Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Our Destination is the Cross

(Mark 8:34b-9:1) (Great Lent 3: The Veneration of the Holy Cross)

This is the third Sunday of Great Lent. We are now halfway to Palm Sunday, and the start of Holy Week. Pascha is now four weeks away. Of course, before we get to Pascha, before we come to the Resurrection, we must go past Golgotha, and the three crosses atop that hill outside the city wall…

It is at this time in our journey through Great Lent that we celebrate the Veneration of the Holy Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In part, this is meant to encourage us, as we make this journey, which is sometimes difficult, sometimes demanding, sometimes depressing. After all, is there anyone here who hasn’t fallen away from their resolve to keep a holy Lent, and to struggle to overcome the sins and weaknesses that all too often carry us away? We’ve eaten something we should have avoided; or we’ve watched some television, or listened to some music, or read a book, or played a game that we should have set aside… We haven’t prayed as much, fasted as much, been as forgiving, been as patient, been as generous, been as chaste, as we’d meant to be, as we know we could have been, and could have done, if we’d have just put our minds to it, and hunkered down, and gotten to work… Well, there’s still time to get back on track; there’s still time to profit from the holy Lent.

So, on the one hand, we venerate the Cross as a way of encouragement. In another way, by venerating the Cross at this time, we are saying that the Cross is our destination. What’s the point of keeping Great Lent if we do not intend to follow our Lord Jesus Christ? The answer is, there isn’t any point, except in obedience to what our Lord said in today’s Gospel reading: “Anyone who wants to be with Me, let him deny himself, and take up his Cross, and follow Me.” Our Lord came into the world to save sinners. He emptied Himself of the glory that was His from before the creation of the world, in order to become the Servant of God, and to accomplish our salvation. He knew that this path went to Golgotha, and to the Cross, and the grave: and He went willingly, obedient to the command of God the Father. By His death, He has destroyed death – the death that rightly is ours, for He did not sin, as we have all sinned. By His Resurrection, we have life, His life; a life that is without death, without end.

So the Cross is our destination. We have a sinner to save – ourselves. To save our souls, we deny ourselves. What do we give up? Above all, we give up the “right” to indulge ourselves in whatever pleasures and whatever passions please our flesh. This is why we fast: to teach our flesh that it is not in charge, that it is not allowed to have whatever it wants, whenever it wants it. This is why we give: to teach our flesh that what this world has to offer is nothing compared to the riches that await us in the Kingdom of heaven; and so we set ourselves free from the attachments to the things of this world by using a portion of what God has given us of material wealth on behalf of the needs of others. This is why we struggle against our sins, and the passions from which our sins arise: to follow our Lord Jesus in living a life that is holy, and righteous, and without sin; and, when we fail, repenting, and confessing, and dedicating ourselves once more to be faithful in the battle.

The Cross is our destination, because we intend to put to death there our flesh, so that we might live in a way that is pleasing to the God Who loves us. And the Cross is our destination because the world does not, and will not, understand why we seek to leave its ways behind, and instead try to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God. And so the world hates us; and tries to distract and delay and deter and defeat us; and if we still will not turn aside from the way of God, the way to His kingdom, the world will try to kill us: to quench our spirit, or even to take our life from us. After all, they put our Lord Jesus to death on the Cross; and there’s plenty of wood left in the world…

Brothers and sisters! Pascha, the sweet and joyous celebration of our deliverance from sin and death draws ever nearer. While all may partake of that glorious feast, how much greater is the joy of those who have struggled! The Cross is now before us. Let us endeavor to take up our Cross and deny ourselves, and follow our Lord Jesus in the life, which He is calling us to live. Let us pray, and fast, and give alms, and struggle to bring to life within ourselves the virtues that replace the passions and our sins; to the glory of God, and the salvation of our souls.

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