected by the condition of death, the Son of God renewed the water, restoring it to the pristine state of Paradise. God made the nature of water pure and holy by His Divine Presence so that water could be used a spiritual medicine for healing of the human soul.

Read: Luke 3.21-22; John 1.29-34; Matthew 3.13-17

October 2, 2017October 16, 2017

14. The Holy Incarnation

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, one of four Gospels in Holy Scripture recording the life of Jesus Christ, opens with the words “In the beginning,” echoing the story of the creation in the Book of Genesis:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1.1-5, NKJV)

The Word was with God because He is the Son of the Father. God created by His Word, that is, the Father created through His Son. The Son is not the Father and the Father is not the Son, but the Son of God has always existed with God the Father. With the Father, the Son created all things, gives order to all things, and sustains all things. The Word was God because the Father and the Son are One Essence, undivided, without beginning or end. In whatever way the Father is God, the Son is also the One God.

In Greek, the Eternal Word underlying all reality is called the Logos. In Chinese, the Eternal Word is called the Tao. Ancient Greek philosophers and Chinese sages spoke of this Mystery beyond human thought, but they only knew a little of this revelation. No one can know more about God than God Himself reveals about Himself.

The Apostle John spoke more of the great Mystery concerning the the Son of God, the true Logos and Tao:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1.14, NKJV)

As Creator and Lord of All, God fills all things and sustains all things. Yet, while being present everywhere as God, He made for Himself a human body and soul in the womb of a Virgin. The Uncreated One Who contains the universe within Himself became a creature on earth. From the moment of his miraculous conception, the Son of God existed as a perfect human being, while still reigning as King over all creation. He is one Person in two natures, both completely human like His mother and entirely God as His Father. He is Jesus Christ, the God-Man. For this reason, His Virgin Mother, Mary, is called the Mother of God and Theotokos, which means, the Birth-giver of God.

The birth of Jesus Christ is also described in two other Gospels, the The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke and The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew. In his account, St. Luke described how the Archangel Gabriel brought a divine message to a young virgin named Mary. The Archangel revealed to Mary that she would give birth to a son, whom she would name Jesus. By the power of God, she would conceive in her virginity and become the mother of the Holy One, the Son of God. St. Luke indicted that when Jesus Christ was born, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, a humble feeding trough for animals. The Child received shepherds as visitors after heavenly angels appeared in the night to announce the birth their Lord and King, called the Christ.

In his description of events, St. Matthew adds mention of a centuries-old prophecy foretelling a Ruler who would be born in the small town of Bethlehem. This Child would have ancient origins, even as far back as before time (Isaiah 7.14; Micah 5.2, LXX). St. Matthew also wrote how pagan astrologers, called Magi, travelled from a foreign land to find a King whose birth had been revealed by an auspicious star. When they found Him, the Magi presented the Child with royal gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worshiped Him.

The Apostles Matthew and Luke recorded historical details regarding the birth of Jesus Christ, the God-Man. The Apostle John, who is often symbolized by a high-flying eagle, takes us straightway to the height of the Mystery. In these few simple words, he offers a profound explanation of the meaning of Christmas: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…..

God became human so that we might become like Him by participating in His Grace (2 Peter 1.4). Our Physician joined His Divine Nature to our human nature in order to heal and perfect our human nature. This Mystery, impossible to grasp, of God becoming a human being is called the Holy Incarnation.

Read: John 1.1-14; Luke 2.2-24; Matthew 1.18-2.12