Sin has had an impact on human nature, causing it to fall ill. The evangelists draw our attention to this fact. In Orthodox understanding, sin is the spiritual ailment of humanity. Whether you are physically healthy or not, you are still spiritually unwell. And our healing comes only from the Lord.

Recently, I had to deal with illness and even spend some time in the hospital. During my illness, I made an effort to read the New Testament. Perhaps because I was unwell myself, I noticed how frequently sick individuals appear on the pages of the Gospels.

I began to ponder: why do the evangelists emphasize this?

Illnesses stem from sin. Not only in the sense that illnesses are sometimes sent as a consequence of sin. Illness itself entered human life after the fall.

Sin has affected human nature, making it prone to illness. The evangelists draw our attention to this. Sin, in Orthodox understanding, is the spiritual ailment of humanity.

But the ailing individuals in the Holy Scriptures are not just historical figures. They are symbols. In the interpretations of the Holy Fathers, the biblical images of the sick are seen as representations of specific diagnoses of our spiritual condition.

The deaf, blind, leprous individuals we encounter in the New Testament demonstrate how spiritually sick humanity was by the time the Lord Jesus Christ arrived. Their healing by the Savior indicates the advent of the Messianic era.

The prophets spoke of this: when the Messiah comes, He will heal people. Not in vain, when messengers from John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" — Christ, as proof of His Messianic nature, offered precisely these kinds of arguments.

He said, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."

Christ shows that the entire Messianic "package" described by the prophets is fulfilled in Him. Christ heals people from incurable diseases because He is God and the Messiah.

We can perceive these testimonies not only directly but also metaphorically. The blind did regain sight, the dead were genuinely resurrected in the New Testament narrative. However, physically healthy people, when encountering Christ, experienced the opening of the inner eyes of the heart and the spiritual resurrection of dead souls.

And all of this is about us. In every detail.

The lame — that's me, heading not where the Lord calls but somewhere on the side. The blind — also me, not noticing my sins, not seeing the good in other people. The leper — again, it's about me. My soul is decaying from sins, like the skin of a leper, and there is no healing for it except from the Lord — just as leprosy was incurable in the time of Christ.

Who is the paralyzed one? Also me, lying in the puddle of my sins, spiritually paralyzed, unable to rise from this mud without Christ. The deaf — once again, me. The Lord tells me something — through other people, or the words of the Gospel, or the verses of liturgical texts, or life circumstances. But I do not hear and do not want to hear. I want to hear only myself and my desires.

And the dead — that's me too. My "hardened insensitivity" to God makes me a spiritual dead man...

It is striking that in the Holy Scriptures, every letter, every line is about us. And there is no healing for us except from the Lord...

Soon, I recovered from my illness. But I remembered the lesson from the Bible. And sometimes, I even think: maybe I ended up in the hospital for this very reason — to understand this. Whether you are physically healthy or not, you are still spiritually unwell. And our healing comes only from the Lord...

Thanks be to God for all His lessons.

Program "Personal Opinion" on Radio "Vera": https://radiovera.ru/bolnye-v-biblii-i-my-sergej-komarov.html