23rd Sunday after Pentecost  
Ephesians 2:4-10; Luke 8:26-39

Those words are taken from Psalm 118(119):73, which express a general truth known to all Christians. They are remembered because the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Ephesians, a passage of which is read this Sunday during the Divine Service, reminds us:

"For we are His handiwork, created in Christ for good works, as God prepared in advance for us to be in them." (Ephesians 2,10).

And the question immediately arises in us: If we were created by God for good deeds, then why do some people commit evil deeds? Did not someone create those people for those evil deeds? And, if God created all people for good deeds, then where did that “man who had had devils a long time” come from, who lived in tombs, who was not restrained even by the chains and shackles that he broke? (Luke 8:27,29).

- God really did create people for good deeds, but, as we recall, even the first people departed from God's guidance, tempted by the influence of the devil. Because of the disobedience to God of those first people, sin entered the human race, and therefore many people under the influence of the devil, due to the mastery of their will by an evil spirit, commit evil, unworthy deeds. The Apostle Paul affirms that same definition: “Therefore as sin came into the world through one man…”(Romans 5:1)

The appearance of murderers in the world, as well as the appearance of a possessed, demon-overwhelmed man in the Gadarene region, is a consequence of people's departure from God. Nevertheless, a person can be freed from sin, as well as from the influence of the devil, from demons by the Lord Jesus Christ.

St. John the Apostle teaches us that when we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, "the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) Nothing cleanses and frees us mechanically. God's grace is not some kind of chemistry, but the power of God; the power of God will shine, act, when we show faith. That is why, in many cases, the Lord asked those who asked for healing, whether they believed. When the boy's father learned about the need for faith so that Christ could heal his son from an unclean spirit, he “shouted and said:

‘I believe, Lord. - help my unbelief’” (Mark 9:24).

But I wish to draw our attention to that expression, a reference from the Holy Scriptures concerning the hands of God, which "created me", that is, us. In this case, the expression is definitely not literal, but figurative, for we cannot know the means by which God created the first human beings, but we say, "hands", because people create and do everything with their hands.

Human beings have created countless different tools and instruments, but they created them with the help of hands. Human hands, combined with the body, brain and entire nervous system of a person, are the most perfect tools of work that no other creature in the world has.

Is it possible to list what a person can create with his hands?

- Obviously, it is impossible to list. All things and structures on earth are created by hands that have five fingers each. We are so used to what we have, that we are all born with two hands, that we rarely even think about or appreciate that beautiful and perfect gift from our Creator.

No matter how much brain or mind we have, without hands there could only be unrealized thoughts, dreams, ideas. And it is unlikely that a person without hands could dream of realizing some plan. Without human hands, only forest, grass, water, rocks and, of course, untamed and untamed animals could exist on earth, and everything would be unchanged. Without human hands, no development of civilization, no progress is possible.

Dolphins may have a truly developed brain, perhaps have something similar to speech, as some scientists claim, but without arms, and even without legs, they have almost no influence on the lives of other creatures on earth.

Man's hands are controlled by our brains through the nervous system, but it is thanks to our hands that man possesses all creation on earth, or, as the Bible says, "has dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the animals, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing, which crawls on the ground." (Genesis 1,28) And so, clearly, thanks to our hands, a person can use and possess all the riches of the plant world.

And it is thanks to the hands that a person can possess riches beneath the ground, minerals, deposits, and can ascend into the air, and now into space. After all, all those amazing and complex machines were created by man with the help of his hands and, of course, thanks to the creative mind with which God gifted man.

Therefore, hands are an invaluable gift of the Creator. They are also obviously given to us to create good. But when demons take over a person's soul, he/she can use their hands to create and realize evil, evil plans. After all, hands create not only beautiful tools, but also various weapons of murder... With hands or with the help of hands, they kill, stab, choke other people, steal, beat, and commit many crimes. Obviously, the hands are not to blame, because, as the Lord testified: "For from within, from the human heart come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, extortion, cunning, deceit, shamelessness, an envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness." (Mark 7:21-22)

Not only hands, but also all the abilities and talents given by God, can be used not only for good, as the Creator intended, but for evil. Therefore, people, followers of Christ the Lord in particular, should take care that both they and their children are filled with the Spirit of God, so that evil spirits - demons - do not settle in them. When God and His will reigns in our hearts, in our senses, then nothing evil can settle in our souls, and no tricks of the devil, no insidious actions of his servants can frighten us.

The Lord testified to his disciples:

"Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you" (Luke 10:19).

Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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