Tenth Sunday after Pentecost/ Procession of the Cross

Title

The King who Rules from a Cross

Outline

Think of the contrast in the ancient world (or our world)

A man is elected or declared emperor (or in a lesser way, a king)

He is acclaimed by the people with shouts

He is followed in procession by the citizens when he visits

He is clothed in the best of clothing

He is crowned with laurel leaves or perhaps with gold

Contrast that with a man condemned to death

He is booed by the people and insults are shouted at him

If people follow him, it is to throw stones or dirt at him or to insult him, perhaps to spit on him

He has been beaten so his clothing is soiled and dirty from being in a dungeon, perhaps torn, and often the person was killed naked

His hair is disheveled - if there is a crown, it is in mockery

That is the contrast that both Paul and Jesus reverse

Paul is an apostle, the official delegate of the king of the universe

He says the apostles are a spectacle, “like men sentenced to death”

“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and buffeted and homeless”

But they did not give back as they received: “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the dregs of all things.”

They, the delegates of the king of kings, who brought healing and good news wherever they went, are treated most disrespectfully and suffer dreadfully. This is what true authority looks like.

Jesus has just been revealed to chosen witnesses as his almighty self

He comes down the mountain and is presented with an epileptic boy whom his disciples cannot help

It was demonically caused, and he cures the boy with a word

The disciples want to know the secret, but he tells them the secret is trusting in God and in him. If one trusts what God says, then nothing is impossible, like a small boy told to push a particular button and there is an explosion that inaugurates a great construction project.

Jesus talks about moving a mountain, and in one version of the saying it is placed in the context of the temple - the destruction of Jerusalem itself in the sea of gentile nations

But then this great king, this Jesus, says, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed. He will not be honored, he will be abused and killed, and, while he has predicted it no one hears, so he is unexpected in his resurrection and even then is only seen by chosen representatives.

Brothers and sisters, this is the way of the Christian, the way of the saints

We hear and trust the voice of God, both through scripture and in meditation

We know the king of kings and experience the Spirit

But we follow the way of the cross. We give to others, we follow the way of love, but we are often rejected and in many places of the world abused and even kills.

Yet we know where the story ends, we have joy in being closer to the crucified Christ, and we live with the foretaste of the future of the universe and in the hope we desire to share with others.

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-21-2022: Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

EPISTLE

1 Corinthians 4:9–16

9  For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. 10  We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11  To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed and buffeted and homeless, 12  and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the dregs of all things.

14 I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-21-2022: Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

GOSPEL

Matthew 17:14–23

14  And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” 17 And Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19  Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20  He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

22  As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, 23 and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (8-21-2022: Tenth Sunday after Pentecost)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1, 2021 | OCTOECHOS

TENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Bright Vestments

Matins Gospel John 21:1–14

Epistle 1 Corinthians 4:9–16

Gospel Matthew 17:14–23

PROCESSION OF THE CROSS

Procession of the Holy and Venerable Cross

Commemoration of the Saints Seven Maccabee Brothers, Martyrs: Abim, Antonin, Gurius, Eliazar, Evseon, Elim, Marcell and their mother Solomonia and their master Eleazar, martyred 173 BC