Holy Friday Vespers 2023

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.