another great and holy week, another great Lent,
and we will be hopefully reaping the benefits
of the fruit of the grace we received for a long
time. So we thank God first that we can be here
today with one another on this incredible day,
the day in which, of course, Whether you're a
believer or not a believer, history did change
radically. It pivoted in a new direction. Do
you remember the superscription that Pilate had
the soldiers put at the top of the cross? Remember
what it said? It said, Jesus of Nazareth, so
it said where he came from, king of the Jews,
which is a way of disrespecting, It's kind of
an inside joke, some king this is, we have him
on a cross. That's his throne, and he is crowned.
But what Pilate didn't realize is that disrespect,
that slander, the spitting, the scourging, all
of that, and the crown of thorns really identifies
who this is, and this cross is his throne. That's
why it says the king of glory. Not an insult,
the King of the Jews. It's the King of all creation.
The Lord of glory. We're here not to reminisce.
We're not here to reminisce. We're here to do
something much more profound. You heard all kinds
of readings, incredible and amazing foreshadowings
from two and one thousand years before Christ.
about what would happen, down to the very description
in that psalm that Jesus quotes when he's on
the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? If you read the rest of that psalm, 22, you
see that Jesus is saying those words too. They
have pierced my hands and my feet, he says. Many
dogs are around me, yelling and screaming at
me. To put it in my own words. Many will see
this, it says in the psalm. Many will see this
cross. And they will believe in you, O Lord.
For you are faithful. That's the meaning of that
phrase. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? You see, Jesus turns that forsakenness of
our condition, the way we feel, into a song.
a hymn of trust in the living God. You see the
cross? Something in us changes. We are not here
to reminisce. We're here to participate. And
every Orthodox Christian should have it deeply
in their heart that what they're here to do today
is to stand at the actual cross of the Lord.
On Golgotha, after hearing all of these prophecies
and hearing the gospel message, That we're here.
Who would not, as a Christian, be at that site?
Well, the disciples weren't there, except John.
What was the nature of the church? The myrrh
-bearing women, the theotokos, some women, and
the young apostle. That's the church. So let's
not expect it to be this massive gathering of
a million people. But for Orthodox, this is where
we are on this day. This is not an extra service,
just another service in this series of Holy Week.
No, this is the service in which we hear about
the crucifixion. We hear of the taking down.
The gentleman that carried this out here. They
were taking Christ off the cross. And the rest
of us, brothers and sisters, are here to anoint
him. If you have tears, that's good. If you have
deep feelings, that's good. If you have nothing,
then bring that before this tomb and ask God
to anoint your heart so that you can be a myrrh
bearer too. All this shame, all this humiliation,
you notice in the Gospel of Mark, St. Mark's
Passion narrative, it's filled with noisy blabbermouths.
False witnesses. offering testimony. Oh, they
couldn't find any for a long time. Caiaphas feigning
outrage. Peter offering vehement denial. You
see it there in this incredible ensemble on the
back wall. Peter at the fire, a woman saying
to him, but you're with them, your speech betrays
you. He said, no, no, no, I'm not with them.
I'm not with that man. And then again, another
person says, but you're with, I saw you. And
then the cock, the rooster, crowing. And Peter,
with his hand on his head, in sorrow. Let that
be the symbol of how we treat our sin. It is
a denial of God's love. Pilot equivocating, crowds
clamoring for execution, soldiers mocking, reviling,
self -importance. One writer says they all suffer
from logoria and talk non -stop. The gospel presents
all this shame and this brutality openly. In
the ancient world, that's not a strong selling
point for a god and a hero. You know, the Lord
was spit upon. He was hit and he was scourged.
