6th Sunday after Pentecost / St. Mary Magdalene; Hieromartyr Phocas of Sinope / Romans 12.6-14; Matthew 9.1-8
F/S/HS. Brothers and sisters, two Sundays ago I reflected on the power of five different kinds of prayer. The fifth of these was intercessory prayer, where we intercede before God on behalf of others, whether these be individuals, or our nation or our world. Our patron saint, St. Silouan, was especially known for his intercessory prayer on behalf of enemies. St. John Maximovich was especially known for his intercessory prayer on behalf of those who have reposed.
And so I want to reflect a bit further this morning on the power of this specific kind of prayer—intercessory prayer.
I remember all too well the darkest season of my life, during my mid to late twenties; a season where my faith was hanging by a thread; a season where I could not find prayer in my heart, where my spiritual life felt barren and parched and lifeless. Any of you who have gone through such a dark season know how very painful and confusing it can be.
And do you know what sustained me during this season? It was the prayers of my three best friends: Dan and Frank and Bob. Nearly daily, they shared with me, they petitioned God to keep me safe and protect me, that I would trust in God’s mysterious providence with me; that even where I was sinning during this season of my life, that God would reveal that sin to me unto amending my sinful ways.
Dan and Frank and Bob were my friends, akin to the friends who brought their paralytic friend before Jesus in this morning’s Gospel. V. 2: When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.’
O my dear ones—When Jesus saw their faith. Whose faith is their faith in this passage? It is partly the faith of the paralytic himself. But even more, it is the faith of the paralytic’s friends that is being extoled here by Jesus.
It is because of the prayerful intercessory faith of this paralyzed man’s friends that Jesus forgives this man’s sins. Can you imagine dear ones: Because of your intercessory prayers on my behalf, on behalf of others here in our parish, my sins, their sines, are forgiven. Because of my intercessory prayers on behalf of you, your sins are forgiven.
O my sisters and brothers, the power of intercessory prayer. How can we then not be a people of prayer! Start praying on behalf of loved ones, brothers and sister, on behalf of this nation and our hurting world! Start praying!
In my homily two weeks ago, I sited numerous New Testament passages that illustrate the power of intercessory prayer. But it is three Old Testament passages that nearly bring me to tears. The first two I sited two weeks ago.
Job has lost everything. Everything—family members, livestock, land, friends! Now he sits atop his dunghill, courageous and bold enough in spirit to count the dung below him as a hill of pearls. His friends have burned him royally—they have mocked and ridiculed him.
But because of Job’s intercessory prayer, God forgives the sins of these friends; because of his intercessory prayer God releases Job from his suffering and his captivity. Ch. 42, v. 10: Then the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends, and [the Lord] forgave their sin. Incredible dear ones. Simply incredible that God forgives the sins of these friends because of Job’s intercessory prayers.
A second passage I briefly sited two weeks ago is from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah has just learned of the destruction of Jerusalem, and that that destruction was due in part to the sin of God’s people. And Nehemiah’s response to that sin?
He weeps and he fasts and he begins praying—intercessory prayer—prayer that acknowledges not just the sins of God’s people, but prayer that includes Nehemiah’s own personal sin. Prayer for others is accompanied by the humble acknowledgement of one’s own sin. Both I and my father’s house have sinned, Nehemia pleads to God. We have departed from you, and have not kept Your commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses (Neh. 1.6-7). Because of his intercessory prayer, God then answers Nehemiah’s pleas. A restoration of Jerusalem, and God’s forgiveness, and a mighty healing commence.
Yet another powerful Old Testament passage on intercessory prayer comes from my name’s sake—the prophet Daniel. Daniel has taken upon himself the sin of God’s people, interceding before God on behalf of their sin. From Daniel, ch. 9: Then I set my face before the Lord God to seek Him in prayer … and made confession. ‘O Lord God, great and marvelous, who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and keep Your commandments—we sinned and did wrong. We … fell away…. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but shame of face belongs to us (Daniel 9.3-7). Like Nehemiah’s intercessory prayer, Daniel’s prayer leads to God eventually honoring that prayer. So also does restoration, forgiveness, and healing begin.
Sisters and brothers, I want to conclude this morning not with my words, but with the words of two of our beloved saints, deeply moving words on the power of intercessory prayer: St. Porphyrios and St. Paisios. First, words from St. Porphyrios, from Wounded By Love:
When someone has a vice we should try to bombard him with rays of love and compassion [and prayer] so that he may be cured and freed…. Think that this person is suffering more than you…. If you see a brother troubled by passions, do not hate him. Hate rather the passions that are assailing him…. we should pray for him…. Just as a hermit, who is seen by no one, benefits the world because the mystical waves of his prayers influence people and transmit the Holy Spirit into the world, so you, too [through yours prayers], should scatter your love…. When we see that the people around us have no love for God we are distressed. But with our distress we achieve nothing. Nor do we achieve anything by trying to persuade them to change their ways…. There’s a secret … The secret is our prayer and our devotion to God so His grace may act. We, with our love [and prayer], with our fervent desire for the love of God, will attract grace so that it washes over those around us and awakens them to divine love…. You mustn’t pressurize the other person. His time will come, as long as you pray for him. With silence, tolerance and above all by prayer we benefit others in a mystical way.
And from Saint Porphyrios’ friend, Saint Paisios, from the volume on his life and teachings titled On Prayer:
When you pray for your own self with a great deal of awareness of your own sinfulness, then even a single ‘Lord have mercy’ offered for others will have enormous power, because it contains a lot of humility, which attracts the abundant mercy of God…. [Learn to put] our own self in the position of the other. That is, if we enter the ailing person’s situation, or enter that of the reposed, it will help us to pray with anguish. That anguish descends into the heart and our prayer becomes heartfelt…. Why, my good child, are you [so often] stuck in your own self and do not think a little of the people who are suffering…. How many people are there, who this very moment are shouting, ‘Help! Help!’ and there is no one nearby to help them?… There are so many people in need of [our prayers], and yet, we waste our precious time with our banal thoughts or childish complaints, and do not even carry out our spiritual work as we should? You ought to try to get out of your own self and make the anguish of others your own. In that manner, you will find peace; you will receive your wages from God, and you will offer help to others…. We should pray that everyone attain a ‘Good Paradise’. Christ sacrificed Himself for the salvation of all people, both those who are close to Him and those who are far from Him. We should therefore pray that all come to know God, in order to love Him, to please Him, and to be saved—to go to Paradise…. Someone tells you his pain, and you listen and sigh deeply. It follows that even if you do not get a chance to pray for him, that sympathetic sigh is worth hours of prayer; it is a heartfelt prayer and brings about positive results.
Brothers and sisters, pray for my wretched soul. I will pray for your soul. And let’s together pray for this hurting and off-kilter world of ours, that everyone would find the Good Paradise of which St. Paisios speaks. Stop trying to change people. Instead, pray for them. Cease getting distressed about others. Instead, pray for them. Listen with your heart to the cries of Help! Help!, and lift these cries up in your intercessory prayer. And let your prayer—like that of Job and the prophets Nehemiah and Daniel—let your prayer be accompanied by humility and repentance and contrition of heart. And when God hears such prayer, surely His mercy and grace will flow like a river. F/S/HS
