WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.379 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:08.320 of the Holy Spirit. The long services this week 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:14.199 were not made so that our feet and legs would 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:19.300 hurt. I could go to the gym, get a personal trainer 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:23.460 to do that for me. Our presence at these services 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:29.539 It's not merely so that we can have an experience, 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:34.659 beautiful aesthetic experience, or an emotional 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:37.479 response, although that could be part of it, 00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:41.399 and that's okay. But it has to be deeper. Otherwise, 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:46.420 we're just reminiscing. And that won't help us. 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:52.039 We stand and kneel before this fearsome, awesome 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:59.159 cross of suffering, and of life, a cross of hatred 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:04.340 and violence, a cross of God's humility and love, 00:01:04.439 --> 00:01:09.459 both are united somehow. And we must somehow 00:01:09.459 --> 00:01:13.739 figure out for ourselves that this is real. This 00:01:13.739 --> 00:01:17.359 is the reality of our life. This is the most 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:21.439 real thing we might ever know. Because on this 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:25.719 day, there's no superficial religion. If it's 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:30.000 superficial and aesthetic, it won't help us. 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:33.980 For 40 days, the church has attempted during 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:38.560 Lent and Holy Week, if we were willing, the church 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.980 has attempted, if we were willing to let go of 00:01:41.980 --> 00:01:47.620 some things, to help me see something. Am I prepared 00:01:47.620 --> 00:01:53.439 for this moment today, now, tonight, tomorrow? 00:01:54.109 --> 00:02:00.510 Am I prepared to see that the fashion of this 00:02:00.510 --> 00:02:06.709 world is passing away and our life every day 00:02:06.709 --> 00:02:13.229 is closer to our death? And is it a death that's 00:02:13.229 --> 00:02:18.590 going to be a life -giving death, a death that 00:02:18.590 --> 00:02:22.750 will be transformed before we die? Or is it going 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:29.680 to be... Just a miserable, terrible thing. Am 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:33.080 I prepared for that? And prepared how? Prepared 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:35.900 how? How do we prepare? And this is the judgment 00:02:35.900 --> 00:02:39.120 that the light of Christ has come into the world. 00:02:39.659 --> 00:02:43.479 And men love the darkness rather than the light. 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:46.900 Which is why there's a crucifixion. Because their 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:50.280 deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:55.099 the light. and does not come to the light, lest 00:02:55.099 --> 00:02:58.639 his deed should be exposed. But he who does what 00:02:58.639 --> 00:03:02.680 is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:07.479 seen. The 40 days and Holy Week is so that we 00:03:07.479 --> 00:03:11.319 can be exposed to the light of God without shame. 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.780 All these days have been for us to know the power 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:18.460 of the cross of Christ, not to reminisce. And 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:21.139 all these days have been for us to see that it 00:03:21.139 --> 00:03:25.069 is, A day with two sides, as I've already indicated. 00:03:25.270 --> 00:03:29.789 A day of darkness and a day of triumph. A day 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:34.050 of hatred and a day of God's surpassing love. 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:39.530 Our Lord's death, the cross, is the ultimate, 00:03:39.770 --> 00:03:43.169 the ultimate sign, the ultimate revelation of 00:03:43.169 --> 00:03:46.530 man's hatred and the loving of the darkness. 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:52.389 But it's also the ultimate revelation of God's 00:03:52.389 --> 00:03:57.030 compassion and love. And the cross is here in 00:03:57.030 --> 00:04:02.250 this place before us to show us that Jesus, the 00:04:02.250 --> 00:04:04.629 word of God, God's son, the one who is eternal 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:08.729 in his love, eternal in his forgiveness, eternal 00:04:08.729 --> 00:04:13.050 in his goodness, the one who holds all things 00:04:13.050 --> 00:04:18.550 in his hand, who became a man in all ways except... 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:21.439 for sin which is an illness which he came to 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:26.699 heal that it is he who suffered for on the cross 00:04:26.699 --> 00:04:32.740 for all and died for all his death embrace embraces 00:04:32.740 --> 00:04:39.620 all things meaning what meaning all the sufferings 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:44.680 of the world all the deaths everything is present 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.639 in the moment of the lord's crucifixion The utter 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:55.279 and complete emptiness of the grave, the forsakenness, 00:04:55.420 --> 00:05:00.160 the threat of non -being, meaninglessness, the 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.959 absurdity of suffering and injured innocence, 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:07.360 crosses not a stranger to cruelty or any form 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:12.300 of mockery and perverted delight. Everything 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:15.279 is here and on the cross because Christ is eternal. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:18.019 And the power of it is eternal, not just then, 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:21.860 but always. So in him, on this cross today, the 00:05:21.860 --> 00:05:26.500 power of that transforming glory of God to change 00:05:26.500 --> 00:05:32.160 what is absurd and foolish into what is glorious. 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:35.920 It's all here. It's also the fullness of paradise, 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:39.279 this cross. The complete joy of existence. The 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.019 ecstasy, as somebody wrote, of transcendent love. 