Do you know what a scourge is? It's a whipping
with a bundle of leather straps. And each strap,
and there are many of them, has a small metal
ball sewn into it. And at the end of each strap,
there's a metal hook. And the person is whipped
until their bones show. And they lose copious
amounts of blood. Gods and heroes don't suffer
like that. Which is why St. Paul says this is
a stumbling block for the Jews who expect a sign,
who expect a Messiah that's going to rule the
world. And this is foolishness for the Greeks
who expect wisdom of some sort. My teacher at
seminary, Fr. Alexander Schmemann, who I am not
even worthy to quote, wrote this about Great
and Holy Friday. He said the cross reveals two
things. Hold on to this. They're simple. The
first thing it reveals is all the ugliness, the
hatred, the violence, the sin, and the darkness
of the world in opposition to God. You don't
have to look far. We look in our own hearts for
that first. Don't go to the TV or to the papers
or to websites to find that. You will find that
within yourself. Jesus says they love the darkness
more than they love the light. And all this hatred
condenses around the pure one, the innocent one,
the word of God, despite the fact that all he
does is heal, lifts up, restores, teaches. When
he was raised upon the cross, as he said he would
be, drawing all people to himself. Darkness covered
the land to the ninth hour. The darkness is not
merely symbolic. Father Alexander Sherman also
wrote, he said, this is the day of sin, the day
of evil, the day in which the Church invites
us to realize the awful reality and power in
this world. For sin and evil, he says, have not
disappeared. but on the contrary, still constitute
the basic law of the world and of our life. The
crucifixion account is the summary of all the
evil the world has to offer. It's what happens
when God proclaims himself. But it's also, Father
Alexander says, the second thing, the thing that
gives us hope, the reason we're here today. It's
the full demonstration of the love of God. Moses
says, I want to see your glory. This is what
we're looking at. The face of the Lord on the
cross. God's glory is his love for us because
he shows us the way in his death. He will destroy
death and he will destroy sin. Father Alexander
says, this is the day of redemption. The death
of Christ is revealed to us as a saving death
for our salvation. To be victorious, evil must
annihilate the good, must prove itself to be
the ultimate truth about life, to discredit the
good, and in a word, show its own superiority.
What does Christ do? He embraces, he becomes
sin, and he defeats it from the inside. Throughout
the whole passion in his Christ, and he alone
who triumphs. The evil can do nothing against
him, for it cannot make Christ accept evil as
truth. We call Jesus our Lord and God and our
Savior. We believe all the words we just sang.
We believe all the words we just read from the
Gospel, from the Epistle, from the Old Testament.
This is about God. Saving us. This is not the
secular God. The God that sort of is off in the
distance. Some deity. And will maybe come back
someday. And boy will he be mad. You've seen
all that. This is not that God. This is not the
philosophical God. This is not as sometimes I
hear. Oh Father pray to the man upstairs for
me. This is the man who is here on the earth.
In the tomb. That's not the man upstairs. That's
the man. who is the true man. Pilate never spoke
to her words. Behold, the man. What love for
us, his creatures. He endures all that for us
to bring us to what we are intended to be, little
Christs, called to be like gods. Our God is so
humble. that this is the way he has chosen it.
Maybe there is no other way. So we have our own
cross, and it is the cross that when it is united
with his cross, it's the cross that heals us,
that removes sin, that removes fear of death,
that gets us out of the superficiality of the
religion and brings us to the true light and
the true world. Of heaven. And the kingdom of
God. So this brothers and sisters. Is but a word.
Which one could say. Infinite words about. This
word of the cross today. To our Lord. Be glory
now and ever. To ages and ages. Amen. Wisdom.
are always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages.
Amen. Establish upon the holy Orthodox faith
of Orthodox Christians unto the ages of ages.
Most holy Theotokos, save us. More honorable
than the Cherubim, and beyond their own glorious
than the Seraphim. Glory to thee, O Christ, God
of all. Glory be to thee. Glory to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both
now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have
mercy. Father, bless. To endure fearful suffering,
the life -giving cross, and voluntary burial
in the flesh on behalf of us and for our salvation.
Christ, our God. Have mercy on us and save us
for as much as he is good and loves mankind.
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.