Triodion - Bible - Study - Guide (1) 2024

Triodion Readings
The Sunday Gospel & Epistle readings

from the Sunday of the Publican & Pharisee
through Palm Sunday
(10 Sundays in all)
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September 2018: Offering our Talents
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January 2019: Offering our Story
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March 2019: Offering our Gi"s
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[The monks] rest far from the battle, and so they do not receive many wounds; but you stand
continuously in the front rank, and you receive continual blows. So you need more remedies….
Therefore we have a continuous need for the full armor of the Scriptures…
It is not possible, not possible for anyone, to be saved without continually taking advantage of
spiritual reading.
St John Chrysostom
In 2013 we launched ExeGenius, a project designed to help everyday Christians

better understand the depth and beauty of Scripture. ExeGenius offered select
Gospel readings, annotated with helpful commentary and explanations.
This vision was even more fully realized in 2017 when we launched Live the Word, a
weekly video series designed to help everyday Christians better connect to the
weekly Gospel and Epistle readings.
This PDF combines some of the very best of both resources, and offers you weekly
guidance as you prepare for the intense (yet spiritual beneficial) journey from the
beginning of the Triodion period through Holy Week and ultimately to Pascha.
St John Chrysostom, perhaps better than anyone else, explained why engaging with
the Scripture is so important for us all, especially everyday Christians:
We stand in the midst of terrible temptations and spiritual challenges. Our souls are
constantly wounded, not just by the challenges
of daily life, but by the assaults of the demons.
These wounds need healing. And what greater

healing should we seek that Christ Himself,
the very Word of God? And where else should
we seek Him than in Scripture?
I pray that this resource will help you find the

Word of God in the Word of God, especially
as you prepare for the great feast of Pascha.
In Christ,
Steven Christoforou, Director
2
What is the Triodion?
The Triodion is, in the most literal sense, a book.
It’s the book which contains the hymns and prayers for:
(1) the four weeks leading up to Great Lent;

(2) the roughly six weeks of Great Lent;
(3) the Saturday of Lazarus and Palm Sunday; and finally
(4) Holy Week (ending with the Midnight Office on Holy Saturday).
Yet we also use the word “Triodion” to refer to this entire period in the Church year,
from the Sunday of the Publican & Pharisee through Holy Saturday, where our
services draw from the hymns and prayers in the Triodion book.
This resource will focus on the Sundays of this period. It will begin with that first
Sunday (the Publican & Pharisee) and end with Palm Sunday.
That’s ten Sundays: ten weeks of preparation which, we pray, will include
meditation on the Scripture.
The Triodion period is a gift of the Church, a time of preparation for the great feast
of Pascha.
We hope this Bible Study guide will be a valuable resource; something to help you
prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with a
pure and joyful heart.
3
Table of Contents
Sunday of the Publican & Pharisee……………………………………………………………………5
Sunday of the Prodigal Son……………………………………………………………………………..14
Judgment Sunday……………………………………………………………………………………………30
Forgiveness Sunday…………………………………………………………………………………….…..44
Sunday of Orthodoxy………………………………………………………………………………………54
Sunday of St Gregory Palamas…………………………………………………………………………64
Sunday of the Holy Cross…………………………………………………………………………….….76
Sunday of St John Climacus……………………………………………………………………………..85
Sunday of St Mary of Egypt…………………………………………………………………………..…98
Palm Sunday……………………………………………………………………………………….………....109
4
Publican & Pharisee
February 17, 2019
Epistle 2 Timothy 3:10-15
Gospel Luke 18:10-14
Video Resource
Live the Word #19

Why You Need a Spiritual Father
5
Epistle Reading
2 Timothy 3:10-15
10 Timothy, my son, you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my

faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,
11 my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at lconion, and at

Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
12 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
13 while evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and
deceived.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings
which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
6
Gospel Reading
Luke 18:10-14
10 The Lord said this 1In Greek, ἀναβαίνω (ah-nah-VEH-noh).
parable, "Two men
This word appears frequently in the Old Testament, sometimes to
went up1 into the describe literal ascent up a mountain (eg Exodus 24:13), sometimes to
temple to pray, describe the encounter of warring armies (eg Numbers 21:33),
sometimes to describe the exodus out of Egypt (eg Genesis 45:25).
The word doesn’t only suggest a literal “going up,” but also an
encounter. In the context of Exodus, “going up” also suggests a
movement towards deliverance and salvation.
It rarely appears in the New Testament, so its use here is that much
more significant and noteworthy.
2The Pharisees were one of the main Jewish groups in the time of
one a Pharisee2
Jesus. They dedicated themselves to studying the Law (the
commandments God gave in the Torah, or the first five books of the
Old Testament) and applying it in everyday life.
This word appears in only a few of the New Testament books:

Matthew, Luke, Acts, and Philippians. It does not appear in the Old
Testament
As readers, we can sometimes be quick to judge the Pharisee for his

actions in this passage. But do we imitate him by doing so, and open
ourselves up to judgment? (see Matthew 7:1-3)
and the other a tax 3In

Roman times, tax collectors were individuals who worked for the
collector3. Empire. Their responsibility was to collect a certain amount of
money; if they collected more, that extra was their profit.
People did not like the tax collectors. They were seen as traitors who
became wealthy by exploiting their people and working for the
Empire.
This word (“publican”) also only appears in a few books of the New
Testament: Matthew and Luke. Yet this figure is an important
example of repentance as he turned away from his sin and back to
God.
7
11 The Pharisee 4In Greek, ἵστημι (EE-stee-mee).
stood4 and prayed
This word literally means “standing up,” but is used to suggest a
thus with himself5, firmer and stronger placement or setting. For instance, the verb is
used to describe God’s establishment of His covenant (eg Genesis
6:18); the setting of a pillar of stone (eg Genesis 28:18), the pitching of
a tent (eg Genesis 33:19), the presentation of sacrifices before the
Lord (eg Leviticus 16:7).
It used in Matthew 6:5 to describe the posture of the hypocrites as

they pray:
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love
to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward.
The Pharisee stood firmly, boldly, self-assured. There is nothing

humble or meek about his posture.
5In Greek, ὁ φαρισαῖος σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν (oh fah-ree-SEH-ohs

sta-THEES pros eh-ahf-TOHN).
This literally means that the Pharisee stood “facing himself,” engaging
only himself.
Though the Pharisee claimed to be thanking God, his remarks are

geared towards his own ego. Prayer is a dialogue, a conversation
between two people (you and God). But this is a monologue. The
Pharisee is talking to himself.
‘God, I thank you 6No one who is in good health ridicules one who is sick for being laid up and
that I am not6 like bedridden. He is rather afraid, for perhaps he may become the victim of similar
other men7, sufferings. A person in battle, because another has fallen, does not praise himself
for having escaped from misfortune. The weakness of others is not a suitable
extortioners, unjust, subject for praise for those who are in health.
adulterers,
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 120
He came to the doctor. It would have been more worthwhile to inform him by
confession of the things that were wrong with himself instead of keeping his
wounds secret and having the nerve to crow over the scars of others. It is not
surprising that the tax collector went away cured, since he had not been
ashamed of showing where he felt pain.
St. Augustine, Sermon 351.1
8
7InGreek, ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων (OH-spehr ee lee-PEE
tohn ahn-THROH-pohn).
It would be more accurate to translate the Pharisee’s words as

thanking God that he is not like “the rest of men.” In phrasing his
words this way, he is setting himself apart from the rest of humanity,
elevating himself and lowering “the rest.”
We can see parallels between this and the sin of Adam. When He
faced God after eating of the tree, Adam blamed Eve rather than take
responsibility himself, separating himself from her and elevating
himself above her (see Genesis 3:12).
or even like8 this tax 8The Pharisee stresses just how low he thinks the tax collector is, to
collector. contrast with how highly he sees himself.
12 I9 fast twice a 9Assuming that the Pharisee was speaking the truth, he was living a
week10, life according to the Law, and even surpassing it in some ways (fasting
twice a week was very rare, for instance, and beyond the mandate of
the Law). Yes this was not to his benefit.
St Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, discusses how insufficient good or

virtuous deeds are when love is absent love.
Recall that the Pharisee is described above as standing facing himself.

Love is relational, a thing shared between people. Because the
Pharisee was facing inward rather than outward, it was impossible for
him to share in any love.
Without love, his good works were empty.
10What profit is there in fasting twice in the week if it serves only as a pretext
for ignorance and vanity and makes you proud, haughty and selfish?
I give tithes11 of all 11How astonishing it is that this saint [Abba Agathon] denounced those who
that I get.' fail to learn how to keep watch over the intellect and who boast only of their
bodily asceticism: every tree, he said, which does not produce fruit—by which
is meant keeping watch over the intellect—but only has leaves, that is, bodily
asceticism, is cut down and thrown into the fire.
St. Nikiphoros the Hesychast,

“On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart”
9
The Pharisee, who fasted and tithed and seemed to be living a very
ascetic life, lacked love. He had plenty of leaves, but no fruit.
13 But the tax 12In Greek, ἔστησαν μακρόθεν (EH-stee-san mah-KROH-then).

collector, standing far
The same phrasing is used when the Israelites, frightened by the
off12, would not even thunder and lightning and noise that engulfed Mount Sinai when
lift up his eyes to Moses ascended, stood far off (Exodus 20:18).
heaven13,
It implies a certain awe before Almighty God, and is a strong contrast
to the Pharisee’s very confident and self-assured stance.
13ThePublican’s refusal to lift up his eyes is a sign of his repentance

and humility.
But, at the end of this passage, he will be justified. God will lift up
the Publican’s eyes, as He lifted up Abraham’s eyes when He gave him
the Promised Land, a symbol of the Kingdom of God (see Genesis
13:14-17).
but beat his breast14, 14Compare to Jeremiah 31:19:

saying, 'God15, be
Surely, after my turning, I repented;
merciful to me a
And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh;
sinner16!' I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated,
Because I bore the reproach of my youth.
This “beating on the breast” is the culmination of the tax collector’s

awareness of his sin and true repentance. He is slumped over, eyes to
the ground, beating his breast, brought low. But God will raise Him
up.
15Compare to Psalm 50(51), the quintessential psalm of repentance,

where the Prophet David cried out to God for mercy:
Have mercy upon me, O God,

According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 50(51):1)
16InGreek, ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ (ee-LAH-sthee-tee mee toh

ah-mahr-toh-LOH).
This English translation is misleading. The Publican prayed that God
10
be merciful to him the sinner. His repentance was so great that he
saw himself, not as one sinner among many, but as the only sinner. He
repentance not only changed the way he viewed himself, but also the
way he viewed all other people.
St. John Chrysostom stresses the same point in his prayer, read before
one receives Holy Communion:
I believe and confess, Lord, that you are truly the Christ, the Son of
the living God, who came into the world to save sinners, of whom I
am first.
14 I tell you, this man 17We are not justified by our own actions. No one “earns” or
went down to his “deserves” salvation.
house justified17
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast
rather than the about, but not before God. (Romans 4:2)
other18;
Instead, we are justified by being united with Christ, saved because
we are a part of Christ as His Body.
Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

(1 Corinthians 12:27)
We are the Body of Christ because we are Church. We are lifted up to

God as we lift up the bread and wine in the Liturgy. It’s not just the
gifts in the Liturgy that are lifted up and saved, we are as well.
The Publican’s action was Eucharistic: he offered up his sins and

shortcomings and received the Kingdom of God.
18As St Basil writes:
He was judged inferior to a humble man and a sinner because in his

self-exaltation he did not await the judgment of God but pronounced
it himself. Never place yourself above anyone, not even great sinners.
Humility often saves a sinner who has committed many terrible
transgressions.
St. Basil the Great, On Humility
And consider the words of St John of the Ladder:
If pride turned some of the angels into demons, then humility can
doubtless make angels out of demons. So take heart, all you sinners.
St. John Climacus, Step 25: On Humility, Ladder of Divine Ascent

11
19As we read in the Psalm:
for everyone who
exalts himself will be
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
humbled, but he who A broken and a contrite heart—
humbles himself will These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 50(51):17)
be exalted19."
Only a humble heart will rise as an acceptable sacrifice to God and be
accepted.
A proud, pharisaical heart is turned inward and sinks back into itself.
It’s not really an offering or sacrifice to God, its a sacrifice to oneself.
12
Major Themes
• Prideful trust in oneself vs. trust in God
• Self-congratulation vs. seeking forgiveness from others
• Self-reliance in the spiritual life vs. seeking direction from others
• Glorification of oneself vs. glorification of God
Study Questions
1. Who do you rely on to help pull you out of yourself, and keep you on the right
path?
2. Do you have a spiritual father?
3. Who in your life is an icon of Jesus?
Hymn from the Triodion

Humility exalted the Publication, overcome with shame and sorrow at his evil
deeds, when he cried to the Creator. “Be merciful”: but exaltation brought down
from righteousness the unhappy Pharisee who spoke in pride. Therefore let us
earnestly desire the good things and avoid the bad.
Sessional Hymn of Matins, Tone Four

The Lenten Triodion at 103
13
Prodigal Son
February 24, 2019
Epistle 2 Corinthians 4:6-15
Gospel Luke 15:11-32
Video Resource
Live the Word #20

Remember Who You Are
14
Epistle Reading
2 Corinthians 4:6-15
6 Brethren, it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power
belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also
be manifested in our bodies.
11 For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the
life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life
in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I
spoke," we too believe, and so we speak,
14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring
us with you into his presence.
15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may
increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
15
Gospel Reading
Luke 15:11-32
1This
is the third parable in a row that St. Luke presents on the
11 The Lord said this
parable1: theme of losing and finding:
1. The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7)

2. The Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10)
3. The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
2We see examples of two sons several times in the Scripture, such as
"There was a man
who had two sons2; two of Christ’s disciples, James and John, the Sons of Zebedee.
We also see it the two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham
and his wife, Sarah, were too old to bear children of their own. Sarah
had Abraham conceive a child by her handmaid, Hagar. This child
was Ishmael. (Genesis 16).
However, God later promised Abraham and Sarah that they would
have a son of their own. (Genesis 18:1-15). This son, Isaac, was
Abraham’s heir, and Ishmael was cast out. (Genesis 21:1-21).
St. Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, compares the two sons.
Ishmael is a son “according to the flesh” while Isaac is a son
“according to promise.” Ishmael is the bondage of the Law, Isaac is
the freedom mankind enjoys in Christ. (Galatians 4:21-31).
The older son was obedient to the father as a matter of law, but that
did not save him. The younger son returned to the father in love and
repentance, and was saved.
The Law cannot save us. Only Christ can save us.
It is the opinion of some that the two sons signify the holy angels and
us earth dwellers. The elder one, who lived soberly, represents the
company of the holy angels, while the younger and prodigal son is the
human race. Some among us give it a different explanation, arguing
that the older and well-behaved son signifies Israel after the flesh. The
other son, who chose to live in the lust of pleasures and moved far
away from his father, depicts the company of the Gentiles.
16
‘He had two sons,’ that is, two peoples, the Jews and Gentiles. Prudent
knowledge of the law made the Jewish people his older son, and the
folly of paganism made the Gentile world his younger son. Just as
surely as wisdom brings distinguished gray hairs, so does foolishness
take away the traits of an adult. Mortals and not age made the
Gentiles the younger son. Not years but understanding of the law
made the Jews the older son.
Peter Chrysologus, Sermon 5
12 and the younger3 3We usually call this younger brother the “prodigal” son. In Greek,
of them said to his the word is ¨ασωτος (AH-soh-tohs).
father,
“Prodigal” means “wasteful.” However, the Greek word has a much
harsher meaning. It literally means someone who is beyond salvation,
unredeemable.
How can the unredeemable be redeemed?
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘With men this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ (Matthew 19:26).
'Father, give me4 the 4The younger son begins the parable collecting his share of the
share5 of the property inheritance, and soon squanders it all. Yes, as we shall see, he receives
that falls to me6.' even more in the end.
And he divided his Perhaps we can compare this to one of Christ’s sayings:
living between them.
For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have
abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be
taken away. (Matthew 25:29).
This line is from the Parable of the Talents. (Matthew 25:14-30). Its
basic lesson is that those who cultivated God’s gifts received even
more.
Though the younger son spent his inheritance, the suffering it drove
him to allowed him to acquire a truly repentant and humble heart, a
treasure worth far more than the property he squandered. To this
priceless treasure was added even more at the end of the parable.
Is anything added to the older son, who had so much? He received

the gift of his brother, but rejected him. The older son voluntarily
gave up his treasure.
17
5In Youwere kind in making him this gift, yet kinder still to him when he
returned in need.
St. Augustine, Confessions 1.18

