Ukrainian Catholic ChurchAustralia, New Zealand and Oceania
Homily by Fr. Myroslav Vons on the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 19, 2025
We often say that Jesus Christ is our foundation in the Christian life. He is the base on which we can rely. These words come too easily from our lips. But our actions require the same determination.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
In our lives, it is very important what we focus our attention on. When we wake up on Sunday morning and do not go to church, it is not because we are not good people. It is simply because our attention is not focused on God. We focus on ourselves, on our own lives, and on our own selfishness. Very often, Sunday becomes a day for football, golf, shopping, rest, and celebration. It is a day when we believe that the success and happiness of our children depend more on sports than on God’s blessing. For us, church seems boring, and the Holy Liturgy too long. Therefore, no matter what we are told, no matter what is quoted from Scripture, as long as our attention is focused on our own “I,” on our own version of building happiness—where only my needs matter—we will not see the miracles that the Lord works for us. We will not see what the world could be like if we turned our attention more to God. We will not understand how this change in values in our lives can bring peace, joy, and true tranquillity to our hearts. True happiness, peace, and tranquilly.
Let us be honest with ourselves. If we calculate, an hour of prayer at the Holy Liturgy is 1/168 of the week. We use all the rest of the time for ourselves—work, entertainment, and so on. And we justify this selfishness with phrases like, “I don’t have time on Sunday,” “God is in my heart,” and “I’ll pray at home.”
This is what we see in today’s Gospel. They brought a paralysed man to Jesus—a man who could not walk. What does Jesus do? He does not ask the man anything; he does not engage in any dialogue with him. Jesus simply says, “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.” The Lord’s actions are surprising: the man cannot move, and Jesus speaks about the forgiveness of his sins. Jesus looks at the man and sees deeper. He sees the heart. Because the greatest illness now, just as two thousand years ago, is not paralysis of the body, but paralysis of the soul. The sin that lives in our hearts paralyses us from within. Sin makes us indifferent, unable to love, forgive, and trust. Healing from sin is the first step to true recovery.
But the Pharisees who heard these words were indignant. They, who also needed forgiveness, mercy, and salvation, thought, “He is blaspheming! Who is He to forgive sins?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking. And He replied, “Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Get up and walk’?” This is a reminder to us that God knows our thoughts and our hearts. His power and authority are limitless. Immediately after this, Jesus says to the paralytic, “Get up and walk.” The man got up and walked. He was not only healed but also received true freedom and a new life.
The Pharisees were not evil people. They were faithful to the law. They were devoted to a God who lived in their books. A God who, in their view, was open only to them. A God who does not forgive easily, who demands sacrifice in the temple in Jerusalem. A God who, in their minds, could not be a weak man born of a woman, who died on the cross like a criminal. And now, into this world in which the Pharisees live, comes Jesus Christ—Jesus of Nazareth—the son of a carpenter, yet teaching with authority. Jesus astounds with His profound wisdom. Jesus Christ breaks the entire system that the Pharisees knew and followed. Jesus Christ forgives sins, calms storms, and changes the understanding of God from one hidden in books to one who is among people.
Therefore, when the Lord gives health to the paralytic, they do not see it—because they are focused on themselves. On their own lives. On a life that is being shaken because Jesus Christ has come. A life that will never again be as they knew it. They do not want to see Jesus as the Son of God. They do not want to understand His words. Christ Himself says to them, “Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me. Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).
The Pharisees’ indignation at the words “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven” is only a manifestation of their envy and hardness of heart. Because of this, they cannot rejoice for their neighbour—this paralysed man who has been healed. They imagine the Messiah (like most Jews) to be a glorious king who will free Israel from Rome and establish an earthly kingdom. A Messiah who will not ride on a donkey and forgive sins.
We often say that Jesus Christ is our foundation in the Christian life. He is the base on which we can rely. These words come too easily from our lips. But our actions require the same determination.
A foundation is a mixture of sand, water, and cement. It is impossible to build a strong foundation without one of these components. To say that Jesus Christ is our Lord and that we love Him but not to come to Sunday prayer—the Holy Liturgy—and not to receive Holy Communion is like building a foundation of sand and water without cement. On the other hand, mindlessly following traditions and reciting prayers without love for one’s neighbour and without mercy is like building a foundation of cement and sand without water.
Finally, humans have not changed in two thousand years. Yes, we have learned to build cars and aeroplanes and transmit vast amounts of information. We have invented new technologies and found ways to cure diseases. But, like the Pharisees, we have created a “God in our hearts” who is whatever we want Him to be. A God who always loves us and gives us whatever we want. But as soon as God speaks about the importance of repentance for our sins in secret confession, when He does not fulfil our desires, when God speaks about our responsibility for how we receive Holy Communion, then we, like those Pharisees, become indignant—because this is not the God we want, and this is not the Church we want.
Let us all remember the words of Jesus Christ spoken to each of us: “This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew 15:8).
To remain or not to remain with Christ is our conscious choice. A choice that was beautifully expressed by the Apostle Peter: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:68–69).
Amen.
