Forgive me, a sinner
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
This is the third Sunday in Great Lent. We are now halfway to Pascha, and, at this midpoint, the Church always sets before us the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.
The cross is meant to be an encouragement to us, because it shows us just how far we’ve come in this season of spiritual striving. However, the cross always generates lots of different reactions, and, if we want to get the full range of those reactions, all we have to do is think about our Lord and Master’s Passion. All we have to do is think about those hours when Christ Jesus is hanging on the cross, because what that event reveals to us is all the many different ways that people respond both to the cross and to our Lord and Master.
Some folks just avoid the cross; they run from suffering, whether it’s the suffering of Christ Jesus or their own pain and stress. That’s what most of the apostles end up doing, and that’s also what a great many of us do. When we have symptoms that indicate a serious health problem, we put off going to the doctor. When we are struggling in our marriage, when we have a child who is out of control, we tell ourselves that it’s normal; we tell ourselves that it will all work out, and we don’t get any professional help. When we are spending more time than we should with someone who is not our spouse, we don’t tell our friends because we don’t want to admit that the relationship is inappropriate. So we just do what the apostles are doing: we avoid the cross and the One Who is suffering on it; we run from our own pain. We put as much distance as we can between ourselves and the truth of what is really going on.
During the Passion of our Lord and Master, some people actually stay close by, but they end up distracting themselves in various ways. Think about the detachment of soldiers that are present at the crucifixion: These men are executing the Incarnate Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, and, at one point, the man in charge of the unit actually realizes what is going on, but the rest of the men either go about their official duties or they end up playing a game; they end up doing a little gambling. And we do the very same thing: When we have problems at home, we get really invested in our work. If the job is not going well, we put all of our energy into sports or shopping. When we get stressed, we eat too much; we drink too much; we sleep too much. In other words, we use the very same strategy the soldiers are using: We ignore the cross and the One Who is suffering on it; we pay attention to anything other than what is causing us pain. We distract ourselves from the truth that we cannot bear.
Another reaction that we see during the Passion of Christ Jesus is anger. Think about the religious authorities: they are so worked up, they make fun of a dying man—then they go complain to the governor that the man isn’t dying quickly enough. And we often do the very same thing: We suffer a financial setback, and we blame the Most Holy Trinity. We have a bad day at work, and we take it out on our fellow drivers. When we’re upset with a family member, we end up yelling at drive thru attendants and cashiers and phone bank operators. That’s the very same approach the religious authorities use: We reject the cross and the One Who is suffering on it; we get angry at others, but what really makes us angry is the truth.
But our Lord and Master’s Passion also provides us with an icon of how we should respond to His Cross. Because when Christ Jesus is dying, standing before Him throughout the entire ordeal are the holy apostle John and the Most Holy Theotokos. They don’t run away; they don’t distract themselves; they don’t get angry at anyone. They stay put; they stay focused; they stay calm; they share in the suffering of our Lord and Master, and, through that communion, they participate in the redemption of this world.
Christ Jesus calls us to do the same thing in this morning’s gospel lesson. That passage comes from St Mark, 8.34-9.1, and, in it, our Lord and Master tells us to take up the cross. And with those words, Christ Jesus is inviting us to do what St John and His Most Holy Mother are doing: He’s inviting us to join all our suffering with His. Because when we do that, all of our problems, all of our stress, all of our anxiety, all of our bad habits, all of our poor choices, all of our pain—all of it—becomes redemptive, not only for us, but also for the entire world.
But if we are going to take up the cross, then we also need to stop using all those other responses to the cross. That means no running away, no distraction, and no anger. We learn how to stay put by gradually lengthening the time that we spend in prayer—because there’s nothing that keeps you focused like standing in front of the icons. We learn how to be undistracted by fasting—because there’s nothing that helps you concentrate like changing your diet in significant ways. We learn how to not be angry by going to confession until all the resentment and bitterness and fury and regret have been drained out of our hearts.
Of course, all of that takes time, and it takes a lot of hard work. But it can start this morning. Because our epistle lesson comes from St Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews, 4.14-5.6, and, in that passage, the apostle tells us to draw near to the cross; he tells us to draw near to the throne of grace. And we can all do that, even though we are at home, offering our Typika. Each and everyone one of us has a cross in our icon corner or on the wall or around our necks. And that means we have the opportunity to do what the Mother of God and St John are doing.
We will also have that same opportunity when we stop by the temple during the coming week. The adorned cross of our Lord and Master will be on the icon stand in the center of the nave. This particular cross has been blessed at the site of the Birth, Transfiguration, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ Jesus. And when we fall down before that cross, when we reverence that Precious and Life-Giving Wood, we can unite all of our suffering with the suffering of Christ Jesus, and, Mothers and Fathers, Brothers and Sisters, that will not only be redemptive for us, but it will also be redemptive for the entire world. It will make it possible for each and every one of us and for everyone that we know, even in the midst of these most difficult times, with one mouth and one heart, to praise and glorify the all honorable and majestic Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.