6The son is as impatient as his father was kind. He is weary of his father’s own
life. Since he cannot shorten his father’s life, he works to get possession of his
property. He was not content to possess his father’s wealth in company with his
father, and he deserved to lose the privileges of a son.
St. John Chrysostom, Sermon 1
13 Not many days 7InGreek, διεσκόρπισε τὴν οὐσίαν (thee-eh-SKOR-pee-seh teen oo-
later, the younger son SEE-ahn).
gathered all he had This means far more than wasting money or land. It literally means
and took his journey that the younger son “scattered his substance/essence.” He did not
into a far country, simply lose his inheritance in his indulgent lifestyle; he lost himself.
and there he
squandered his What is farther away than to depart from oneself, and not from a place?…
Surely whoever separates himself from Christ is an exile from his country, a
property7 in loose citizen of the world [rather than God’s Kingdom].
living.
St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.213
14 And when he had 8It was not a famine of fasts but of good works and virtues. What hunger is
spent everything, a more wretched? Certainly whoever departs from the Word of God hungers,
because ‘man lives not by bread alone but by every word of God.’ Whoever
great famine8 arose in
leaves treasure lacks. Whoever departs from wisdom is stupefied. Whoever
that country, and he departs from virtue is destroyed. It was fitting that he begin to be in need,
began to be in want9. because he abandoned the treasures of wisdom and the knowledge of God and
the depths of heavenly riches. He began to want and to suffer starvation,
because nothing is enough for prodigal enjoyment. He who does not know how
to be filled with eternal nourishment always suffers starvation.
St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.215
9Inthe classic poem Paradise Lost, Satan is presented as so prideful

that even the misery of Hell is preferable to being subservient to
God.
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

(Paradise Lost, Book I, line 263)
The younger son faces his own “hell” here: he is hungry, miserable,
and, worst of all, utterly alone. He has no father to tell him what to
18
do, he is his own master. Yet he is the hungry master of troughs and
pods.
The younger son began this parable wishing to venture out into the
world on his own, answering to no one. He is beginning to realize
that, perhaps, reigning in hell is not as wonderful as he once
imagined.
15 So he went and 10As one commentator writes:

joined himself to one
This is the experience that comes to one who refuses to trust himself to
of the citizens of that
his father but delivers himself to a stranger. He flees from a most
country10, who sent generous provider and endures a severe judge. A deserter from
him11 into his fields affection, a refugee from fatherly love, he is assigned to the swine,
to feed swine12. sentenced to them, and given over to their service. He wallows in
their muddy fodder. The rush of the restless herd bruises him and soils
him so he perceives how wretched and bitter it is to have lost the
happiness of peaceful life in his father’s house.
11Did
this citizen pay the younger son? If he did, it apparently wasn’t
much, since the younger son found himself in such a desperate state.
He was in need, and did not find help. The citizen did not offer him a
warm bed, or a hot meal. Instead, he sent the younger son into the
fields, deeper into want and despair.
Our personal relationship with sin is frequently cyclical in this way.

We seek the pleasure of sin to escape a problem in our lives, and then
fall into guilt. Rather than repent, we seek the pleasure of sin to
relieve this guilt, and thus sink even deeper.
Christ broke this vicious cycle of pleasure and pain by defeating sin
and death, and offering us the eternal joy of God’s Kingdom.
To be free, we need to accept His invitation. We need to join Christ

in the Father’s house.
12According to the Mosaic Law, the pig is an unclean animal.
Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does
not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead
carcasses. (Deuteronomy 14:8)
The younger son’s condition was so desperate that he was willing to

expose himself to something unclean in order to survive.
19
13Would the pods have been enough to fill the younger son’s stomach
16 And he would
gladly have filled his and end his hunger?
belly with the pods13 Does sin fill us, or leave us more empty than when we began?
that the swine ate;
and no one gave him 14It’s not clear why this happened.
anything14.
Was it because the people were indifferent to his suffering? Or was it
because they were following the letter of the Law and avoiding the
younger son because he was ritually unclean, after being in contact
with unclean pigs?
17 But when he came 15In Greek, εἰς ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἐλθὼν (ees eh-ahf-TOHN de el-THOHN).
to himself15 he said,
This means that the younger son literally “returned to himself.” He
'How many of my
had scattered his essence chasing after pleasures and pursuits that left
father's hired him empty. Somehow, through the grace of God, he returned to
servants have bread16 himself and recalled his father, and decided to return to him.
enough17 and to
16Bread is a basic staple, sometimes synonymous with food itself.
spare, but I perish
here with hunger! Bread played an important role in the Old Testament. While the
Israelites were wandering in the desert for forty years, after their
exodus from Egypt, God sent them bread to nourish them:
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven
for you.’ (Exodus 16:4)
In the New Testament, while two of His disciples were traveling on

the road to Emmaus, (as we see in Luke 24:13-35), Christ Himself
taught them the proper way to understand the Old Testament:
And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them

in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27)
The bread that God sent to the Israelites in the wilderness was not
simply bread, not even simply miraculous bread. It was a type of
Christ, a shadow of the One who would later clearly tell us:
I am the bread of life. (John 6:48)
17Food never permanently fills us. We are caught in a cycle of fullness

and emptiness, of satisfaction and hunger. There is never “enough”
bread, we will always need more.
20
Yet Christ tells us something very different. The bread that He offers
us is not subject to these same limitations.
And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me

shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never
thirst.’ (John 6:35)
18 I will arise and go 18Despite all this, he did not lose his honorable title of son…He was still a sinner.
to my father18, and I He had sinned to such an extent that he had thrown to the winds with his
misdeeds the entire inheritance he had received from his father. He still called
will say to him19,
God his father. This indicates that the grace of the Spirit, which authorizes
'Father, I have him to call God Father, did not depart from him.
sinned20 against
heaven and before Philoxenus of Mabbug, On the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 1
you; 19As St Ambrose writes:
Confess, so that Christ may rather intercede for you, he whom we

have as an advocate with the Father. Confess, so that the church may
pray for you and that the people may weep for you. Do not fear that
perhaps you might not receive. The advocate promises pardon. The
patron offers grace. The defender promises the reconciliation with the
Father’s good will to you.
St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.224-25
20This echoes the words of the classic psalm of repentance:
Against You, You only, have I sinned,

And done this evil in Your sight… (Psalm 50(51):4)
19 I am no longer 21We often take our position and children of God for granted. We
worthy21 to be called forget that we are not God’s children from birth, but rather become
your son; treat me as His children during our rebirth in baptism.
one of your hired This position of being God’s children is not something that belongs
servants.' to us, but rather is something that is given to us. It’s not something to
take lightly.
During the Divine Liturgy (of St. John Chrysostom), we pray:
And make us worthy, Master, with confidence and without fear of

condemnation, to dare call You, the heavenly God, FATHER, and to
say: Our Father, who art in heaven…
God the Father has one Son, Christ. To be children of God, we must
be united to His Son. This happens through baptism:
21
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
(Galatians 3:27).
This does not happen because we are worthy. Instead, it is a gift, one
we do not deserve but should accept with humility and gratitude.
20 And he arose and 22Itappears that the father was waiting, patient, for his son’s return
came to his father. this entire time. And the moment he saw his son returning, the father
ran to him.
But while he was yet
at a distance, his The father could have waited for the son to come to him, to make a
father saw him22 and point. He could have adopted a serious tone, and waited without
had compassion23, emotion for his son to ask forgiveness at his feet. But he didn’t.
and ran and Instead, the father made no effort to conceal his love and joy, and ran
straight for his son the moment he saw him.
embraced him24 and
kissed him. 23This is how the father judges and corrects his wayward son and gives him
not beatings but kisses. The power of love overlooked the transgressions. The
father redeemed the sins of his son by kisses, and covered them by his embrace,
in order not to expose the crimes or humiliate the son. The father so healed the
son’s wounds as not to leave a scar or blemish upon him.
24He falls on your neck to raise one prostrate and burdened with sins and bring
back one turned aside to the earthly toward heaven. Christ falls on your neck
to free your neck from the yoke of slavery and hang his sweet yoke upon your
shoulders.
St Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.230
21 And the son said 25When he confesses like that, he will be considered worthy of more than that
to him, 'Father, I for which he prayed. His father neither takes him in like a hired servant nor
have sinned against treats him like a stranger. Oh no, he kisses him like a son. He accepts him as a
dead man come back to life again. he counts him worthy of the divine feast and
heaven and before gives him the precious garment he once wore.
you; I am no longer
worthy25 to be called St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 7
your son.'
22 But the father 26Notice that the father did not say “I forgive you.” He forgave his
said26 to his servants, son before he was ever asked, as we are all called to do.
22
27As St Athanasius writes:
‘Bring quickly27 the
best robe28, and put it
Now there is singing and joy in the father’s home. What happened is
on him; and put a the result of the Father’s grace and loving kindness. Not only does he
ring29 on his hand, bring his son back from death, but also through the Spirit he clearly
and shoes30 on his shows his grace. To replace corruption, he clothes him with an
feet31; incorruptible robe. To satisfy hunger, he kills the fatted calf. The
Father provides shoes for his feet so that he will not travel far away
gain. Most wonderful of all, he puts a divine signet ring upon his
hand. By all these things, he begets him anew in the image of the glory
of Christ.
St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 7
28The robe echoes the garment which Jacob gave to his beloved son,
Joseph.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was
the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors.
(Genesis 37:3)
Joseph is a type of Christ, a figure who was betrayed into death but
was then exalted, and who saved his people.
This is also echoed in the service of baptism, where the newly

illumined Christian is dressed in a new white robe after emerging
from the waters, a visible expression of what happens during the
sacrament: the baptized person literally “puts on Christ” like a
garment (Galatians 3:27), and becomes a member of His Body (1
Corinthians 12:27).
‘He gave the best robe,’ that which Adam lost, the everlasting glory of
immortality.
29A ring was a sign of authority, especially a king’s authority. Receiving

a king’s ring was like receiving his ability to rule. For example:
Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s
hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold
chain around his neck. (Genesis 41:42)
And:
So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman,
the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. (Esther
3:10)
23
And:
You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, as you please, in the
king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is
written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring no one
can revoke. (Esther 8:8)
30Shoes/sandals
can be a sign of God’s care for His people, rescuing
them from their vulnerable nakedness and dressing them in finery as
His chosen people. For example:
‘Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and
you became Mine,’ says the Lord God…‘Then […] I clothed you in
embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you
with fine linen and covered you with silk. (Ezekiel 16:8-10)
31Our naked feet, which tread upon the earth, are vulnerable to injury.
After Adam and Eve sinned, God told the serpent:
And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel. (Genesis 3:15)
In Christ, we are no longer vulnerable to the bruises of the serpent.

God has clothed us, and put sandals on our feet. As Christ promised
us:
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions,

and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
hurt you. (Luke 10:19)
As one commentator writes:
This is so that his feet might be in shoes when he preached the gospel,
for ‘how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace.’
He is quoting Romans 10:5.
24
32Moses was on Mt. Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments, longer
23 and bring the
fatted calf32 and kill than expected. Not knowing where he was, the Israelites turn from
him, and from God, and constructed a golden calf to worship.
it, and let us eat and (Exodus 32).
make merry;
Yet the calf later because an offering to God to seek forgiveness of
sins:
Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin
offering, which was for himself. (Leviticus 9:8)
The calf, then, became an image of reconciliation between God and

man: Christ, in other words.
As commentators have written:
The calf was slain at this command of the Father, because the Christ,
God as the Son of God, could not be slain without the command of his
Father. Listen to the apostle: ‘He who was not spared even his own son
but has delivered him for us all.’ He is the calf who is daily and
continually immolated for our food.
And:
Whether we call it calf or kid [a young goat], Christ is to be

understood as the sacrifice offered for sin. He was not sacrificed only
for the Gentiles but also that he might redeem Israel, who by reason of
his frequent transgression of the law has brought great blame on
himself.
24 for this my son 33The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and
was dead, and is alive the Parable of the Prodigal Son each stress the joy that comes with
again; he was lost, the return of the lost.
and is found.' And I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one
they began to make sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no
merry33. repentance. (Luke 15:7)
And:
Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10)
25
25 Now his elder son
was in the field; and
as he came and drew
near to the house, he
heard music and
dancing.
26 And he called one

of the servants and
asked what this
meant.
27 And he said to
him, 'Your brother
has come, and your
father has killed the
fatted calf, because
he has received him
safe and sound.'
28 But he was angry34 34Is he angry because he feels that this feast is being paid for out of
and refused to go in35. his inheritance (since the younger son already received his portion)?
Of course, the father still owns his property, and is free to spend it as
he chooses. Is the older son jealous of property that isn’t even his?
Does he value “his” property more than the return of his brother?
35We sometimes think of hell as a place of punishment, place God

locks sinners to keep them out of heaven.
Yet the older son was free to enter the feast. The problem is that he
refused.
Does God push us away? Or do we pull ourselves away from God?
One need not therefore marvel that while all will live in immortality,
it is not all who will live in blessedness. All equally enjoy God’s
providence for our nature, but it is only those who are devout towards
God who enjoy the gifts which adorn their willingness. This is the
reason: God indeed wills all good things for all men and imparts to all
alike of all His own gifts, both those which benefit the will and those
26
which restore nature. On our part we all receive the gifts of God
which pertain to nature even though we do not desire them, since we
cannot escape them. So He does good to those who are unwilling and
compels them lovingly. Whenever we wish to shake off His kindness
we are unable to do so.
St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, Book Two, §10
36The father went out of the house to meet the younger son when he
His father came out36
and entreated37 him, returned. He shows the same love to the older son, coming out of the
house to meet him.
37Thisis a strong word. The father did not simply ask the older son,
he “entreated” him. He begged him to come and join the celebration.
29 but he answered 38Much like the Pharisee in last Sunday’s reading, the older son
his father, 'Lo, these appears blameless from a legal point of view.
many years I have
St Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, discusses how insufficient good or
served you, and I virtuous deeds are when love is absent love.
never disobeyed38
your command; yet As the following exchange with his father suggests, the older son did
you never gave me a not have love in his heart.
kid39, that I might
make merry with my 39Why? Is it because the older son never asked? Would the father
friends. have refused him if he did?
Do we sometimes get angry with God for withholding certain things

from us, when we’ve never taken the time to approach him and ask?
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who
seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew
7:7-8)
30 But when this son 40The older brother never refers to the Prodigal as “my brother,”
of yours40 came, who always as “your son.” The Father, on the other hand, refers to the
has devoured your Prodigal as “my son,” and tries to reestablish the relationship by
calling him “your brother” to the older one.
living with harlots,
you killed for him the It is similar to the fall of humanity in the Garden of Eden. Some
fatted calf!' interpretations of this suggest that the truly grave sin was not so
much the violation of a law, but the breaking of communion. Instead
of repenting of his sin, Adam distanced himself both from Eve (by
27
blaming her) and God (by blaming Him for creating her):
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some
fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Genesis 3:12)
31 And he said to
him, 'Son, you are
always with me, and
all that is mine is
yours.
32 It was fitting to 41As St Ambrose wrote:

make merry and be
Let us not look down on those who return from a distant land, because
glad, for this your
we were also in a distant land, as Isaiah teaches. ‘To them that
brother was dead, dwelled in the region of the shadow of death, light has risen.’
and is alive; he was
lost41, and is found.'" St. Ambrose of Milan, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.214
He is quoting Isaiah 9:2.
28
Major Themes
• Entitlement vs. gratitude
• Disputes vs. harmony
• Petty grievances vs. what is truly important
• The way sin devours us vs. the way God restores us
Study Questions
1. How have you forgotten who (and Whose) you are?
2. What is it that pulls you back into an awareness of who you really are?
3. How might you struggle with this temptation to take the Father’s kindness for
granted?

