Intercessory Prayer

Homily for March 15

Second Sunday of Lent - St. Gregory of Palamas

Mark 2:1-12; John 10:9-16

Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

I’m sure we can all share stories of Intercessory prayers with miraculous results. We know someone who was ill and recovered unexplainably. Or maybe someone who had a need that was met in an unexpected or miraculous way.
As people of faith, we know that intercessory prayer is powerful.
Today, the second sunday of Great Lent, we remember St Gregory Palamas. His teaching and its validation by Church Councils, were seen as a continuation of The Sunday of Orthodoxy.
When he was proclaimed a Saint in Constantinople by Patriarch Philotheus, just 9 years after his death The Patriarch it was not based on St Gregory’s defense of the Orthodox Faith through his writings. Rather it was because of the miracles performed both during his life and after his repose.
He had quite a reputation as a wonderworking saint, especially during the last 3 years of his life. He had been appointed Archbishop of Thessaloniki, but due to continued unrest, politically, he wasn’t really able to fulfill that role until his last 3 years.
And during those years his reputation for miracles and powerful prayer spread to neighboring regions. Even before he was proclaimed a saint, people were asking for his prayers and getting miraculous healing.
Stories like that are incredibly common. So common that we sometimes miss the work that goes into it. The saints work hard, struggle, enter into needs of those in their care. And so should we.
There are quite a few stories of Intercession in the Gospels

• The Centurion and his servant.
• Jairus’s Daughter
• Canaanite Woman’s daughter
• Man’s son possed by mute spirit
• Theotokos at Wedding of Cana

What the Gospel teaches about Intercession is that is is an action.
The men in today’s Gospel have a friend in need and they DO SOMETHING.
First, they carried him to Jesus.
And when the get there, the crowd was too much to get close, so they climbed onto the house, lifted their friend up to the roof, broke through the roof, and lowered him down to Jesus.
Think about what an effort that was. That is intercession. These men entered into their friends struggle. They became what their friend was lacking. And they worked together to bring their friend to healing.
Sometime we seem to think of Intercessory Prayer as simply reminding God to help the victims. Like he is too busy and kinda forgetful.
“God, you probably haven’t noticed that my friend is sick. Oh, and these people are homeless because of tornados. You should do something about that”
As if God doesn’t already know.
That’s not Intercession.
Let me quote Met. Anthony Bloom:

The term ‘intercession’ does not denote first and foremost a prayer; it denotes an action; to intercede is to take a step which brings us to the heart of a situation, which brings us to the point where all conflicts meet head-on, where the impact of this collision is at its most violent. Intercession begins with an involvement, an involvement that is definitive, permanent, complete, unlimited, unconditional. The interceding Christ is not the praying Christ, it is the Christ who is the Word of God made flesh, it is the Son of God who becomes the son of man; there is every evidence that he prays, but his act of intercession is first of all an act and not a word.
-- Met. Anthony Bloom

Jesus Christ is the Great Intercessor. And if we believe in him, if we call ourselves Christians, we are called to follow him by imitating him.
Our intercessions should be work.
If they take the form of prayer, let it be a real work of prayer!
Do the work!
Go to your closet (as Jesus calls it) and get to work!
Pour your heart out for others!
Too often when someone asks for our prayers, we politely reply, “Lord have mercy” and let that be our end of our prayer.
I’ve done that, because I’m lazy and sinful.
When someone asks for our prayers…
We need to be like the friends in today’s Gospel:

• Grab a corner of the bed and
• Pick them up in your prayer,
• Carry them across town in your prayer.
• Climb up the roof in your prayer.
• Break a hole in the roof with your prayer.
• And place them in front of our Lord and Savior!

Intercession is work and intercessory prayer should be work.
I want to point out one other detail about the Gospel story today:
It took four men to carry the paralytic. They had to work together, to struggle together, to be good intercessors. This is not something we do alone.
Especially given our current situation, we must remember that we are a community.
We are one body.
We are united to each other in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, when we pray for others, let us do the work.

• Let us join together grab hold of the bed and carry them.
• Let us ask St. Gregory and all the saints to help us carry them to the Great Intercessor!
• Let us become imitators of our Lord and put ourselves into the center of the struggle.
• Let us do the hard work to lift each other up to the roof and lower our sickbed to Jesus Christ.

Let us pray for each other in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.