Christ Healing The Paralytic

There is clear evidence of the great goodness of Christ in that He does not wait for entreaties from the sick but anticipates their request with His own loving kindness. See how He runs to the one who is lying down and how compassionate He is to one who was sick with no one to comfort him. 

But the inquiry as to whether he would like to be relieved from his infirmity was not that of one asking out of ignorance what was obvious, but of one stirring up an increased desire and diligent entreaty. The question as to whether he wanted to obtain what he longed for is huge. It has the kind of force and expression that conveys that Jesus has the power to give and is now ready to do so, only waiting for the request of the one who will receive this grace. 

St. Cyril of Alexandria 

A Wise Woman

The woman straightway believed, showing herself much wiser than Nicodemus, and not only wiser, but more manly. For he when he heard ten thousand such things neither invited any others to this hearing, nor himself spake forth openly; but she exhibited the actions of an Apostle, preaching the Gospel to all, and calling them to Jesus, and drawing a whole city forth to Him. Nicodemus when he had heard said, “How can these things be?” And when Christ set before him a clear illustration, that of “the wind,” he did not even so receive the Word. 

But the woman not so; at first she doubted, but afterwards receiving the Word not by any regular demonstration, but in the form of an assertion, she straightway hastened to embrace it. For when Christ said, “It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting Life,” immediately the woman saith: 

    “Give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” (John 4:15)

St. John Chrysostom 

The woman straightway believed, showing herself much wiser than Nicodemus, and not only wiser, but more manly. For he...
Posted by Australian Copts on Wednesday, April 6, 2016