Of what great blessings in my wretchedness have I deprived myself! From what a
kingdom in my mystery have I fallen! I have wasted the riches that were given me, I
have transgressed the commandment. Alas, unhappy soul! Though are henceforth
condemned to the eternal fire. Therefore before the end cry out to Christ out God:
Receive me as the Prodigal Son, or God, and have mercy upon me.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Two

29
Judgment Sunday
March 3, 2019
Epistle 1 Cor. 8:8-13; 9:1-2
Gospel Matthew 25:31-46
Video Resource
Live the Word #21

My Brother is My Life
30
Epistle Reading
1 Corinthians 8:8-13; 9:1-2
8 Brethren, food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat,
and no better off if we do.
9 Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the
weak.
10 For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, might
he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?
11 And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom
Christ died.
12 Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is
weak, you sin against Christ.
13 Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother's falling, I will never eat meat, lest I
cause my brother to fall.
1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you
my workmanship in the Lord?
2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my
apostleship in the Lord.
31
Gospel Reading
Matthew 25:31-46
1Thispassage immediately follows the Parable of the Talents
31 The1 Lord said2,
(Matthew 25:14-30). That Parable ends with a stark verse:
For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have
abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be
taken away. (Matthew 25:29)
We saw echoes of that in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (see

footnote 4 for the preceding Sunday).
We also see echoes of the Parable of the Talents in this passage.

Those who had even a little mercy received the Lord’s mercy, those
who didn’t received none in turn.
Perhaps this makes more sense when we see the continuity between
what we call “this life” and the “afterlife.” We continue to progress or
devolve, depending on what direction we’re facing. As we read in the
Old Testament:
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;

Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. (Proverbs 9:9)
2Thisis not simply a parable. Christ spoke these words to explain the
Parable of the Talents and what He expects of us, His followers.
3TheSon of Man is a glorious figure foretold by the prophets, one

“When the Son of
man3 comes who would usher in a new age and rule over all:
I was watching in the night visions,

And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)
32
See also Ezekiel 43:7, etc.
In the New Testament, Christ is associated with this mysterious

figure, and uses the phrase to discuss the End Times and the coming
of God’s eternal Kingdom:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all
the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He
will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will
gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)
in His glory4 4Perhaps the most apparent display of Christ’s glory in the Gospel
accounts is the description of the Transfiguration:
As St. Matthew attempted to describe the scene:
Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up
on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured
before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow,
such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared
to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
St. Matthew’s full account can be found at Matthew 17:1-13.
St. Mark’s full account can be found at Mark 9:1-13.
St. Luke’s full account can be found at Luke 9:28-36.
It’s interesting that St. John does not include an account of the
Transfiguration. This could be because the Transfiguration is an
episode meant to reassure the disciples of Christ’s divinity before the
awful display of His mortality in His descent to the Cross and tomb.
St. John’s Gospel account (on the other hand) unmistakably, clearly,
and consistently identifies Jesus with the Son of God, the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, the very Word of God, right from its first
sentence:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. (John 1:1)
Consider also what St John Chrysostom writes:
He does not say that the coming kingdom is compared to this or that,
33
as He has been speaking previously, but now openly shows himself to
be the Son of Man, who ‘shall come in his glory.’ If he has up to now
appeared in a condition of dishonor, now he appears in a different role.
He reproaches. He confronts. He sits upon his throne of glory.
And he continually mentions glory. For his cross was drawing near, a
thing that seemed to be a matter of reproach. So he lifts his hearers up
and brings before their sight the judgment seat, with all the world
gathered around him.
St. John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 79.1
and all the holy 5The original Greek does not say “all the holy angels.” Rather, it
angels5 with him, simply states that “all the angels” will be with Him.
then he will sit on his Does that mean that the fallen angels (ie, the demons) will be with
glorious throne6. Christ as well? In what capacity? Will they still be fallen?
6On the one hand, this is a terrifying scene of Christ the King sitting
in judgment over His people.
On the other, it is an inspirational vision of what God has promised

us.
St. Paul is very clear that we are invited to be intimately joined to

Christ, to become members of His Body:
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
(Galatians 3:27)
In doing so, we become more than simply creations of God:
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children
of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified
together. (Romans 8:16-17)
This glorious throne, then, is not simply set over us in judgment.

Rather, we are lifted up to sit upon it ourselves:
He raises the poor from the dust

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,
To set them among princes
And make them inherit the throne of glory.
‘For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
And He has set the world upon them.’ (1 Samuel 2:8)
34
We should also remember that the Lord is not an arbitrary judge, nor
is He cruel, nor is He unfair:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;

Mercy and truth go before Your face. (Psalm 88(89):14)
This throne is not a point of division but rather a point of unity and
healing for all people:
At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all
the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to
Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
(Jeremiah 3:17)
32 Before him7 will be 7As one commentator writes:

gathered8 all the
Every race on earth will see him, both those who rejected him and
nations, those who despised him as a man. They will see him then, but not
everyone in the same way: some will see him in punishment and others
in heavenly bliss.
Epiphanius the Latin, Interpretation of the Gospels, 38
8Inthe reading for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), the
older son refuses to enter the feast. As the footnote 35 asks, does that
image help us better to understand God’s punishment?
Does God push us away, or do we pull ourselves away from Him?
One need not therefore marvel that while all will live in immortality,
it is not all who will live in blessedness. All equally enjoy God’s
providence for our nature, but it is only those who are devout towards
God who enjoy the gifts which adorn their willingness. This is the
reason: God indeed wills all good things for all men and imparts to all
alike of all His own gifts, both those which benefit the will and those
which restore nature. On our part we all receive the gifts of God
which pertain to nature even though we do not desire them, since we
cannot escape them. So He does good to those who are unwilling and
compels them lovingly. Whenever we wish to shake off His kindness
we are unable to do so.
St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, Book Two, §10
While “gathering” seems to be a theme that characterizing the

fulfillment of time, “division” seems to characterize its beginning. We
see this in the Garden, when Adam separated himself from both Eve
35
and God by blaming them for his sin rather than asking forgiveness
(Genesis 3). We also see it in the story of the Tower of Babel, where
the pride of mankind led to our division and scattering (Genesis
11:1-9).
In his writings, St. Dionysios the Areopagite makes frequent

reference to the theme of “procession and return.” He frames the
story of creation as an initial procession out of the unity of God into
the diversity of creation, followed by an eventual return to God in
union of all things. See for example On the Celestial Hierarchy, chapter
1, section 1.
St. Maximos the Confessor developed this thought in Ambiguum 41,

where he discussed salvation as a process of overcoming division and
offering God a creation unified in love, so that all things could be
lifted up into eternity and saved.
and he will separate 9As one commentator writes:

them9 one from
Between the righteous and the wicked there is no apparent difference.
another Even as in wintertime you cannot tell the healthy trees apart from the
withered trees but in beautiful springtime you can tell the difference,
so too each person according to his faith and his works will be exposed.
The wicked will not have any leaves or show any fruit, but the
righteous will be clothed with the leaves of eternal life and adorned
with the fruit of glory.
Incomplete Work on Matthew, Homily 54
For more on this leaves/fruit metaphor (and how it connects to this

separation), compare St. Nikiphoros the Hesychast:
How astonishing it is that this saint [Abba Agathon] denounced those

who fail to learn how to keep watch over the intellect and who boast
only of their bodily asceticism: every tree, he said, which does not
produce fruit—by which is meant keeping watch over the intellect—
but only has leaves, that is, bodily asceticism, is cut down and thrown
into the fire.
St. Nikiphoros the Hesychast, “On Watchfulness

and the Guarding of the Heart,” The Philokalia, vol 4
We can see how this all came together in the Parable of the Publican
& Pharisee. The Pharisee fasted, tithed, etc., but had no love. He had
plenty of leaves, but no fruit.
36
10As one commentator writes:
as a shepherd
separates the sheep10
The sheep signify righteous people by reason of their gentleness,
from the goats11, because they harm no one, and by reason of their patience, because
when they are harmed by others, they bear it without resistance. He
refers to sinners as goats, however, because these vices characterize
goats: capriciousness towards other animals, pride and belligerence.
John 10:1-30 is a lengthy exploration of the sheep image, and what

that says about our relationship with Christ.
In short, sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd. They stay close
by him, they are attentive to his lead, and the shepherd protects them
from danger.
11As It’s interesting to note that both sheep and goats were acceptable
sacrifices under the Law. For example:
If his offering is of the flocks—of the sheep or of the goats—as a burnt

sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish. (Leviticus 1:10)
Goats also appear in an Old Testament prophecy of judgment, in the

Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:11-31). Yet there, goats do not symbolize
the unrighteous. Rather:
And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I shall
judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.’ (Ezekiel
34:17)
God will not separate the sheep and goats, but will judge His flock
and save them:
I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My
servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the
Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them;
I, the Lord, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:23-24)
33 and he will place 12As one commentator writes:

the sheep at his right
He will justly place the righteous at his right hand, because they never
hand12, but the goats
the left side; he will justly place the wicked at the left, because they
at the left. never wanted to know the right side.
37
13When we see the word “king” in the New Testament, it most
34 Then the king13
will say to those at frequently appears as part of the phrase “King of the Jews” or “King
of Israel.” This is sometimes a genuine confession of praise (such as
his right hand, Nathanael’s confession to Christ: “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!
'Come, O blessed of You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49)). However, it is more
my Father, inherit14 frequently used in mocking terms (such as Matthew 27:42, Mark 15:18,
the kingdom Luke 23:37, etc.).
prepared for you
The word “king” also frequently appears as a reference to God the
from the foundation Father, whether in Christ’s parables (Matthew 22:2) or in the
of the world; teachings of St. Paul (1 Timothy 1:17, 1 Timothy 6:15).
However, the word “king” does very occasionally refer to Christ

Himself, as it does in this passage. This happens specifically during
Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the people praise
Christ and quote Scripture referring to “the king”:
Tell the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’
(Matthew 21:5, quoting Zechariah 9:9)
And:
‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!
(Luke 19:39, quoting Psalm 118:26)
This is not an example of mocking. Rather, it establishes a

connection between Christ and God the King. It shows that the man
Jesus is simultaneously the Son of God, the Second Person of the
Trinity.
Much like Christ’s Transfiguration, it is a statement of His divinity

right before a shocking display of his humanity and mortality. It is a
reassurance to those who might otherwise lose faith at the foot of the
Cross.
14As St John Chrysostom writes:
He did not say ‘take’ but ‘inherit’ as one’s own, as your Father’s, as
yours, as due to you from the first. ‘For before you were,’ he says, ‘these
things had been prepared and made ready for you, because I knew you
would be such as you are.
38
15As we read in Scripture:
35 for I was hungry15
and you gave me
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they
food, I was thirsty16 shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6).
and you gave me
drink, I was a Consider also Christ’s feeding of the 5000 recorded in Matthew
stranger17 and you 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:5-15.
welcomed me, 16Consider Christ’s exchange with the Samaritan woman at the well,
recorded in John 4:1-26:
Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will
thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in
him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John
4:13-14)
Hear my prayer, O Lord,

And give ear to my cry;
Do not be silent at my tears;
For I am a stranger with You,
A sojourner, as all my fathers were. (Psalm 38(39):12)
Consider also the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37),

where the Good Samaritan symbolizes Christ, who heals our wounds
and saves us from death.

36 I was naked18 and
you clothed me19,
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and
clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)
In the same way, we have woven a garment for the cold and shivering
Christ. We have received the fabric of wisdom from God that we may
impart knowledge to some and clothe them with ‘compassion, chastity,
kindness, lowliness’ and the other virtues. All these virtues are the
spiritual garments of those who have listened to the words of those
who teach these virtues, according to him who says, ‘Put on, then,
compassion, kindness, lowliness, gentleness’ and so forth, more so
Christ himself, who is all these things to the faithful, according to him
who said, ‘Put on the Lord Jesus.’ (Romans 13:14).
Therefore, when we have clothes with garments of this type ‘one of the
39
least’ who believe in Christ, we have apparently clothed the Lord
himself, so that the word of God in the world will not go naked. But
we must also welcome the Son of God who became a stranger and the
members of his body who are strangers in the world, untainted by all
mundane actions, even as he says about himself and his disciples: ‘They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.’ (John 17:14). And
Christ asks the Father to permit them to be with him where he is.
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 72
I was sick20 and you 20Christ,of course, healed a multitude of sick people during His
visited me, I was in earthly ministry, as recorded in the various Gospel accounts.
prison21 and you
came to me.' 21Recall when St. Paul was freedom from prison in Acts 16:25-40:
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the

prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and
everyone’s chains were loosed. (Acts 16:26)
37 Then the righteous 22Aswe saw in footnote 10, sheep stay close to their shepherd.
will answer him, Christ’s sheep have stayed close to Him, and watched Him.
'Lord, when did we
And what they have seen is one who fed the hungry, gave drink to the
see you22 hungry and thirsty, etc., as is detailed in earlier annotations. The Christ they have
feed you, or thirsty seen, in other words, was the one offering help rather than receiving
and give you drink? help. When did they see Him hungry, when He was the one feeding
people?
38 And when did we

see you a stranger
and welcome you, or
naked and clothe
you?
39 And when did we

see you sick or in
prison and visit you?'
40
23Christ, the All-Powerful King, is identifying with the weak and
40 And the King will
answer them, 'Truly, I powerful. In a powerful inversion, He is saying that He is not simply
the One who feeds, but also the One who is fed. He gives, and
say to you, as you did receives.
it to one of the least
of these my This is a profound liturgical statement, and continues to be reflected
brethren23, you did it in Orthodox theology regarding Holy Communion.
to me24.'
For instance, during the Divine Liturgy, while the Cherubic Hymn is
being chanted, the priest prays the following:
For You, Christ our God, are the Offerer and the Offered, the One
who receives and is distributed, and to You we give glory, together
with Your eternal Father and Your holy, good and life giving Spirit,
now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen. (Divine Liturgy of
St. John Chrysostom)
Therefore, you see, my most beloved, that the saints are not alone.
They suffer all these things because of the Lord. In the same way,
because of the saints the Lord suffers all these things with them.
Epiphanius the Latin, Interpretation of the Gospels, 38
41 Then he will say to 25As St John Chrysostom writes:

those at his left hand,
I prepared the kingdom for you, he says, but the fire I did not prepare
'Depart from me, you
for you but ‘for the devil and his angels.’ But you have cast yourselves
cursed, into the in it. You have imputed it to yourselves.
eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his St. John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 79.2
angels25;
42 for I was hungry 26As St John Chrysostom writes:

and you gave me no
food26, I was thirsty Even when you see a dog hungry you feel sympathy. But when you see the Lord
hungry, you ignore it. You are left without excuse.
and you gave me no
drink, St. John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 79.2
41
43 I was a stranger
and you did not
He could have said to the unrighteous, ‘I was sick, and you did not
welcome me, naked visit me; I was in prison, and you did not come to me.’ Instead he
and you did not abbreviated his discourse and compressed both phrases into one … for
clothe me, sick and it was proper for a merciful judge to embellish the good deeds of people
in prison and you did but to skim over their evil deeds.
not visit me27.'
The righteous, however, dwell on each word … [f]or it is
characteristic of the righteous, out of humility, studiously to make
light of each of their good deeds held up to them … [while the
unrighteous] refer to everything they did and tend to play down their
evil actions, which might appear worse if enumerated one by one, for
it is characteristic of wicked people to mention their faults, by way of
excuse, as being either nonexistent or few and far between.
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 73

44 Then they also
will answer, 'Lord,
when did we see you
hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or
sick or in prison, and
did not minister to
you?'

