1 Corinthians 12:27-13:8; Luke 16:19-31

Today we commemorate Saints Cosmas and Damian of Asia, the holy Unmercenary Healers.   They were physicians who healed both people and animals and refused payment for their services.  St. Paul’s famous words about love in today’s epistle reading were lived out by these great saints.  We remember them precisely because of their Christlike love, for they selflessly eased the pain of others, lightened their burdens, healed their bodies, and restored them to health.  They followed the example of the Savior in doing so.  They obeyed His charge to the disciples, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”  (Matt. 10:8) These saints did not take credit for their work or think that they healed by their own power.   To the contrary, their lives were transformed by the gracious divine energies to the point that they became channels of God’s mercy which flowed through them to bless and restore their suffering neighbors.

This is why Saints Cosmas and Damian were completely different from the rich man in today’s gospel reading who disregarded poor Lazarus.  Despite the benefit of the great spiritual heritage of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, he had become such a slave to gratifying his desire for indulgence in pleasure that he was completely blind to his responsibility to show mercy to Lazarus, a miserable beggar who wanted only crumbs and whose only comfort was when dogs licked his open sores.  The rich man’s life revolved around wearing the most expensive clothes and enjoying the finest food and drink. He surely stepped over or around Lazarus at the entrance to his home on a regular basis and never did anything at all to relieve his suffering.  

After their deaths, the two men’s situations were reversed.  The rich man had spent his life rejecting the teachings of Moses and the prophets about the necessity of showing mercy to the poor.   He had blinded himself spiritually to the point that he could not recognize Lazarus as a neighbor who bore the image of God.  He remained blind to the love of God after his death and could perceive the divine majesty as only a burning flame of torment.  When the rich man asked Father Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers to warn them of the consequences of living such a depraved life, the great patriarch responded, “‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

This statement applies to the corrupt religious leaders who called for Christ’s crucifixion and denied His resurrection because they wanted a warrior king who would serve their self-centered desire for earthly power and glory.  We must not fail to see, however, that the Lord’s statement speaks powerfully to us as those who have received the fullness of the mystery of salvation.  We must bear witness to the Savior’s victory over sin and death in our own lives.  Our responsibility is far greater than that of the Jews of old, for as members of Christ’s Body, the Church, the Holy Spirit strengthens us in learning to love our neighbors as the Lord has loved us. Therefore, we must conform our character to Christ’s to the point that we embody the words of the Apostle: “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude.  Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.”

The great test of whether we are sharing in the life of Christ is how we treat those with whom the Lord identified Himself:  those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, and imprisoned. (Matt. 25) The wretched state of the rich man’s soul was revealed by his refusal to love Lazarus, one of “the least of these,” as he loved himself.  Since he did not love his brother, it was impossible for him to love God. (1 Jn. 4:20) It is no surprise, then, that the rich man experienced the torment of bitter regret after his death, for he was in the eternal presence of the Lord Whom he had rejected throughout his life.  The eye of his soul was darkened to the point that he could perceive the divine glory as only a burning flame.  As St. Basil the Great proclaimed to the rich who refused to share with the poor, “You showed no mercy; it will not be shown to you.  You opened not your house; you will be expelled from the Kingdom.  You gave not your bread; you will not receive eternal life.”[1]

In the midst of our materialistic and consumeristic culture, it is easy to overlook St. Paul’s warning that “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  (1 Tim. 6: 9-10)   The problem is not with money or material possessions in and of themselves but with our tendency to make them false gods due to our pride, self-centeredness, and addiction to pleasure. Instead of cultivating the Christlike love that Sts. Cosmas and Damian embodied, those enslaved to the love of money manifest anger, resentment, and cruelty toward anyone who threatens to frustrate the gratification of their desires. And they simply ignore the needs of people like Lazarus, even though they could easily help them. 

Regardless of our financial situation, we must not become obsessed with gratifying our self-centered desires to the point that we lose the ability to convey the Lord’s merciful love to those who need our friendship, attention, and care.  We must not become so enslaved by the passion of love of self that we refuse to offer our time, talents, and resources for the benefit of neighbors who need our companionship or practical assistance of whatever kind.  If we want to grow in Christlike love, we must make practicing generosity a settled habit of our lives.  We must serve others as Christ has served us if we want to gain the purity of heart necessary to see God.  If instead we focus only on serving ourselves, like the rich man, we will risk excluding ourselves from the joy of the Kingdom.  Remember the words of the Lord: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  (Matt. 7:21)

It is never the case that we find the healing of our souls simply by force of willpower in doing good deeds of any kind.  It is always the case that cooperating with the Lord’s grace requires offering ourselves to Him in love.  Love for God and love for neighbor are intrinsically connected.  Acts of piety are not ends in themselves but ways of opening ourselves to share more fully in the eternal life of the God-Man.  The sign that we are doing so is not how religious we appear to others or to ourselves but how we treat the living icons of God we encounter daily, especially those who are weak and vulnerable. As St. Maria (Skobtsova) of Paris taught, “At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. That is all I shall be asked.”[2] Her words show that the ultimate measure of our lives is whether we are being healed by the gracious divine energies to the point that we radiate God’s mercy to all who bear His image and likeness, especially those with the greatest needs and the least prestige in the eyes of the world.  In other words, the question will be whether we have become like Sts. Cosmas and Damian, who fulfilled the Lord’s command: “Freely you have received, freely give.”  That is what it means to share personally in the life and love of Jesus Christ.

---

[1]Basil the Great, “To the Rich,” On Social Justice, 49.

[2] https://boston.goarch.org/about_us/our-faith/articles/father-luke-veronis/2021/2744.html