Third Sunday of the Great Fast Veneration of the Holy Cross

Dismissal: “May Christ our true God, risen from the dead, through the prayers of his holy Mother, by the power of the honorable and life-giving cross . . .”

Our Venerable Fathers of the St Sabbas Monastery (m. 796)

Title

Take Up Your Cross

Outline

In the Tabernacle and Temple only the High Priest went into the Holiest Place

To follow him was death - no one could come so near to God and live

The High Priest entered with great care: he made sure he was not taboo, he went first to the great altar and offered a great sacrifice, he put significant incense in the censer so that he could not see what was over the cover, and then he went in bearing the blood that he sprinkled 7 times on the golden chest and its cover with his finger

He only got to do this once per year

The people waited outside for his blessing, even the other priests, perhaps hoping he would come out alive

That is what Jesus did boldly once for all

He had gone through the trials of human life - I was thinking of his comforting his mother as she grieved his father yesterday - and had not succumbed to them

That is important, for he was pure, not taboo, and only one who has fought the fight victoriously can help folk like us in our fight.

He has made the sacrifice - himself, the ultimate sacrifice - literally taking up his cross - doing it for us, not because of himself

And now he has taken his own blood and has gone into the Holiest Place in the heavenly Temple - a metaphor perhaps, but understandable to first century Jews.

He does not come out again, but is there before God, in union with the Father, loving and leading us.

But he calls us to follow him, to end up going after him into the present of being, of the really real

He calls us to deeply accept and follow his words, his teaching: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed.”

He calls us to lay down our lives and take up our cross

Now this is so that we can receive his life, but it is still a death - and it is a repeated death

I was going to be an engineer and lead a nice middle-class life - I had to lay that down and also eventually my Brethren identity to follow Jesus

I laid down a professorship later in life and never had full-time regular employment in biblical studies again

I laid down my identity as a biblical scholar and the title Dr to be a Catholic priest (not a pastor or rector but a priest, never having a parish of my own)

Now I do not mean to say this to indicate what great sacrifices I have made, but to indicate that life is a life of making sacrifice, of laying this or that down and taking up one’s cross (reckoning oneself as dead, executed)

And I am not good at it - I have had to lay things down multiple times because I have clawed them back again.

But the result is following Jesus into the Holiest Place, although I, for my part, can only see the incense and his figure in it and know that that is where I am going, if I do not back away.

Three of the disciples would get a taste of this when they saw Jesus in his glorified form a few days later - that is the transformation that would take place in them, but they would go through many smaller or larger deaths first

Brothers and Sisters, the passages are the message

Read them again and again and meditate on them

Let the Great Fast strip you of what is holding you back, even good stuff

Then fix your eyes on Jesus ahead of you and move forward, throwing off anything that holds you back, dying so that you can have divinized life

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 3-27-2022: Third Sunday of Great Lent or Sunday of the Holy Cross

EPISTLE

Hebrews 4:14–5:6

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

5 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is bound to offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. 4 And one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was.

5  So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,

“You are my Son,

today I have begotten you”;

6  as he says also in another place,

“You are a priest for ever,

according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 3-27-2022: Third Sunday of Great Lent or Sunday of the Holy Cross

GOSPEL

Mark 8:34–9:1

34  And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35  For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? 37 For what can a man give in return for his life? 38  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” 9  And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (3-20-2022: Third Sunday of Great Lent or Sunday of the Holy Cross)

SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 2022 | TRIODION AND GREAT LENT

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 3-27-2022: Third Sunday of Great Lent or Sunday of the Holy Cross

THIRD SUNDAY OF GREAT LENT OR SUNDAY OF THE HOLY CROSS

Dark Vestments

Matins Gospel John 20:1–10 (40th Sunday)

Epistle Hebrews 4:14–5:6

Gospel Mark 8:34–9:1