45 Then he will
answer them, 'Truly, I
Neither were they condemned because of the active wrong they did,
say to you, as you did nor did the Lord say to them, Depart from me, you wicked, because
it not to one of the you committed murder or adultery or theft. But instead: because I was
least of these, you did hungry and thirsty in my servants, and you did not minister to me. If
it not to me28.' those who did no wrong are thus condemned, what must be said of
those who do the works of the devil?
46 And they will go Epiphanius the Latin, Interpretation of the Gospels, 38
away into eternal
punishment, but the
righteous into eternal
life."
42
Major Themes
• Rule following vs. love
• Jesus as the humble Lord, present in everyone (not matter how lowly)
• Inspiring others vs. scandalizes others
• Individualistic view of salvation vs. communal view of salvation
Study Questions
1. Have you ever struggled because of something someone else did, maybe
something you found scandalous?
2. Have you ever caused anyone to stumble?
3. How can you develop a heart that can find Christ even when you can’t see Him?

I lament and weep when I think of the eternal fire, the outer darkness and the
nether world, the dread worm and the gnashing of teeth, and the unceasing anguish
that shall befall those who have sinned without measure, by their wickedness
arousing Thee to anger, O Supreme in love. Among them in my mystery I am first:
but, O Judge compassionate, in Thy mercy save me.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Six

43
Forgiveness Sunday
March 10, 2019
Epistle Romans 13:11-14;

14:1-4
Gospel Matthew 6:14-21
Video Resource
Live the Word #22

Why You Need to Forgive
44
Epistle Reading
Romans 13:11-14; 14:1-4
11 Brethren, salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed;
12 the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of
darkness and put on the armor of light;
13 let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and

drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires.
1 As for the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over
opinions.
2 One believes he may eat anything, while the weak man eats only vegetables.
3 Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass
judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him.
4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own
master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for God is able to make him
stand.
45
Gospel Reading
Matthew 6:14-21
1Thispassage immediately follows when Christ taught His disciples
14 The1 Lord said, "If
you forgive men their the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13).
trespasses2, your 2We find something similar elsewhere in Scripture:
heavenly Father also
will forgive you3; The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance,
for he keeps a strict account of their sins.
Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done,
and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
Does anyone harbor anger against another,
and expect healing from the Lord?
If one has no mercy toward another like himself,
can he then seek pardon for his own sins?
If a mere mortal harbors wrath,
who will make an atoning sacrifice for his sins?
Remember the end of your life, and set enmity aside;
remember corruption and death, and be true to the commandments.
Remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your
neighbor; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook
faults.
(Sirach 28:1-7)
3Inthe Book of Leviticus, the word “forgive” is consistently paired
with the word “atonement,” especially in the sense of an animal
sacrifice. For example:
And he shall do with the bull as he did with the bull as a sin offering;
thus he shall do with it. So the priest shall make atonement for them,
and it shall be forgiven them. (Leviticus 4:20)
Yet here, God the Father is simply being asked to forgive, without the
need for atonement. Why?
Is this a lesson for Israel, that sin brings death? Because God forgives
freely, without need of atonement.
This is consistent with an observation from St. Athanasios. When

discussing the sin of Adam and Eve, he noted that if the Fall had been
simply a matter of sin, then it would have been enough for Adam and
Eve to repent (and be forgiven):
46
Had it been a case of a trespass only, and
not of a subsequent corruption, repentance would have
been well enough; but when once transgression had begun
me? came under the power of the corruption proper to
theIr nature and were bereft of the grace wPich belonged
to them as creatures in the Image of God. No, repentance
could not meet the case.
St. Athanasios of Alexandria, On the Incarnation, §7
15 but if you do not 4Compare this emphasis on forgiveness with the famous verses about
forgive men their “eye for an eye” justice, quoted here in their entirety:
trespasses4,
If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth
prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished
accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay
as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Exodus 22:22-25)
Consider also the following:
And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness
is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you
shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall
put away the evil from among you. And those who remain shall hear
and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among
you. Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (Deuteronomy 19:18-21)
And:
If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it

be done to him— fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as
he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him.
(Leviticus 24:19-20)
Of course, Christ Himself sets forth how generous we should be in

extending forgiveness:
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to
him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times
seven. (Matthew 18:21-22)
47
Compare this to the following verses:
And the Lord said to him, ‘Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance
shall be taken on him sevenfold.’ And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest
anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:15)
And:
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold. (Genesis 4:24)
neither will your 5As noted in footnote 1, this passage immediately follows Christ’s
Father5 forgive6 your instruction of the Lord’s Prayer (where we are invited to call God the
Father “our Father”).
trespasses7.
6When we see references to forgiveness in the New Testament, it is
not presented as conditional. Forgiveness is, bluntly, something we
must offer.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies,
kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another,
and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;
even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13)
Do we sometimes withhold forgiveness because it hasn’t been asked

of us? Should we wait to forgive someone after they’ve first
apologized? No, forgiveness is not something that should wait:
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that
your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before
the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and
then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)
Think back to the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The father ran out as
soon as he saw the younger son approach. And nowhere did he utter
the words “I forgive you.” He forgave the son before he even asked.
As St John Chrysostom writes:
Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked

and wrongdoer.
We see very few references to people forgiving in the Old Testament.

Forgiveness is generally something people sought from God, with
48
sacrifice and atonement.
Two notable exceptions are Joseph, who was asked to forgive his
brothers (Genesis 50:17), and Moses, who was asked to forgive
Pharaoh (Exodus 10:17). Both of these men are Christ figures,
shadows of the promised Messiah.
7In Greek, τὰ παραπτώματα (ta pah-rah-PTOH-mah-tah).
In the passage, it’s translated as “trespasses,” which is a word we see

in the Lord’s Prayer as well (“forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us…”).
However, they are two very different words in the original Greek.
Παραπτώματα literally means a “stumbling” or “lapse.” Yet the word

used in the Lord’s Prayer, ὀφειλήματα (ho-fee-LEE-mah-tah), is
better translated as “debt” or “obligation.”
Our offenses against each other are described as mere stumbling,

while our offenses against God are debts. This is well illustrated in
the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, where a servant was owed a
mere 100 denarii, while he owed the king an impossible to repay
10,000 talents (Matthew 18:23-25).
8Compare verses 16 and 17 to Isaiah 58:5:

16 "And8 when you
fast, do not look
Is it a fast that I have chosen,
dismal, like the A day for a man to afflict his soul?
hypocrites9, Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the Lord?
Do both these passages point to a deeper sort of fasting?
9The word “hypocrite” was, in ancient Greek, the word for an actor
or pretender, someone who puts on a show. Greek actors wore masks
as they pretended to be something they were not.
This passage is the third in a series of Christ advising us to do in

secret rather than publicly, for glory, like the hypocrites. Earlier in the
chapter, Christ discussed:
Almsgiving:
49
Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be
seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in
heaven. (Matthew 6:1-4)
And prayer:
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut
your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place… (Matthew
6:5-7)
Each discussion concludes with the same verse:
…and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And
forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even
as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:12-13)
for they disfigure 10The hypocrites “disfigure their faces” by “[depriving] them of
their faces10 that brightness and taking on a sad and downcast expressions.” Apostolos
Makrakis, Interpretation of the Entire New Testament, Volume 1 at 141.
their fasting may be
seen by men11. They would not anoint themselves with oil, nor wash their faces, nor
comb their hair, and would often put ashes on their faces. All this was
an attempt to “play the part” of being repentant. “Not having the
genuine principles of piety at heart, they know not what is its proper
expression….” Albert Barnes, Barnes’s Notes on the New Testament,
Matthew and Mark at 69.
In Greek, the verb here is ἀφανίζω (ah-fah-NEE-zoh). This is the

same verb used below in verse 19, translated as “consume.”
The hypocrites, then, by “disfiguring their faces” for the sake of

earthly praise and glory are disfiguring/consuming/destroying their
heavenly treasure.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses
his own soul/life? (Matthew 8:36)
This stands as a warning as we prepare to enter Great Lent: will we

disfigure our heavenly treasure by boasting of how must or how well
we fast?
11When the hypocrites put on such a show, are they fasting from
food? Or are they fasting from God, sinking deeper into their own
ego and further from their connection with God and neighbor?
50
12Isthe glory we may receive from other people a reward? Or is it a
Truly, I say to you,
they have received curse, something that distracts us from what is truly valuable? Does it
a replace the genuine and eternal with the superficial and temporary?
their reward12.
However, I do not forbid even this, saith He [God]. Only, if thou art
desirous to make a show to men, also, wait, and I will bestow on thee
this too in fuller abundance, and with great profit. For as it is, this
quite breaks thee off from the glory which is with me, even as to
despise these things unites thee closely; but then shalt thou enjoy all in
entire security; having, even before that last, no little fruit to reap in
this world also, namely, that thou hast trodden under foot all human
glory, and art freed from the grievous bondage of men, and art become
a true worker of virtue.
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew,

Homily XX
13Perhaps Christ is simply saying that, when we fast, we should look as

17 But when you fast,
anoint your head and we usually do, no different. This way, our fasting remains humble
rather than about praise. The practice of anointing one’s self with
wash your face13, olive oil or other scented oils was a daily practice, done both as a way
of perfuming oneself and care for the skin in the warm
Mediterranean climate. Albert Barnes, Barnes’s Notes on the New
Testament, Matthew and Mark at 69-70.
18that your fasting 14See footnote 9 for more on this doing in secret.
may not be seen by
men but by your
Father who is in
secret; and your
Father who sees in
secret will reward
you14.
19 "Do not lay up for 15Whattreasure is this, exactly? It’s left unstated. However, Psalms of
yourselves treasures Solomon 9:5 offers a possibility:
on earth15, where The one who practices righteousness stores up life for himself with the
moth and rust Lord,
consume and where and the one who practices injustice is responsible for the destruction of
thieves break in and his own soul,
steal, but lay up for for the judgments of the Lord are in righteousness for each man and
household.
51
Though not part of any scriptural canon, the Psalms of Solomon offer
a bit of context to the religious thinking during Christ’s earthly
ministry.
16Compare this verse to the following verse, which Christ offered

where moth and rust
consume and where shortly after telling the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21):
thieves break in and Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags
steal16, which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail,
where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. (Luke 12:33)
St. James echoes this theme of moth, rust, and thievery in his epistle
as well:
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming
upon you! our riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a
witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped
up treasure in the last days. (James 5:1-3)
20 but lay up for

yourselves treasures
in heaven, where
neither moth nor
rust consumes and
where thieves do not 17Considerthese passages from St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain,
break in and steal. A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel.
The heart is a center that has three aspects. It is a natural, a

21 For where your supernatural, and a para-natural center. (at 153)
treasure is, there will
your heart17 be also." The heart is a natural center…Thus we can say that the heart, because
of the sense itself and the central place where it is found, holds a key
position in relation to the whole body. (at 154)
The heart is also a supernatural center. The supernatural grace of God

which we have received through holy baptism is found in the hearts–
its seat and throne. (at 155)
The heart is also a para-natural, that is, an unnatural center. All the
unnatural passions, all the blasphemous, proud, shameful, and evil
thoughts and all the evil passions, tendencies, appetites, attempts, and
consents that we have come to receive from the things of the world are
born in the hart and are to be found there. (at 156)
52
Major Themes
• Asking forgiveness vs. receiving forgiveness
• Salvation as a concept vs. salvation as a destination
• Forgiveness as a foundational part of the spiritual journey
• Helping others rise vs. making them stumble
Study Questions
1. How do you keep your eyes focused on your own spiritual journey (rather than
condemning or judging others)?
2. Does Lent (or other preparatory periods) make the struggle to forgive easier?
3. Is there anyone in your life that you’ve had trouble forgiving?

O precious Paradise, unsurpassed in beauty, tabernacle built by God, unending
gladness and delight, glory of the righteous, joy of the prophets, and dwelling of the
saints, with the sound of they leaves pray for the Maker of all: may He open unto
me the gates which I closed by my transgression, and may He count me worthy to
partake of the Tree of Life and of the joy which was mine when I dwelt in thee
before.
53
Sunday of Orthodoxy
March 17, 2019
Epistle Hebrews 11:24-25,

32-40
Gospel John 1:43-51
Video Resource
Live the Word #23

The Triumph of Orthodoxy
54
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 11:24-25, 32-40
24 Brethren, by faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the
fleeting pleasures of sin.
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak,
Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets --
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises,

stopped the mouths of lions,
34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of
weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign enemies to flight.
35 Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to

accept release, that they might rise again to a better life.
36 Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they
went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated --
38 of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts and mountains, and
in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was
promised,
40 since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should
not be made perfect.
55
Gospel Reading
John 1:43-51
43 At that time, Jesus
decided to go to
But it is truly remarkable concerning Peter, James and Philip, that
Galilee. And he they believed not only before the miracles, but that they did so being
found Philip and said from Galilee, out of which ‘arises no prophet,’ nor ‘can any good thing
to him, "Follow me.” come.’ The Galileans were somehow of a more boorish and dull
disposition than others. But even in this Christ displayed his power.
He selected his choicest disciples from a land that bore no fruit.
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John, 20.1
44 Now Philip was

from Bethsaida, the
city of Andrew and
Peter.
2As commentators have written:

45 Philip found
Nathanael, and he
It is, I suppose, perfectly clear that not only did he take Nazareth as a
said to him, "We have pledge of what he sought but, bringing together knowledge from Moses
found him2 of whom and the prophets as one fond of learning, he gained a pretty quick
Moses in the law and understanding. ‘Come and see,’ [Philip] says. Sight will suffice for
also the prophets faith. All you need to do is talk with him, and you will be all the more
wrote3, Jesus of ready to confess and say without hesitation that he is indeed the
expected One.
Nazareth, the son of
Joseph." St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 2.1
And:
Andrew was persuaded when he heard from John, and Peter was
persuaded when he heard from Andrew. But Philip, not having
leaned anything from anyone but Christ who said to him only this,
‘Follow me,’ immediately obeyed and did not go back. In fact, he even
became a preacher to others. For he ran to Nathanael and said to him,
‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets
wrote.’ Do you see what a thoughtful mind he had, how assiduously
he meditated on the writings of Moses, expecting the advent? For the
expression ‘we have found’ belongs always to those who are in some
way seeking.

