Day 39

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of My people? And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, and there was no deceit in His mouth. Isaiah 53:3-9 (From a Prophecy Reading at the Vespers on Good Friday Afternoon)

During this time of self isolation and social distancing I have heard and read many different ideas about what we are experiencing, from “this is not the Lent we want, but it is the Lent we have been given” to “this is the lentiest Lent”. Without a doubt, these things are true. But one thing that hasn’t changed is what the Church teaches us during this time.

Today, Fr. Stavros points out that we can see our Lenten journey in three steps:

  1. Signs – The Church, from the very beginning with the Pre-Lenten Sundays has given us the signs that we are to look for and work towards: humility, repentance, charity, fasting, prayer, confession. Even with our current situation, we have still seen these signs. We have heard them in the Gospel readings, the hymns of the Pre-Sanctified Liturgies. We have still been able to make them a part of our lives. Our physical absence from the Church should, cannot, cause us to abandon these basic principles of salvation. Fr. Stavros points out that in these reflections we have seen those who missed the signs of Christ (Judas, Jewish authorities). We have seen those who saw the signs but couldn’t act on them (Peter and the other Disciples who were scattered, Pilate). We have also seen those who missed the sings completely but still found redemption (Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus). We see these signs every year during Lent. Where are we going to fall in the examples above?
  2. Holy Week – The period of Great Lent will come to an end tomorrow. Starting on Lazarus Saturday, a new journey will start; the journey of Holy Week. We will be given the opportunity to walk with Christ through His Passion. As Fr. Stavros asks: Will we be at the tomb of Lazarus, at the entry of Jerusalem, with the Disciples as learn from Jesus, at the Last Supper, watching in the garden, standing at the Cross and finally, at the empty tomb with the Myrrh-bearing women. Even in our current state we can still experience these things; in the services that are streamed and the scripture we read. This is the challenge that is put before us. To walk that Passion with Christ. Starting with Lazarus Saturday, I often view Holy Week like a snow ball rolling down a hill. It gets bigger and bigger as it rolls, going faster and faster. The momentum of our salvation does the same thing during Holy Week. Each day the reality gets bigger and bigger and it moves faster and faster.

We will talk about the third step in tomorrow’s reflection. For today, get ready to roll down that hill!

In Christ

Fr. David