On the Victory of the Cross

Our favorite, everyone loves this, before that

cross we bow down and some of the prayers have

to communion, let me say a few words. The week

of the cross also is the week, not coincidentally,

in which the extra litany's petitions are done

for the catechumens who are to be baptized. They're

called those who are preparing for holy illumination,

photosomany in Greek. And there's extra prayers

for them. You might say the Orthodox Church is,

in many ways, not seeker -friendly. We make the

catechumens wait. We even send them away, and

some of them are standing outside for the whole

service. They know the message of the cross.

And if there's anything that's not seeker -friendly,

it's the invitation by the Lord when it's misunderstood.

When it's understood, of course, it is the only

thing that we have, the only thing we can hold

on to, that invitation that we heard on Sunday.

You remember, right? If you want to follow me,

so this is an invitation. It's not a threat.

Anyone is free to choose or reject. If you want

to follow me, and what could be better than to

follow our creator, his immeasurable love for

us, his understanding, his healing, his glory,

his holiness, his peace, the way, the truth,

and the life. What could be better than that?

But he has a condition for the believer. Deny

yourself. And so catechumens learn how to do

that. And I hope they can learn by watching in

some way, not in an ostentatious way for us,

but in some way, a humble way, our own fasting,

our own self -denial, to strut about and to say

things we shouldn't and to talk when we should

be quiet, to say a kind word but we don't say

the kind word when we should because we don't

have discernment. And the other thing that the

Lord said, the foundational requirement for being

a disciple, deny yourself and pick up your cross.

Now, we all have all kinds of crosses. That's

true. Father James was right about that on Sunday.

Difficulties, hardships, illness, people in your

life. But when Jesus was speaking to those people

there, And the disciples said, anyone who wants

to follow me, deny yourself, pick up your cross.

Nobody thought that the cross was some kind of

inconvenience. Everyone knew that it meant the

Romans pounding your hands and feet into the

wood, blood and death. That's what they knew.

So what Jesus is telling us is that he's going

that way. That's what he's going to do because

there's no other way to defeat him that held

the power of death, that is the devil, than to

die and to let the realm of death, Hades itself,

be filled with the glory, peace, kindness, and

goodness of God in the obedience to the Heavenly

Father. And he's inviting us in our own life

to follow that same path. And it's going to take

a different form for each of us. whatever station

we have in life. But it certainly will be a painful

self -denial. Because if we don't do that, we

hold on and we protect what we think is our ego,

what is something so special, so unique, when

in fact God has made what is unique, but it's

covered with sin. God has made something special

and glorious in each one of you, in each creation

that he has made. It's covered and disfigured.

The denial and the cross is our way of cleansing

that with God's grace. We look finally for worldly

success and we blame God when things don't go

right in the world. This happens continually,

I know, and I do it myself. But the way of the

cross doesn't look like success to those standing

there. The invitation seems a little frightening

to those who heard it. But we are on the other

side of his crucifixion and his resurrection

and ascension and glorious Pentecost, his gift

to us. We're on the other side of that. So we

know, brothers and sisters, what awaits us. We

know how good God is and the immeasurable love

that he has for us because the cross is that.

When all week long we are singing victory hymns

of the cross, on Holy Friday we will meditate

on the darkness of that day. But this week we

speak about the victory, the power of the cross

in our life, the way we defeat the evil and the

sin and death, the way we find joy. For through

the cross, joy has come into all the world. The

blessing of the Lord and his mercy be upon you

through his divine grace and love for man. Always

now and ever and unto ages of ages.