56
3Nathanael demonstrates that, like any good Israelite, he has searched
the Scripture:
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me. (John 5:39)
Yet, unlike many of his fellow Israelites, Nathanael searched the

Scriptures and found Christ:
For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about
Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My
words? (John 5:46-47)
46 Nathanael said to 4Nathanael is working off of his own knowledge: based on all that he
him, "Can anything has read, there is no reason to expect “anything good to come out of
Nazareth.”
good4 come out of
Nazareth5?" But God defies even our most well thought out expectations. People
were not expecting the Messiah to come as a poor infant, laying in a
manger. Yet He did. Nor were they expecting the Messiah to die on a
Cross, and end His life in apparent defeat. Yet He did.
God isn’t limited by what we think can or cannot happen.
As St Ephrem the Syrian writes:
Even though the prophet had said that a leader and prince would rise
forth from Bethlehem, Nathanael had heard that [Jesus] was from
Nazareth, and therefore he asked whether it was possible that a good
prince could come out of Nazareth, [for this was] something that had
not been written. Consequently, when our Lord saw him, he [Jesus]
gave a good testimony on Nathanael’s behalf that he was not like the
scribes who were acting deceitfully in relation to the [Scripture]
readings, attempting to make their interpretations follow their own
will. He says, ‘This is an Israelite scribe in whom no guile has been
seen.’ For before he knew [the Lord], he [Nathanael] was asking
whether Nazareth could produce a prince, like Bethlehem [could].
St. Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron, 4.19
5Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament. Based on the

complete lack of prophesies regarding it, there was no reason to
expect that anything good would come out of that town.
57
Because Nathanael had considered the writings of the prophets more
than Philip. For he had heard from the Scriptures that Christ must
come from Bethlehem, and from the village in which David was …
And so when he heard that Jesus was ‘from Nazareth,’ he was
confounded and doubted, not finding the announcement of Philip to
agree with the prediction of the prophet.
Philip said to him, 6Compare this to Psalm 66:5:

"Come and see6."
Come and see the works of God;
He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men.
Rather than debate Nathanael, Philip invited him to experience

something (or, more accurately, someone). When we speak to people
about the Faith, do we fall into debates? Or do we invite them to
encounter Christ?
47 Jesus saw 7In Greek, ἐν ᾧ δόλος οὐκ ἔστιν (en o DOH-los ouk EHS-teen).
Nathanael coming to
The word translated here as “guile” (DOH-los) is translated by
him, and said of him, the Danker-Bauer Lexicon as “taking advantage through craft and
"Behold, an Israelite underhanded methods.”
indeed, in whom is
no guile7!" This echoes the story in Genesis 27 where Jacob takes the blessing of
his brother, Esau, in a deceitful way: he clothed himself like Esau in
order to fool their father, Isaac.
This link is reinforced in verse 51, below, which echoes a dream Jacob
had.
8AfterAdam and Eve sinned, and realized their nakedness, they

48 Nathanael said to
him, "How do you sewed together fig leaves to cover themselves (Genesis 3:7).
know me?" Jesus We are still sinners, and we still find ourselves in the shade of the fig
answered him, tree, waiting for God’s salvation.
"Before Philip called
you, when you were As St Augustine writes:
under the fig tree8,
You know from what the first sinners, Adam and Eve, made
themselves aprons. When they had sinned, they made themselves
aprons from fig leaves and covered their shameful parts, because it
was by sinning that the caused themselves to feel shame about them.
So if the first sinners made themselves aprons, the couple from whom
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we derive our origins, in whom we had gotten lost so that he would
come to seek and to save what had gotten lost—if they made them out
of fig leaves to cover their shameful parts, what else could it mean,
‘When you were under the fig tree I saw you,’ but ‘You would not
have come to the cleanser of sin unless he had first seen you in the
shadow of sin’? In order for us to see, we have been seen; in order for us
to love, we have been loved.
St. Augustine, Sermon 174.4
This passage also echoes a prophecy of the coming messianic age,

when the Lord will reign:
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. (Micah 4:4)
Perhaps Nathanael, who was familiar with the Scriptures and was
searching them, recognized this reference when Christ spoke it.
It’s also interesting to note how Christ frames His comment to

Nathanael. He says, not under a fig tree, but under the fig tree. He is
very specific, perhaps to stress that He has very specific knowledge of
a specific time and place. This knowledge shocks and dumbfounds
Nathanael.
What was Nathanael doing under the fig tree? We do not know, but
the revelation that Christ knew/saw him was enough to rock
Nathanael and cause him to see Christ as the son of God.
I saw you9." 9In Greek, εἶδόν σε (EE-dhon seh).
This can perhaps be better translated as “I knew you.” Christ did not
simply see Nathanael from far away, as if He has some kind of super-
sight. Instead, He knew Nathanael, in a profound and mysterious way.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you. (Jeremiah 1:5)
10Recall that St. Peter also referred to Christ as the Son of God:
49 Nathanael
answered him,
Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the
"Rabbi, you are10 living God.’ (Matthew 16:16).
Did he mean the same thing as Nathanael? Consider St John

Chrysostom’s interpretation, available at the end of footnote 11.
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11The phrase “Son of God” doesn’t necessarily mean what we think it
the Son of God11! You
are the King of means as Christians. We see it as referring uniquely to Jesus Christ,
the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Yet the phrase appears in
Israel!” different ways throughout Scripture.
We see a few references to the “sons of God,” using the plural, early
in the Old Testament. For example:
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were
beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
(Genesis 6:2)
Later we begin seeing references to the “son of God,” in the singular:
For though they had disbelieved everything because of their magic

arts,
yet, when their first-born were destroyed, they acknowledged thy
people to be God’s son. (Wisdom 18:13)
And consider this important reference to “Son of God” in the Old

Testament:
‘Look!’ he answered, ‘I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the
fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of
God.’ (Daniel 3:25)
This fourth person in the fire is seen as Christ Himself, active in the
Old Testament:
Pious children stood within the furnace.

The Child of the Theotokos went and rescued them.
He who was prefigured then, manifestly active now…
(Ode Eight, Katavasia for the Virgin Mary)
The first time we see the phrase “Son of God” in the New Testament,
it comes out of Satan’s mouth, during his temptation of Christ in the
wilderness:
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of
God, command that these stones become bread.’ (Matthew 4:3)
We later hear the same from two demons in Matthew 8:29. People do
not refer to Christ as the “Son of God” until after He walked on the
water in Matthew 14:33.
This is an important reminder. It’s one thing to know that Christ is

the Son of God. It’s another to act accordingly, to love and worship
Him.
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Finally, we should compare Nathanael’s confession with that of St
Peter (noted above in footnote 10). As St John Chrysostom writes:
Many, when they read this passage, are perplexed at finding that Peter
was pronounced blessed for having, after our Lord’s miracles and
teaching, confessed him to be the Son of God. Nathanael, who makes
the same confession before Peter, receives no such blessing. The reason is
this: Peter and Nathanael both used the same words but not in the
same way. Peter confessed our Lord to be the Son of God, in the sense
of him being very God. Nathanael confessed him to be the Son of God
only as a mere man. For after saying, ‘You are the Son of God,’ he adds,
‘You are the King of Israel.’ But the Son of God was not only the King
of Israel but of the whole world. This is clear from what follows. For
in the case of Peter, Christ added nothing, but, as if his faith were
already perfect, told him that he would build the church on his
confession. In the case of Nathanael, he treats his confession as
deficient and needing to progress further upwards.
50 Jesus answered
him, "Because I said
to you, I saw you
under the fig tree, do
you believe? You shall
see greater things
than these."
12The Book of Genesis records a dream that Jacob had:

51 And he said to
him, "Truly, truly, I
Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its
say to you, you will top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and
see heaven opened, descending on it. (Genesis 28:12)
and the angels of
God ascending and Yet perhaps this also should apply to us as Christians. As St Augustine
descending12 upon write:
the Son of man13." If the Lord himself ascended and descended, it is evident that his
preachers ascend by imitation and descend by preaching.
St. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 7.23
13 The
Son of Man is a glorious figure foretold by the prophets, one
who would usher in a new age and rule over all:
61

Christ also refers to Himself as the Son of Man in the Gospel reading
for Judgment Sunday, when He speaks of His Second Coming and
judgment of all.
62
Major Themes
• Our idea of God vs. Who God actually is
• The connection between the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament saints
• The union of heaven and earth; even looking upon the face of the Lord
• The promise of God’s salvation
Study Questions
1. How does God’s promise of salvation give you hope?
2. How have you wrestled with God?
3. How has God caught you off your guard?

The divinely inspired prophets preached Thee in word and honoured Thee in
works, and they received as their reward life without end. For they steadfastly
refused, O Master, to worship the creation instead of Thee, the Creator; they
renounced the whole world for the Gospel’s sake, and in their suffering they were
conformed to Thy Passion which they had foretold. At their intercessions, count us
worthy to pass through the period of the Fast without offence, for Thou Alone art
rich in mercy.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Six (The Lenten Triodion at 299)
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St Gregory Palamas
March 24, 2019
Epistle Hebrews 1:10-14;

2:1-3
Gospel Mark 2:1-12
Video Resource
Live the Word #24

How We See the Invisible
64
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 1:10-14; 2:1-3
1o In the beginning, Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the
heavens are the work of thy hands;
11 they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment,
12 like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the
same, and thy years will never end. (Psalm 102:25-27)
13 But to what angel has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a
stool for thy feet?"
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who
are to obtain salvation?
1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away
from it.
2 For if the message declared by angels was valid and every transgression or
disobedience received a just retribution,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by
the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him.
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Gospel Reading
Mark 2:1-12
1Versions of this passage also appear in Matthew 9:1-8 and Luke
1 At that time1, Jesus
entered Capernaum 5:17-26.
and it was reported As you read this passage, ask yourself: why do we read it on the
that he was at home2. Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas?
For possible answers, see the footnotes 7 and 19.
2In Greek, “εἰς οἶκόν” (ees EE-kon).
The word refers not simply to a physical structure, but rather to a

household and the people that make it up. For example:
Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your
household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this
generation.’ (Genesis 7:1)
This use continues in the New Testament, where we see references to

“the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). This refers, not
simply to a place, but rather to a group of people.
There’s something warm and familiar about saying that Christ “was at
home.” The text doesn’t say that He “was at someone’s home.” It
comes across as Christ’s own home, a place He belonged, where He
was welcome.
Christ, the Son of God, was not welcome everywhere He went:
And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ (Matthew
8:20)
Yet He was welcome in this home. And if it was His home, we could
perhaps say that it was “the house of God,” a phrase used to describe
the Temple (Mark 2:26).
The Temple was a place of offering, where animals were sacrificed to

God. Here, we will see a different kind of offering: a living person
rather than a dead animal:
66
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 50(51):16-17)
2 And many were 3The home was too crowded for this group to enter God’s house by
gathered together, so the door. Entering through the door is significant, as it is reserved for
someone in particular:
that there was no
longer room for But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (John 10:2)
them, not even about
the door3; and he was The door belongs to Christ, not us. He is the master of the door, and
preaching the word holds the keys, which He gives away as he pleases. For instance,
Christ gave these keys to St. Peter and the other Apostles. (Matthew
to them. 16:19).
Without these keys, we can be locked out because of our laziness and
lack of preparation:
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who
were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
(Matthew 25:10).
Yet Christ, in His love for us, will open the door for those who wish
to enter:
I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one
can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and
have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:8).
4St. Matthew records a similar episode:

3 And they came,
bringing to him a
Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When
paralytic4 carried5 by Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, be of good cheer;
four men. your sins are forgiven you.’ (Matthew 9:2)
St. Matthew does not add the details of how the paralytic man comes
face-to-face with Christ. Yet these details add to our understanding,
as we will see in these annotations.
5In Greek, αἰρόμενον (eh-ROH-meh-non), which means “raised” or

“lifted up.”
This is the same verb Christ uses when asking us to bear His yoke:
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Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
And His Cross:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ (Matthew
16:24)
The love these four showed when carrying their friends echoes the
love Christ showed us when He carried His Cross. It is something
that we in turn show when we bear this yoke of love.
4 And when they 6The roof, the covering of a building, is a barrier. It keeps out the
could not get near weather, and keeps those in the building sheltered.
him because of the
Roofs are mentioned a few times in Scripture. In the Book of
crowd, they removed Genesis, Noah realized that the Flood waters had finally dried up by
the roof above him6; removing the roof of the Ark and looking out. (Genesis 8:13). He
and when they had emerged from under the protection of the roof to find the world was
made an opening, safe and secure.
they let down the Here, there’s a reversal. The man’s friends are trying to bring him
pallet on which the under the protection of Christ’s roof.
paralytic lay7.
They are showing an incredible boldness. They could not enter
through the door, and they forced their way in nonetheless:
[T] the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by
force. (Matthew 11:12)
We can say more about this action in light our Christian

understanding of forgiveness.
7The practice of the Jesus Prayer amongst hesychasts (people who

seek constant prayer and constant stillness) emphasizes the need to
“descend the mind into the heart.”
The descent of the paralytic into the home echoes this movement.
He entered into the dwelling place of Christ, and there found healing
and restoration.
But, since the heart is also the place of Divine indwelling, “prayer of
the heart” indicates at the same time those levels at which it is not
merely I who pray, but at which Christ and the Holy Spirit are
praying within me. It signifies the experience of being “prayed in”: “not
I, but Christ in me”. The Hesychast injunctions: “discover the place of
68
the heart”, “descend into the heart”, “unite your intellect with your
heart”, are to be interpreted in a similar way. They mean: enter into
relationship with your deep self, find God in the profundity of your
being, discover the true dimensions of your personhood in God, realize
yourself as created in the Divine image and likeness.
Bishop Kallistos Ware, “How Do We Enter Into the Heart?” in

Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East at 16
Here we see another link between the reading and St. Gregory
Palamas. The descent of the paralytic into the house echoes the
descent of the mind into the heart, an ascetic practice which St.
Gregory ably articulated and defended from critics.
5 And when Jesus saw 8Note that we hear nothing about the faith of the sick man who
their faith8, he said to Christ healed. The man received an incredible gift because of the
faith of his friends, not due to any goodness or merit of his own.
the paralytic,
There is no need for us to stand before God alone. More often than
not, we are too wounded to stand before God under our own power,
weighed down under our many sins.
The saints stand ready to pray for us and help us in whatever way they
can, because of their great love:
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James

5:16)
Faith can be displayed in different ways, depending on the

circumstances. Here, a man’s friends forced their way to Christ’s feet,
desperate to heal their beloved friend.
In the Gospel according to Luke, we read about a Roman centurion

whose servant was ill. Rather than force himself (or his servant) into
Christ’s presence, the centurion showed great humility and trust:
Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should
enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to
come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. (Luke
7:6-7)
Was the centurion more humble that the paralytic’s friends? Did he
have more faith?
Perhaps they each showed faith and humility in different ways. The
Centurion did not see himself worthy to have Christ under his roof,
69
and trusted the Lord to heal his servant with just a word. The
paralytic’s friends showed incredible faith in taking their friend to the
Lord’s feet, and humility by going to Him rather than calling Him.
"My son9, your sins10 9In Greek, “τέκνον” (TEH-knon).

are forgiven11."
This word is perhaps better translated as “child,” “anyone living in full
dependence on the heavenly Father” (HELPS Word-studies).
The paralytic was in literal dependence on his friends (who needed to

carry him into the house), and on God (who granted him physical
healing). He was, in the sense of dependence and humility, like a
child:
But Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid
them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matthew 19:14).
10Christhealed St. Peter’s mother-in-law in Matthew 8:14-17. When

St. Matthew describes this event, he quotes from the Prophet Isaiah:
Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)
In the original Greek, “griefs” is “ἁμαρτίας” (ha-mahr-TEE-as). That

word is better translated as “sins.”
Christ is the one prophesied in the Old Testament, the One who will
bear our sins. He does so graciously, without us even asking. Just as
the paralytic did not so much as open his mouth to ask for healing,
St. Peter’s mother-in-law did not request healing: she was simply sick
in bed. Christ saw her and, because of His great love, healed her.
The Church frequently refers to Christ as the Physician of our souls

and bodies, a grace He has demonstrated time and again.
11In Greek, “ἀφέωνταί” (ah-FEH-ohn-tai).
This literally means to be “let go” or “sent away.”
When this verb is used in the Old Testament in the context of

forgiveness of sins, it is usually after some sacrifice or offering. For
example:
And he shall offer the second as a burnt offering according to the
70
prescribed manner. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf
for his sin which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
(Leviticus 5:10)
Even when the verb is used to describe the forgiveness which people
can offer, the text refers back to God, calling it “the Lord’s release:"
And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent
anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his
neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release.
(Deuteronomy 15:2)
In modern Greek, the word is συνχώρεση (seen-CHOH-ree-see).

