Questions and Homework
Any answers to discuss, or insights to share?
Questions
1. What is the role of the Spiritual Disciplines in the life of a Christian?
2. Discuss Luther’s analogy comparing spiritual health and medical treatment. How would you describe your own spiritual heath?
3. Why do we sometimes fail to express peace or joy in the Christian life?
4. In what ways does God meet our spiritual needs?
5. How would you respond to someone who claims that the Christian Gospel opens the door to moral laxity?
Homework: Meditate on this verse:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~John 14:27
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~John 14:27
posted by Wade at 12/16/2005 04:47:00 PM
1 Comments:
I would like to address the point of Luther's analogy of spiritual health and medical treatment in brief. Luther was actually not the first to use these analogies. In fact, Orthodoxy has used this analogy since it's beginning (it is actually one of the central analogies we use). To quote from an article by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos,
"A fundamental teaching of the Holy Fathers is that the Church is a "Hospital" which cures the wounded man. In many passages of Holy Scripture such language is used. One such passage is that of the parable of the Good Samaritan: "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion . So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you" (Luke 10:33-35).
In this parable, the Samaritan represents Christ who cured the wounded man and led him to the Inn, that is to the "Hospital" which is the Church. It is evident here that Christ is presented as the Healer, the physician who cures man's maladies; and the Church as the true Hospital. It is very characteristic that Saint John Chrysostom, analysing this parable, presents these truths emphasised above.
Man's life "in Paradise" was reduced to a life governed by the devil and his wiles. "And fell among thieves," that is in the hands of the devil and of all the hostile powers. The wounds man suffered are the various sins, as the prophet David says: "my wounds grow foul and fester because of my foolishness" (Psalm 37). For "every sin causes a bruise and a wound." The Samaritan is Christ Himself who descended to earth from Heaven in order to cure the wounded man. He used oil and wine to "treat" the wounds; in other words, by "mingling His blood with the Holy Spirit, he brought man to life." According to another interpretation, oil corresponds to the comforting word and wine to the harsh word. Mingled together they have the power to unify the scattered mind. "He set him in His own beast," that is He assumed human flesh on "the shoulders" of His divinity and ascended incarnate to His Father in Heaven.
Then the Good Samaritan, i.e. Christ, took man to the grand, wondrous and spacious inn - to the Church. And He handed man over to the innkeeper, who is the Apostle Paul, and through the Apostle Paul to all bishops and priests, saying: "Take care of the Gentile people, whom I have handed over to you in the Church. They suffer illness wounded by sin, so cure them, using as remedies the words of the Prophets and the teaching of the Gospel; make them healthy through the admonitions and comforting word of the Old and New Testaments." Thus, according to Saint Chrysostom, Paul is he who maintains the Churches of God, "curing all people by his spiritual admonitions and offering to each one of them what they really need."
In the interpretation of this parable by Saint John Chrysostom, it is clearly shown that the Church is a Hospital which cures people wounded by sin; and the bishops and priests are the therapists of the people of God."
(From http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/hierotheos_difference.aspx)
Also of note is that Lutherans today have moved away from this analogy. Whatever Luther may have taught, early dialogues with Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople in the years 1576-1581 convinced them, at some level, that their beliefs were at odds with the early fathers and councils (this is not to say that the Lutherans are right or wrong in the matter, only to provide an assessment of the events). Lutherans will no doubt point to the analogy today, but the full meaning can only be grasped in the Patristic light.
-Bizzlebin (Jeremiah)
Post a Comment
<< Home