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.779 Everything is there. Light shines in the darkness 00:05:45.779 --> 00:05:49.759 of the grave and death. Life is promised to all. 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:54.420 Eternal, boundless life. We come before this 00:05:54.420 --> 00:05:57.899 cross and we kneel to receive that. The cross 00:05:57.899 --> 00:06:02.170 is God's single point of ingathering. All things 00:06:02.170 --> 00:06:05.269 are gathered together into one in Christ Jesus. 00:06:06.029 --> 00:06:11.910 Wrote St. Paul. Unbelief too. Unbelief too. Lack 00:06:11.910 --> 00:06:15.189 of belief too. It's also there. Because it's 00:06:15.189 --> 00:06:18.949 a sin of the wounded heart. A disease of perception. 00:06:19.149 --> 00:06:23.310 A disease of lack of vision. Healed by the presence 00:06:23.310 --> 00:06:27.529 of the cross. Throughout the whole passion of 00:06:27.529 --> 00:06:31.730 Christ. It is he who triumphs. Evil. can do nothing 00:06:31.730 --> 00:06:34.870 against him writes father alexander schmemann 00:06:34.870 --> 00:06:38.550 for it cannot make christ who is truth except 00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:45.750 evil as truth we read in the gospel today how 00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:48.550 at the cross there was only the lord's mother 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:53.310 and his beloved disciple john and other women 00:06:53.310 --> 00:06:57.149 all the other people there were mocking making 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.490 fun of Jesus, and the disciples scattered in 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:06.470 fear. But since the resurrection, there have 00:07:06.470 --> 00:07:10.970 been countless millions of believers over the 00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:13.870 centuries, knowing the power of the cross and 00:07:13.870 --> 00:07:16.129 the resurrection, who are not afraid to stand 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:18.449 at the cross and to pick it up and to carry it 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:22.560 and to proclaim it. Because they know that they 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.860 will have the gift of the body being raised in 00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:28.639 glory like Christ. Beyond glorious. They did 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:31.600 not scatter when they were faced with persecution 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.699 or hatred or torture. I'm not speaking of the 00:07:33.699 --> 00:07:35.819 great saints that we see on the walls. I'm speaking 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:43.680 of ordinary parish members. Christians. They 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:46.180 knew that the message of the cross is foolishness 00:07:46.180 --> 00:07:49.420 to those who are perishing. We heard today. But 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:52.160 to us? who are being saved, it is the power of 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:55.259 God. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:59.160 of God. Because Christ endures everything we 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:03.360 heard today. That horrible treatment, the spitting, 00:08:03.560 --> 00:08:06.879 the brutality. He endured everything in order 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.899 to bring each of us. He came not to save all 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:17.240 in a general sense, but each person in a particular 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.990 sense. To make us what we are intended to be. 00:08:22.769 --> 00:08:26.230 So we will stop fighting what God has planned 00:08:26.230 --> 00:08:28.850 for us. What he has made us to be. He wants us 00:08:28.850 --> 00:08:33.590 to be absolutely free. Little Christs. Called 00:08:33.590 --> 00:08:38.649 to be gods. With a lower G. And our God is so 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:41.690 humble that this is the way he has chosen it. 00:08:43.149 --> 00:08:46.610 And there was no other way. Except this brutality 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:49.419 of blood and suffering. and the shame of the 00:08:49.419 --> 00:08:53.340 cross, because the foolishness of God is wiser 00:08:53.340 --> 00:08:58.299 than men, and the weakness of God is stronger 00:08:58.299 --> 00:09:01.980 than men. Therefore, brothers, sisters, Reverend 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:07.000 Father, the Reverend Fathers, let us unite our 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.659 cross, our sorrows, our wounds, our fears, disappointments, 00:09:11.700 --> 00:09:17.840 ignorance, anxieties, illnesses, betrayals, And 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:22.419 especially our life and death as our life begins 00:09:22.419 --> 00:09:25.200 to pass away. Let us unite our cross with his 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:30.720 cross and then expect healing and miracles within. 00:09:32.299 --> 00:09:35.159 May I suggest that after these services today, 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:39.340 as we wait for the matins at 6 p .m., we try 00:09:39.340 --> 00:09:45.440 to remain silent. We don't go outside and start. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.919 conversations. Yes, we should be joyful, but 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:56.659 we're thinking about this right now. The sorrow 00:09:56.659 --> 00:10:04.179 and the devastating loss that the apostles felt 00:10:04.179 --> 00:10:08.019 at that moment when we thought it would be he 00:10:08.019 --> 00:10:12.480 that would redeem Israel is killed from our standpoint 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:16.309 where we know that he was raised. and what he 00:10:16.309 --> 00:10:20.230 has done for us. How could something like this, 00:10:20.330 --> 00:10:25.669 so many thousands of years, still be so powerful 00:10:25.669 --> 00:10:29.409 unless it is absolutely real? Knowing all that, 00:10:29.570 --> 00:10:33.429 we should be even more horrified than they were 00:10:33.429 --> 00:10:36.909 at what our Lord endured. And then we keep silence 00:10:36.909 --> 00:10:40.429 and meditate on this great sacrifice that we 00:10:40.429 --> 00:10:44.230 have. Don't lose the grace of the services, but 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:47.350 keep Christ before your spiritual eyes, in the 00:10:47.350 --> 00:10:52.269 tomb with the body, in Hades with his soul, though 00:10:52.269 --> 00:10:57.129 he is God, in paradise with the thief, and on 00:10:57.129 --> 00:11:00.309 the throne with the Father and the Spirit, O 00:11:00.309 --> 00:11:03.730 Christ, boundless Christ, filling all things. 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:04.950 Amen.