This literally means “occupying the same place.”
In light of the Gospel, we have come to see forgiveness, not simply as

the release of a debt or freedom from guilt, but rather as communion
with God. God invites us into His space, as the father invited the
prodigal son back into his household and to a celebratory feast.
In light of this Christian understanding of forgiveness, the actions of

the paralytic man’s friends take on a new light. They accepted Christ’s
invitation, and worked to occupy the same space as Him, to enter
into His home. They worked for the forgiveness of their friend.
6 Now some of the 12In Greek, “διαλογιζόμενοι” (dee-ah-loh-ghee-ZOH-meh-nee).

scribes were sitting
This word is perhaps more accurately translated as “pondered” or
there, questioning in
“reasoned” and is consistently used in the context of those who
their hearts12, oppose God. For example:
But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves,
saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may
be ours.’ (Luke 20:14).
And:
For they intended evil against You;

They devised a plot which they are not able to perform. (Psalm
21:11).
Christ saw that this questioning was not the honest doubt of an open
heart, but the hostile questioning of those who opposed Him.
We all wrestle with doubts and questions, and that can be a healthy
and natural part of our journeys to Christ. Doubt in and of itself is
not necessarily a bad thing.
71
7 "Why does this
man speak thus? It is
In this case in fact He also discloses another sign–and that no small
a blasphemy! Who one–of His own Godhead, and of His equality in honor with the
can forgive sins but Father. For when they said, ‘To unbind sins pertains to God alone,’ He
God alone?13” not only unbinds sins, but prior to this He makes another kind of
display of a thing which pertained only to God: publishing the secrets
of the heart. For they had not uttered what they were thinking.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily XXIX on Matthew IX, 1,2
8 And immediately 14Over time, the Church has articulated our understanding of who
Jesus, perceiving in Jesus Christ is: that He is both fully divine and fully human. Even
when Luke does not bluntly say that Jesus is divine, passages like this
his spirit14 that they
are clear indicators of the Lord’s divinity. After all, who else can know
thus questioned the secrets of a person’s heart?
within themselves,
said to them, "Why As we read in Scripture:
do you question thus
Would not God discover this?
in your hearts? For he knows the secrets of the heart. (Psalm 44:21)
15Itis incredibly easy to say to a person that her sins are forgiven: it’s
9 Which is easier15,
to say to the not something we can see one way or the other. It’s another matter
entirely to say that one is healed. When we look at the person, we can
paralytic, 'Your sins see whether he’s been healed or not.
are forgiven,' or to
say, 'Rise, take up Similarly, a profession or statement of faith is, by itself, empty. It
your pallet and walk? doesn’t necessarily tell us anything about a person’s heart. It needs
“proof,” in a sense. That proof is action.
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of

you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do
not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it
profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me
your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my
works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the
demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish
man, that faith without works is dead? (James 2:15-20)
The people could have doubted Christ’s forgiveness. There was no

way to doubt His healing.
72
10 But that you may
know that the Son of who would usher in a new age and rule over all:
man16 has authority I was watching in the night visions,
on earth to forgive And behold, One like the Son of Man,
sins17"-he said to the Coming with the clouds of heaven!
paralytic- He came to the Ancient of Days,

to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31).
Christ also refers to Himself as “the Son of Man” in the Gospel

reading for Judgment Sunday.
17As the Blessed Theophylact writes:
By healing the body, the Lord makes credible and certain the healing
of the soul as well.
Blessed Theophylact,
The Explanation of the Gospel According to St. Mark at 24
11 "I say to you, rise, 18Christ

does not tell the man to leave his mat behind. Rather, he tells
take up your pallet18 the man to take it with him, as a sign of his healing.
and go home."
Building on we saw in an earlier annotation, forgiveness transforms
how we look at the world. The Cross upon which Christ was crucified
is no longer a sign of defeat, but rather a sign of victory. Christ still
bears the marks of the nails on His resurrected Body, because they
have a new meaning in light of the Resurrection. (See John 20:27).
73
Similarly, the pallet has a new meaning in light of the healing. It is no
longer a bed of sickness.
As one commentator writes:
Take up your bed. Carry the very mat that once carried you. Change
places, so that what was the proof of your sickness may now give
testimony to your soundness. Your bed of pain becomes the sign of
healing, its very weight the measure of the strength that has been
restored to you.
Peter Chrysologus, On the Healing of the Paralytic
19Christ healed the man in full view of the crowd. While some people
12 And he rose, and
immediately took up there were initially hostile to Christ, and questioned in their hearts,
their attitudes immediately changed once they saw this miracle.
the pallet and went
out before them all; This is very similar to what we read in the Gospel reading for the
so that they were all Sunday of Orthodoxy, where Philip invited Nathanael to “come and
amazed and glorified see.”
God, saying, "We
This emphasis on sight ties the reading in to St. Gregory Palamas,
never saw anything who is remembered especially for his defense of hesychastic prayer
like this!19" and the possibility that people could see the Uncreated Light. This
was the Light which the Apostles saw during the Transfiguration of
Christ.
74
Major Themes
• Our path to the Cross
• Christ lowers Himself to raise us up
• What is seen vs. what is not seen
• The way our brothers and sisters shape our salvation
Study Questions
1. When you can’t bring yourself to Jesus, who are the people that carry you?
2. What are the obstacles getting between you and Jesus?
3. As you sit in this tension between God’s knowability and unknowablility, what
happens in your heart?

Thy tongue, watchful in teaching, rings in the ears of our heart and awakens the
souls of the slothful. Thy words, inspired by God, are a ladder leading us from earth
to heaven. O Gregory, wonder of Thessaly, pray to Christ without ceasing, that we
who honour thee may be illuminated with the divine light.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Eight

The Lenten Triodion at 315-16
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Holy Cross
March 21, 2019
Epistle Hebrews 4:14-16;

5:1-6
Gospel Mark 8:34-38; 9:1
Video Resource
Live the Word #25

How to Carry your Cross
76
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:1-6
14 Brethren, since we have a 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 sin.
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.
1 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,
Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee; (Psalm 2:7)
6 as he says also in another place,
Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek. (Psalm 110:4)
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Gospel Reading
Mark 8:34-38; 9:1
34 The Lord said: "If 1In Greek, “ὀπίσω μου” (oh-PEE-soh mou).
anyone wishes to
This literally means “behind me.”
come after me1,
When Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the gift of the Ten
Commandments, he asked to see God’s glory. The Lord, however,
refused to show Moses His face:
You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. And the
Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So
it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of
the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I
will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall
not be seen. (Exodus 33: 20-23)
This cryptic passage is clearer in light of Christ’s words. God is

showing us the way to eternal life. To walk that path ourselves, we
must follow Christ. When we follow, we look upon the back of the
one we’re following.
When we follow, we are like sheep following the shepherd, another

power image Christ used in the reading for the Sunday of Judgment.
let him deny himself2 2Itcan be difficult to understand why Christ would ask us to deny
ourselves.
The root verb, in Greek “ἀπαρνέομαι” (ah-pahr-NEH-oh-meh), is

only used once in the Old Testament:
For in that day every man shall throw away his idols of silver and his
idols of gold—sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.
(Isaiah 31:7)
This “throwing away” or “denial” is not of ourselves, but of something

false: idols.
Similarly, when Christ is asking us to deny ourselves, He is not asking

us to deny our true selves. Instead, we need to deny our false,
manufactured selves. We need to deny the wants and desires and
impulses that obscure rather than reveal who we are.
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Consider this from a different angle: who is the first human being?
Our first instinct may be to answer “Adam.” However, the Church

answers “Christ.” Adam, though human, was an imperfect human. In
sinning, he not only fell away from God; he also fell away from
himself, and who he was created to be.
In Christ we see the first, and only, true human being. The rest of us
are made in His image, and only achieve our full and true humanity in
union with Him, by being incorporated into His Body.
Not only is Christ the first true human being, but he is the model in whose
image Adam, ‘a type of the one to come’ (Rom 5.14), was already created.
Fr. John Behr, The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death at 111
In Christ, then, we see not only the revelation of God (theophany).

We also see the revelation of man (what we might call
anthropophany). We see “the first manifestation of a true human
being within creation: ‘Behold the man’ (Jn 19.5).” Ibid. at 167.
As we read in Scripture:
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple
robe. And Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the Man!’ (John 19:5)
As St Nicholas Cabasilas writes:
For those who have known him first, the old Adam is the archetype
because of our fallen nature. But for Him who sees all things before
they exist the first Adam is the imitation of the second.
St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, Book VI, § 12 at 190
and take up3 his 3In Greek, the root verb ἀίρω (EH-roh) means “raised” or “lifted up.”
cross4 and follow me.
This is the same verb Christ uses when asking us to bear His yoke:
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
And His Cross:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ (Matthew
16:24)
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It is also the same verb used in the reading for the Sunday of St.
Gregory Palamas to describe the action of the four friends who lifted
up their friend, the paralytic, and carried him to Christ.
The love these four showed when carrying their friends echoes the
love Christ showed us when He carried His Cross. It is something
that we in turn show when we bear this yoke of love.
4While the word “cross” only appears in the New Testament, it is an

image that appears frequently in the Old Testament.
For examples, Exodus 17:8-16 recounts when the Israelites were

fighting the Amalekites. The Israelites were winning the battle so
long as Moses held his hands up…in the shape of a cross. The cross
was their key to victory, as it is the key to our victory over sin and
death.
We also see this image in the psalms:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 22(23):4)
If we place the rod and staff (two pieces of wood) together we form a
cross. The cross is our comfort even in the darkest of places, because
Christ’s victory on the cross was the ultimate victory, and no dark
force can prevail against it or our Lord.
5Christians
have, since the beginning, been faced with the choice of
35 For whoever would
save his life will lose denying Christ or embracing Him even at the cost of their own lives.
it5; Yet what we call “life” is merely survival. Food and water and
medicine do not give us life: they merely postpone death. Yet death is
inevitable.
True life only comes through union with the source of life.
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’ (John 14:6)
Separating ourselves from Christ may gain us a few more years of

survival, but at what price?
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6The Greek word for “gospel” is “εὐαγγέλιον” (ehv-ahg-GEH-lee-
and whoever loses his
life for my sake and ohn) and literally means “good news.”
the gospel's6 will save This does not refer to any news, but has a specific context: in the
it. ancient world, it referred to the good news of a king, who was
announcing to his realm that all were safe and that an enemy threat
had passed.
In the case of the Gospel, our King is Christ. His good news is that
He has defeated sin and death, and we no longer have reason to fear.
To “lose” ones “life” for the sake of the Gospel is to find true life,
because the proclamation of the Gospel is that eternal life is now
offered to us. This is why Christian martyrs have faced their deaths
without the slightest fear: because they know Christ is the source of
true, eternal life.
For an excellent discussion of what the word “gospel” means, listen to

Fr. Thomas Hopko’s podcast It’s All About the Gospel, part of his
series Worship in Spirit and Truth, a commentary on the Divine Liturgy.
36 For what does it 7As we read in Scripture:

profit7 a man, to gain
Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers
the whole world and
from death. (Proverbs 11:4)
forfeit his life?
8It’s
not what we can give, but rather what we can put ourselves in a
37 For what can a
man give in return position to receive.
for his life8? The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take
refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22)
9When we are ashamed of Christ, we pull ourselves away from Him.

38 For whoever is
ashamed9 of me and We reject his love and look away. We act like the older son in the
Parable of the Prodigal Son and refuse to enter the father’s feast.
my words in this
adulterous and sinful When we are ashamed of Christ, we obscure the image of Christ in
generation, us. By falling away from Christ, we fall away from our true selves and
our true humanity.
Consider this question, which St Nicholas Cabasilas asks:
What, then, is greater than that the Father of the only-begotten Son
Himself recognizes in us His members and finds the very form of the
Son in our faces?
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St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ, Book IV, § 9 at 127
And, as we read in Scripture:
Oh, that my ways were directed

To keep Your statutes!
Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments. (Psalm 119:5-6)
of him will the Son of 10TheSon of Man is a glorious figure foretold by the prophets, one
man10 also be who would usher in a new age and rule over all:
ashamed, when he
comes in the glory of And behold, One like the Son of Man,
his Father with the Coming with the clouds of heaven!
holy angels." He came to the Ancient of Days,

We have also seen this phrase used in the reading for the Sunday of
Judgment.
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11We see these words in the Gospel accounts of Saints Matthew
1 And he said to
them, "Truly, I say to (16:28) and Luke (9:27) as well leading up to the Transfiguration of
Christ.
you, there are some
standing here who The Transfiguration is a wonder which was a proof and reassurance to
will not taste death the disciples before the crucifixion. The same Christ who stood
before they see the radiant on Mount Tabor would soon suffer on the Cross, only be
kingdom of God Resurrected again on the third day. And this same Christ is the Son of
Man who will return in glory at the end of the age.
come with power.11”
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Major Themes
• What we do vs. what God does in us
• Aimlessly “carrying” ones cross vs. dying on the cross
• The ways we see both the full humanity and full divinity of Christ on the cross
• The way our brothers and sisters shape our salvation
Study Questions
1. Do you need God’s help with certain parts of your Lenten journey?
2. Do you remember to thank God for the parts of your Lenten journey that seem
to be going well?
3. Are there any ways you feel your life has already been transformed by God?

Come, Adam and Eve, our first father and mother, who fell from the choir on high
through the envy of the murderer of man, when of old with bitter pleasure ye tasted
from the tree in Paradise. See, the Tree of the Cross, revered by all, draws near! Run
with haste and embrace it joyfully, and cry to it with faith: O precious Cross, though
art our succour; partaking of thy fruit, we have gained incorruption; we are restored
once more to Eden, and we have received great mercy.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Five (The Lenten Triodion at 335)

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Saint John Climacus
April 7, 2019
Epistle Hebrews 6:13-20
Gospel Mark 9:17-31
Video Resource
Live the Word #26

Do You Struggle With Your Faith?
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Epistle Reading
Hebrews 6:13-20
13 Brethren, when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by
whom to swear, he swore to himself,
14 saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you."
15 And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise.
16 Men indeed swear by a greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath
is final for confirmation.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the
unchangeable character of his purpose, he interposed with an oath,
18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God

should prove false, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to
seize the hope set before us.
19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into
the inner shrine behind the curtain,
20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest
for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
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Gospel Reading
Mark 9:17-31
1Versionsof this healing are also presented in Matthew 17:14-23 and
17 At that time1, a
man came to Jesus2 Luke 9:37-44.
kneeling3 and saying: In some of the footnotes below, we’ll highlight some notable
"Teacher, I brought differences among these three accounts.
my son to you, for he
has a dumb spirit;
2Weshould set the context for this passage by quoting the
immediately preceding verses:
And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around

them, and scribes disputing with them. Immediately, when they saw
Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him,
greeted Him. And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with
them?” (Mark 9:14-16)
Christ encounters his disciples “disputing” (in Greek,

“συζητοῦντας” (see-zee-TOUN-dahs)) with a crowd. St. Mark uses
this verb several times, generally in the context of people doubting
Christ.
Based on the man’s statement in verse 18, it seems the crowd was
discussing why the disciples could not heal the man’s son. The failure
of Christ’s disciples probably reflected poorly upon Him, and fueled
their doubt.
When people see us, and know that we are Christians, do we

encourage doubt or faith? Do people see Christ in us, and a reason to
draw closer to Him, or does our poor witness push people further
away from the Lord?
3In Greek, “γονυμετέω” (gho-nee-meh-TEH-oh). This word has a

relational meaning, as it does not just mean kneeling, but rather
kneeling before someone.
If you open up to Mark 9:17, you will not see the word “kneeling.”
So why does it appear in the version we read during the Liturgy?
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And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him,
kneeling down to Him and saying… (Matthew 17:14)
This is a rare verb, used only four times in the New Testament. The
Scripture tends to use the phrase “bend the knee” rather than this
word for “kneel before.”
Perhaps St. Matthew chose this word because of the intimacy it

suggests: the man came before Christ, and knelt before Him, because
he saw in Christ alone someone capable of healing his son. He did
not just “bend the knee” in abstract sense, but turned his attention to
the Lord in particular.
18 and wherever it 4InGreek, “ῥύσσει αὐτόν” (REE-see ahf-TOHN). This literally

seizes him it dashes means “to tear or break.”
him down4; and he
This spirit, then, does not simply push the son to the ground: it is
foams and grinds his literally destroying him. It is tearing apart and annihilating the poor
teeth and becomes child.
rigid5;
It brings to mind the experience of the prodigal son, who literally
“scattered his substance/essence” and lost himself when he left his
father’s house.
God created all things, and sustains all things. He is the source of life
and light. The evil one, the enemy of man, tears down rather than
builds up, and destroys rather than creates.
When we place ourselves under such powers, we lose ourselves.
5InGreek, “ξηραίνεται” (xee-REH-neh-teh). This literally means “to

be dried out.”
Of course, something that is dried out has no water. Consider Christ’s

exchange with the Samaritan woman at the well in this context:
Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will
thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him
will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in
him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John
14:13-14)
This poor child desperately needed the eternal water which Christ
offers us.
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6We sometimes imagine exorcisms like magic: a priest needs to say
and I asked your
disciples to cast it the right words, and the demon will leave. Yet this is a gross (and
inaccurate) oversimplification.
out6, and they were
not able7." Building on Christ’s words on this subject, perhaps a better metaphor
is a vacuum:
When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places,
seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house
from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and
put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more
wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state
of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked
generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)
When we create a vacuum, some new material rushes in to fill the

void. Similarly, even if we expel evil from our hearts, it will rush back
if our hearts are empty.
This is why we are often counseled to focus less on struggling against

evil and more on struggling towards Christ. As St Porphyrios says:
You won't become saints by hounding after evil. Ignore evil. Look
towards Christ and He will save you.
St Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia, Wounded by Love at 135
4As we’ve said in other footnotes, the disciples failed because of their
lack of faith. It’s interesting to compare this failure with a stunning
success, a miracle the Prophet Elisha was able to perform (or rather,
Christ through his Prophet) even after death:
So it was, as they were burying a man, that suddenly they spied a

band of raiders; and they put the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when
the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and
stood on his feet. (2 Kings 13:21)
The Prophet’s faith was so great, and his trust in God so complete,
that even his dead bones could pass along God’s grace and life.
Even now, the bones of the saints continue to work wonders, and
faithful Orthodox continue to reverence them any chance they get.
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8Christ’s words here seem to echo a verse from the Old Testament:
19 And he answered
them8, "O faithless
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain
generation9, against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel
make against Me. (Numbers 14:27)
The word translated here as “evil” is “πονηρὰν” (poh-nee-RAHN).

This is the same word used to refer to “the evil one” (for instance, in
the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-13). Our alliance with evil subjects us
to evil, and the destruction it works in our lives.
The “evil congregation” mentioned in Numbers are the Israelites,

who continued to complain about God despite His leading them out
of bondage in Egypt. Similarly, though Christ walked amongst the
people and healed them (and would soon conquer death through the
Crucifixion and Resurrection), they continued to complain and
murmur about Him.
Yet, just as God patiently bore with the sins of His people in the Old
Testament, He continues to do so in the New Testament and in our
lives.
9Notice that, though He alludes to a verse that contains the word

“evil,” Christ does not use this word to describe the people. Instead,
He calls them “faithless.”
On the one hand, perhaps this shows Christ’s mercy: it’s a far gentler
thing to call a person “faithless” rather than “evil.”
On the other, perhaps it is to draw a connection between the two. We

must necessarily have faith in someone or something, even if it is
ultimately in ourselves and our own reason. Yet ultimate faith in
anyone other than God is misplaced, and leads us astray. It leads us
further from the source of life and light.
It leads us, to be blunt, into evil.
how long10 am I to be 10This lament, “how long,” appears frequently in the Old Testament.
with you11? It is often a brutally honest expression of frustration spoken from a
position known to many: the terrifying loneliness of crying out to
God and hearing nothing in return:
How long, Lord?

Will You hide Yourself forever? (Psalm 89:46)
Yet here, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ Himself,
90
is crying out in frustration over the silence of mankind. Invisible
divinity took on humanity, was enfleshed and made visible. God
became man, and looked us in the eye, yet we did not see Him.
11St.Mark describes four miracles performed by Christ in front of His

disciples. This is the fourth. The other three were:
1. Christ feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish
(Mark 6:30-44);
2. Christ walking on water (Mark 6:45-52); and
3. Christ feeding the four thousand with seven loaves and a few
fish (Mark 8:1-10).
The common theme in all four episodes is the disciples' lack of faith.
This doubt lasted throughout Christ’s earthly ministry, even to the

Ascension:
When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.
(Matthew 28:17)
The disciples persisted in their doubt even after coming face-to-face

with the resurrected Christ!
Yet Christ bore with their doubt. It wasn’t until He sent the Holy
Spirit, the Comforter (Acts 2:1-4), that we begin to see their doubt
melt away and their boldness grow, to the point that the disciples
were even willing to die rather than give up Christ.
12In
Greek, “ἀνέξομαι” (ah-NEH-xoh-meh), literally “to patiently
How long am I to
bear with you?12 endure.”
Bring him to me." Normally we think of patience having an end, or endurance reaching
a limit. Is Christ saying there is an end to His patience? Or is He
offering a more unexpected answer?
The original Greek word is also used in this verse in the Book of
Isaiah:
Even to your old age, I am He,

And even to gray hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you. (Isaiah 46:4)
This beautiful image suggests that God will bear us until the very
end, “even to gray hairs.” His purpose is not to drop us, but to keep
bearing up, to “deliver” us.
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13Again and again, people who are afflicted by demons are described
20 And they brought
the boy to him; and as being in a state of extreme agitation, even torment. Consider, for
example, the Gerasene Demoniac:
when the spirit saw
him, immediately it He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more,
convulsed the boy13, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and
and he fell on the chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in
ground and rolled pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day
among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and
about, foaming at the bruising himself with stones. (Mark 5:3-5)
mouth.
And yet, after Christ cast out this legion of demons, the man was
suddenly as peace.
They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in
his right mind, the very man who had had the legion… (Mark 5:15)
He came to himself again, and immediately place himself at the feet

of Jesus.
14In the ancient world, people often assumed that the presence of a
21 And Jesus asked
his father, "How long disability was a sort of divine judgment, punishment for someone’s
sin. Yet, at other points in the Scripture, Christ Himself contradicts
has he had this?" And this assumption.
he said, "From
childhood14. For example, when He encountered a man who was born blind, Jesus
heard people wondering whose fault this condition was. Yet the Lord
said:
Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that
God’s works might be revealed in him. (John 9:3)
15This father’s doubt was reasonable. As we read back in verse 18, he

22 And it has often
cast him into the fire asked the Lord’s disciples to cast out the demon, but they proved
unable. And if His servants were unable to accomplish this, what does
and into the water, to that say about their master, in whose Name they work?
destroy him; but if
you can do This passage seems deeply resonant for us today. How many people,
anything15, have pity whether young or old, have developed doubts about the Church
on us and help us." because of the actions of Christians? How many have come to
distrust Christ, and even lose faith in Him, because of the conduct of
those who act in His Name?
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16This is a powerful, and deeply challenging, assertion. Are we willing
23 And Jesus said to
him, "If you can! All to take Jesus at His word and put our trust in Him?
things are possible to As we read in the Scripture:
him who believes.16"
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you
have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to
the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be
cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in
prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21-22)
17This is a deeply moving confession. The father announces that he,

24 Immediately the
father of the child like all of us, is caught in the tension between faith and doubt. He
believes enough to ask for help with his unbelief. And this is a request
cried out and said, "I he makes, not to some abstract principle, but to the Person of Jesus
believe; help my Christ Himself.
unbelief!17"
We can’t properly approach the topic of belief in God without a
critical first step: we must realize that God isn’t something. Rather, He
is someone. Someone to whom we must reach out.
25 And when Jesus 18Thisepisode began with a crowd murmuring and questioning,
saw that a crowd scandalized by the disciples' inability to heal the possessed child.
came running Christ waited for the crowd to come together, not to show off, but to
together18, he make sure that they could all see this wonder and be reassured of who
rebuked the unclean Christ is.
spirit, saying to it,
Earlier, in footnote 2, we noted the context in which this episode
takes place. In verse 15 the crowd is described as “running” to Christ.
We see the same action in this verse, but with a different verb.
In verse 15, the verb is “προστρέχοντες” (prohs-TREH-hohn-dehs),

which means “running towards.” This crowd came running towards
Christ.
Yet in verse 25, the verb is “ἐπισυντρέχει ” (eh-pee-syn-TREH-hee),

which means “running together.”
Why the difference? Perhaps it was the disciples, running to Christ

for help, in verse 15. Or perhaps the coming together we see in verse
25 is somehow a part of the healing, a Eucharistic coming together to
offer the boy up to Christ, who returned him to his father healed.
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19Why does this evil spirit rob the son of his ability to speak and
“You dumb and deaf
spirit19, I command hear?
you, come out of Perhaps it’s a sign of the destructive tendency of evil, and its
him, and never enter underlying emptiness. One psalm in particular offers a very strong
him again." parallel:
The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

The work of men’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear;
Nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them. (Psalm 135:15-18)
Whereas God offers life and healing, evil offers limitation and death.
Evil offers pleasure which is a pale imitation of the true joy which
God offers. Evil is an illusion, and ultimately hollow, just as an idol is
an illusion, and ultimately nothing more than a lump of dead metal.
When we are overcome by evil, we too become pale imitations of our

true selves, shells of the glory that God created us for.
26 And after crying

out and convulsing
him terribly, it came
out, and the boy was
like a corpse; so that
most of them said,
"He is dead."
27 But Jesus took him 20What is the purpose of this detail? Christ’s expulsion of the demons
by the hand20 and was a sign of His divinity, because only God has power over the
demons. And this physical healing (with the very physical act of
lifted him up,
taking the boy by his hand) was a sign of His humanity, His
physicality. Together, they manifest for us the wonder of Christ, who
is both fully divine and fully human.
Ever when the Scripture does not bluntly state that the Lord is both
fully human and fully divine, this is consistently apparent in His
actions, in the signs and wonders He offers us.
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21InGreek, “ἀνέστη” (ah-NEH-stee). This is the verb the Church
and he arose21.
uses to describe Christ’s Resurrection.
This is more than a simple healing. It is a resuscitation, a raising from

the dead.
O Lord, You brought my soul up from the grave;

You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. (Psalm
30:3).
It is also a reassurance in the face of Christ’s impending Crucifixion.
Further, it’s important to note that this is an active verb. The son
actively did something: he arose.
The Church Fathers frequently speak of “synergy,” a cooperation

between God and man. We can see an image of this cooperation in
this healing. While Christ took the son by the hand and lifted him,
the son arose. He cooperated in his healing.
(See, for example, Blessed Theophylact, The Explanation of the Holy

Gospel According to St. Mark: Vol. 2 at 77.)
In the Scripture, we often see that faith is a major element of our

cooperation with God. God wants to save us, to work wonders in our
lives, but He does not impose Himself upon us. In His humility and
gentle love, He allows our weak unbelief to overshadow His power.
For example, when Jesus was in Nazareth, the people rejected Him:
Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their

unbelief. (Matthew 13:58)
22It’s
interesting to reflect on the shame and doubt we see in the
28 And when he had
entered the house, disciples. They failed to do what Jesus sent them out to do,
spectacularly so, in a way that compromised someone’s faith in the
his disciples asked Lord. So they ask Him in secret, privately, what went wrong.
him privately22, "Why
could we not cast it Yet it’s to their credit that the disciples asked, despite their shame.
out?" How often do we fall and simply cover it up, or pretend that nothing
happened?
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23Thiscombination of prayer and fasting occurs several times in the
29 And he said to
them, "This kind Old Testament. For example:
cannot be driven out So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and
by anything but mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of
prayer and fasting23.” heaven. (Nehemiah 1:4)
But as for me, when they were sick,

My clothing was sackcloth;
I humbled myself with fasting;
And my prayer would return to my own heart. (Psalm 35:13)
Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer
and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Daniel 9:3)
‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord,

‘Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ (Joel 2:12)
There is a strong connection between the combination of prayer/

fasting and the development of humility and repentance.
Do you see how He proceeds to lay beforehand in them the foundation

of His doctrine about fasting?…You see, at any rate, how many
blessings spring from them both. For he who is praying as he ought,
and fasting, has not many wants, and he who has not many wants
cannot be covetous; he who is not covetous, will be also more disposed
to almsgiving. He who fasts is light, and winged, and prays with
wakefulness, and quenches his wicked lusts, and propitiates God, and
humbles his soul when lifted up.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily LVII on Matthew XVII, 4, 5
There is one additional thing we can offer regarding the important of

prayer and fasting. Fasting, of course, is a practice that cultivates
emptiness: we empty our stomachs in order to refocus on our need
for God. And prayer, of course, is a practice of humility: we open
ourselves to the action of God, rather than rely on our own strength.
Perhaps Jesus is here reminding His disciples that He sent them out
into the world, not to act under their own power or abilities, but to
be His hands in the world. Rather than open themselves to the grace
of the Lord, acting in them, the disciples sought to accomplish a
miracle themselves. It should be no surprise that they failed.
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Major Themes
• Faith as intellectual belief vs. faith as communion and trust
• The way our actions can either lead people to Christ or lead them away
• Being full of ourselves vs. being full of the Holy Spirit
• The faith of Abraham vs. our faith vs. the faith of the boy’s father (in the Gospel
reading)
Study Questions
1. When have you put your faith in yourself rather than God?
2. How do you talk about faith?
3. Have you ever had opportunities for faith like Abraham?

Let us honour John, angel upon earth and man of God in heaven, adornment of the
world, joy of the good and virtuous, glory of ascetics. For planted in the house of
God he has blossomed with the flower of holiness, and spread abroad like a cedar in
the desert, causing the sheep of Christ’s spiritual flock to increase in sanctity and
righteousness.
Stichera of Vespers, Tone Two

97
Saint Mary of Egypt
April 14, 2019
Epistle Hebrews 9:11-14
Gospel Mark 10:32-45
Video Resource
Be the Bee #28

Time to Repent
Note: In 2018, the Sunday of St Mary of Egypt was preempted by the Feast of the Annunciation.
So Live the Word #27 covered the readings for that Feast, rather than the Lenten readings.
98
Epistle Reading
Hebrews 9:11-14
11 Brethren, when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have
come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is,
not of this creation)
12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and
calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
13 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with
the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God.
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Gospel Reading
Mark 10:32-45
1Christ, in three consecutive chapters, predicts His death. Each time,
32 At that time, Jesus
took his twelve either some or all of the twelve make some kind or error:
disciples, and he • In chapter 8, after telling His disciples of His impending
began to tell them death, Peter “took Him aside and began to rebuke Him,”
what was to happen to which Christ famously answered “Get behind Me,
to him1, saying, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but
the things of men.” (Mark 8:31-33).
• In chapter 9, after again predicting His death, Christ and

the Twelve proceeded to Capernaum. On the road, the
Twelve began to “among themselves who would be the
greatest.” Christ ended their squabbling by stating that “If
anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant
of all.” (Mark 9:30-37).
Why does Christ’s revelation of His crucifixion cause the Apostles to

consistently slip into error? Does their internal lack of faith express
itself in theological error and division?
2In Greek, “ἀναβαίνομεν” (ah-nah-VEH-noh-men).

33 "Behold, we are
going up2 to
The root verb, ἀναβαίνω, appears frequently in the Old Testament,
Jerusalem3; and the
sometimes to describe literal ascent up a mountain (eg Exodus 24:13),
Son of man4 sometimes to describe the encounter of warring armies (eg Numbers
21:33), sometimes to describe the exodus out of Egypt (eg Genesis
45:25).
It’s a powerful word, used to describe dramatic encounters. We know,

right from the beginning, that something important will happen in
Jerusalem.
The word rarely appears in the New Testament.
3The following Sunday is Palm Sunday, Jesus Christ’s triumphal entry

into Jerusalem.

who would usher in a new age and rule over all:
100

5InGreek, “παραδίδωμι” (pah-rah-THEE-thoh-mee), literally “to be

will be delivered5 to
the chief priests and handed over.”
the scribes, and they The word is frequently used to describe being delivered to ones
will condemn him to enemies (Genesis 14:20, etc.)
death, and deliver
him to the Gentiles; Yet is also begins to be associated with a more positive meaning: the
delivery to the Israelites of the Promised Land (eg Joshua 2:14, Judges
11:21, etc.).
In the prophets, we can begin to see references to Christ being

handed over for our sins (Isaiah 53:12, Ezekiel 16:39, etc.).
In the New Testament, the word frequently refers to the handing

over of Christ and His saints to the wicked for persecution (Mathew
10:17, etc.).
It is also the word St. John used to refer to Christ’s voluntary handing
over by Christ, on the Cross, of His Spirit:
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”
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And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (John 19:30)
There’s a connection between the “handing over” of Christ to His

enemies and the “handing over” to us of the Promised Land. The
Cross, the Tomb, and the Resurrection opened to us the gates of the
Kingdom of God. The hope of Israel, trapped in the wilderness for
forty years, is finally fulfilled in the welcome of all humanity into the
true Promised Land, the eternal Kingdom.
Seen in this light, we must reevaluate the “handing over” of Christ.

When we confess Him as the Son of God, Second Person of the Holy
Trinity, we can see his Passion are active rather than passive:
On the night when He was betrayed, or rather when He gave Himself

up for the life of the world… (Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom)
As Christians, incorporated into the Body of Christ, this culminates

in a “handing over” of our own:
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… (1 Corinthians
15:3)
34 and they will 6Thisprophetic language brings to mind the words of a prophetic
mock him6, and spit psalm:
upon him, and But I am a worm and not a man,
scourge him, and kill scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
him; and after three All who see me mock me;
days he will rise." they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
‘He trusts in the Lord,’ they say,
‘let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.’ (Psalm 22:6-8)
Christ as He hung from the Cross, spoke the famous words: “my
God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34).
These words are actually the opening verse of Psalm 22, which
beautifully describes the apparent humiliation of the Cross; a “defeat”
which is actually the glory of Christ and His triumph over sin and
death. In speaking that verse, Christ was referring to the entire psalm
(much like we refer to the Lord’s Prayer by its opening words: Our
Father).
Christ is already preparing His for what is to come.
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7James and John wished to secure a promise before they told Christ
35 And James and
John, the sons of their request, rather than simply ask. Why?
Zebedee, came Did they realize that their request was incredible? Were they afraid
forward to him, and that Christ would say no?
said to him, "Teacher,
we want you to do for Were they trying to somehow trick or force Christ into granting what
us whatever we ask of they wanted?
you."7 As we will see in the request itself, the disciples were
misunderstanding something about Christ (a pattern we saw earlier in
footnote 1).
36 And he said to 8Christ neither granted not rejected their request. His initial reply
them, "What do you was to ask them to be honest, to simply and plainly state what they
wanted.
want me to do for
you?"8 This echoes Christ’s response to a request from the mother of James
and John (see Matthew 20:21), as well as His conversation with a blind
man (see Mark 10:51).
37 And they said to 9Perhaps James and John had in mind something Christ said earlier:
him9, "Grant us to
And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one
sit, one at your right
upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom,
hand and one at your and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22:29-30)
left10,
If so, it seems that they took this literally, as if Christ’s Kingdom was
simply on par with the kingdoms of the Romans and Egyptians and
other earthly powers. Faced with the prospect of being aristocrats in
a new kingdom, they ambitiously sought out the best seats.
10Itis interesting to note that James and John asked that one be
seated at His left hand.
Recall the reading from Judgment Sunday, where Christ places the
goats at His left hand. Is that a sign of their folly, that they would
wish to be seated at such a place? Or does it help us better
understand what Christ meant about His left hand.
At the very least, their request is inherently divisive: just as there is a

divide between left and right, this request divides the twelve
Apostles, and turns the ten against the two.
103
11When will Christ come “in His glory?”
in your glory11."
The Lord Himself says that this will be in the future, at His Second
Coming:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31)
The path to this glory leads directly through the Cross, though James
and John don’t see this yet.
Compare this verse from the psalms:
Precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)
38 But Jesus said to 12Does this statement point to their overlooking of the cup, or their
them, "You do not request to sit at Christ’s left hand? Or both?
know what you are
asking12. Are you able 13As the Venerable Bede writes:
to drink the cup that
When the sons of Zebedee were seeking from Jesus seats in his
I drink13, or to be kingdom, he at once called them to drink his chalice, that is, to pattern
baptized with the themselves after the struggling of his suffering.
baptism with which I
am baptized14?" And Venerable Bede, Homily 2.1
they said to him, 14This is not a reference to Christ’s baptism at the hands of St. John.
Instead, it is a look forward to the Cross. We see that Christ Himself
shows us that baptism (in the Church) is more than just a ritual, and
more than just something with ethical importance (for the
forgiveness of sins).
Christ Himself establishes a link between baptism and death. This

has been a critical insight into the Christian life from the very
beginning:
Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ

Jesus were baptized into His death? (Romans 6:3)
39 "We are able."15 15Are we, with our own power, able to do anything?
And Jesus said to
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in
them, "The cup that
him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John
I drink you will 15:5)
drink; and with the
Compare our discussion of prayer and fasting (see footnote 23,
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Sunday of St John Climacus).
with which I am
baptized, you will be
baptized;
40 but to sit at my 16Can any of us earn salvation? Can we ever do something so

right hand or at my incredible so as to somehow deserve an eternity of peace and life in
God’s Kingdom?
left is not mine to
grant16, but it is for Can any of us earn damnation? Can we ever do something so awful so
those for whom it at to somehow deserve an eternity of torment and despair in hell?
has been prepared17."
17Christ
made this point very explicitly in the Gospel passage for
Judgment Sunday:
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed
of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. (Matthew 25:34)
Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you
cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels.’ (Matthew 25:41)
41 And when the ten 18Personal ambition quickly leads to strife, jealousy, and separation.
heard it, they began Our desire to be first is inevitably at someone else’s expense. The
to be indignant of instinct to be first, to triumph over someone, necessarily involves the
creation of a rift or separation from that person.
James and John18.
42 And Jesus called 19This warning echoes when the people of Israel asked for “a king to
them to him and said govern us, like other nations” (1 Samuel 8:5). The word here translated
to them, "You know as “nations” is the word translated as “Gentiles” in the Gospel
reading.
that those who are
supposed to rule over When Israel made this request, the Prophet Samuel warned the
the Gentiles lord it people that they would be displeased with a king, who would tax their
over them19, and money and draft their sons into armies and their daughters into
service.
their great men
exercise authority And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have
over them. chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day. (1
Samuel 8:18)
The people did not heed Samuel’s warning.
105
20We can’t approach sacrifice in a selfish way, seeking to wear the
43 But it shall not be
so among you; but mask of humility where our true goal is selfish. That’s not true
sacrifice.
whoever would be
great among you Is our goal to ultimately be first, and win some sort of prize? Or is our
must be your goal simply to love, to serve, to work tirelessly for the salvation of
servant20, others, even at our own expense?
Which of these is more Christlike?
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in
the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and
coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him
and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(Phillipians 2:5-11)
44 and whoever
would be first among
you must be slave of
all.
21If Christ is a ransom, to whom is He offered?

45 For the Son of
man also came not to
This is a deep and difficult question to answer. We can, at least, point
be served but to to the outcome of this offering: we receive Christ’s life, and are joined
serve, and to give his into it.
life as a ransom for
many21." As St. Paul writes:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but

Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20)
Christ is a ransom, not in the sense of “payment,” but rather in the

sense of “release” or “freedom.” Christ’s life isn’t the price of our
salvation. Instead, Christ’s life is our salvation, which consists of the
temporary and broken existence which we mistakenly call “life” being
joined to the eternal and authentic life of Christ.
106
Looked at that way, perhaps Christ offers Himself to us.
‘I have raised him up in righteousness,

And I will direct all his ways;
He shall build My city
And let My exiles go free,
Not for price nor reward,’
Says the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 45:13)
107
Major Themes
• The “life” we intend for ourselves vs. the true life that God offers
• Christ’s offering of Himself for our salvation
• False “freedom” to persist in sin vs. true freedom in our union with Christ
• The true nature of the Kingdom into which Christ invites us
Study Questions
1. How has God’s plan for your life surpassed your own plan?
2. When have you imagined God to be smaller, or lesser, than He really is?
3. Do you have hope that Resurrection truly follows the Cross in your life?

Having gone to dwell in the wilderness, thou hast blotted out from thy soul the
images of thy sensual passions, and hast marked upon it the God-given imprint of
holiness. Thou hast attained such glory, blessed Mother, as to walk upon the surface
of the waters, and in thy prayers to God thou wast raised up from the earth. And
now, all-glorious Mary, standing before Christ with boldness, entreat Him for our
souls.
108
Palm Sunday
April 21, 2019
Epistle Philippians 4:4-9
Gospel John 12:1-18
Video Resource
Live the Word #28

Why You Need to Become Like a Child
109
Epistle Reading
Philippians 4:4-9
4 Brethren, rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
5 Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.
6 Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the God
of peace will be with you.
110
Gospel Reading
John 12:1-18
1Matthew 26:6-13 and Mark 14:3-9 also describe the anointing
1 Six days1 before
Passover2, Jesus came described in this passage.
to Bethany, where 2Passover is an important Jewish holiday connected to the Exodus of
Lazaros3 was, whom Israel from their bondage in Egypt. Famously, God sent ten plagues
Jesus had raised from to convince Pharaoh to free the Jews, the last of which was the most
the dead4. terrifying:
For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will
strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and
against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.
Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are.
And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall
not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this
day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the
Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an
everlasting ordinance. (Exodus 12:12-14)
The Church, following Christ’s teaching to His disciples, reads and

understands the Old Testament in light of Christ, seeing Him in the
Scripture (Luke 24:13-35).
Viewed in this light, Passover, when death passed over those who
were marked with the blood of the lamb, is a shadow of the true
Passover, when those marked with the blood of the Lamb will be
freed from the bondage of sin and death:
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of

sins, according to the riches of His grace. (Ephasians 1:7)
3Wecelebrate the Saturday of Lazarus on the day before Palm Sunday,

when we read this passage.
4The word used to describe Christ’s raising of Lazarus (in Greek,

ἔγερσις (EH-ghehr-sees)) is different that the word used to describe
Christ’s Resurrection (in Greek, “άνάστασις” (ah-NAH-stah-sees”).
Christ was resurrected into eternal life, and is free from the
constraints of death. This is beautifully represented in a detail which
St. John offers in his Gospel account, where he describes the burial
cloths that Christ left behind in the tomb, as He has no more need of
111
them:
Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and
he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been
around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together
in a place by itself. (John 20:6-7)
Lazarus, on the other hand, was raised from dead. He was not yet
raised into eternal life in Christ, a blessing which people will receive
at Christ’s Second Coming. In fact, St. Lazarus went on to be a
bishop in Cyprus, and died again decades later. When Christ raised
Him, he emerged from the tomb still wrapped in his burial clothes, as
the Scripture (John 11:44) and iconography indicated.
He would, in fact, need them again.
5Martha, as we saw in the Gospel according to St Luke, tended to

2 There they made
him a supper; Martha express her love in service. Yet we can be tempted to diminish that
service, based on the way we read Christ’s words to her:
served5, and Lazaros
was one of those at ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things;
table with him. there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which
will not be taken away from her.’ (Luke 10:41-42)
In John’s account, Martha’s service isn’t questioned. This should

inform how we read Christ’s words in Luke’s account. The problem
wasn’t the nature of Martha’s service, as if her waiting on tables was
somehow “lesser” than Mary’s decision to focus on Christ’s preaching.
Rather, the problem was Martha’s complaining about (and even

developing resentment for) her sister, and her request that Christ
send Mary away from her attention to His preaching.
6The hymns of Holy Wednesday contrast this sacrifice with Judas’s

3 Mary took a pound
of costly ointment6 betrayal:
of pure nard and While the sinful woman brought oil of myrrh, the disciple came to an
anointed the feet of agreement with the transgressors. She rejoiced to pour out what was
Jesus and wiped his very precious, he made haste to sell the One who is above all price. She
feet with her hair; acknowledged Christ as Lord, he severed himself from the Master. She
and the house was was set free, but Judas became the slave of the enemy. Grievous was
his lack of love! Great was her repentance! Grant such repentance also
filled with the unto me, O Savior, who has suffered for our sack, and save us.
fragrance of the
ointment. Third Stichera of the Praises at Orthros
112
7As St Abrose writes:
4 But Judas Iscariot,
one of his disciples7
[Judas] was chosen among the twelve apostles and had charge of the
(he who was to betray money bag, to distribute it among the poor, so that it might not seem as
him), said though he had betrayed the Lord because he was not honored or in
want. And so, the Lord granted him this office so that he might also be
shown to be just in his dealings with him. Judas would be guilty of a
greater fault, not as one driven to it by a wrong done to him but as one
misusing grace.
St. Ambrose of Milan, Duties of the Clergy 1.16.64
5 “Why was this

ointment not sold for
three hundred
denarii and given to
the poor?"
8Why would Christ allow a thief to control the money box? Perhaps
6 This he said, not
that he cared for the it was out of love for Judas, and an outlet for his temptation that
would not rise to the levels of betrayal and murder.
poor but because he
was a thief8, and as Having the purse would have satisfied Judas and made it possible for
he had the money him to control his weakness; nevertheless, he still proved unfaithful.
box he used to take
Blessed Theophylact,
what was put into it9.
The Explanation of the Holy Gospel according to John at 194
9As St Ephraim the Syrian writes:
Our Lord, because he saw that Judas was greedy for money, had
placed him in charge of the money to satisfy him and to prevent him
from becoming a traitor for the sake of money. It would have been
better for him, however, to have stolen the money rather than to have
betrayed the Creator of money…Should not the thief of money fear the
Creator of money? Perhaps that is what he remembered when he
hanged himself.
St. Ephraim the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessarion 17.13
113
10This is a powerful statement, rich with meaning.
7 Jesus said, “Let her
alone, let her keep it
We can see it as yet another prediction of Christ’s imminent
for the day of my crucifixion.
burial10.
We can also see it as a comment directed squarely at Judas, who was
in the process of betraying Christ to His death.
Further, this may refer to an event immediately following the

Resurrection, when Mary arrived at the tomb too late to anoint the
Lord:
But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she
stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in
white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body
of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, ‘Woman, why are you
weeping?’ She said to them, ‘Because they have taken away my Lord,
and I do not know where they have laid Him. (John 20:11-13)
Though she missed this chance, the Lord permitted her to anoint
Him nonetheless:
It was being granted to Mary (to whom it would not be permitted to

anoint his dead body, although the greatly desired this) to render a
service [to him while he was] still alive, since she would be unable [to
perform it] after his death, for she would be prevented by his swift
resurrection.
Venerable Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.4
11Thisis not to encourage overlooking those who suffer under

8 The poor you
always have with poverty. The Church has always worked to care for the most
vulnerable in society as we see, for example, in the distribution of
you11, but you do not food described in Acts 6.
always have me."
Consider also the words of St James:
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself
unstained by the world. (James 1:27)
114
12Christ raised other people besides Lazarus: the widow’s son (Luke
9 When the great
crowd of the Jews 7:13-15) and Jairus’s daughter (Matthew 9:25).
learned that he was However, those miracles do not seem to have become as instantly
there, they came, not notorious as Christ’s raising of Lazarus, which provoked both strong
only on account of positive reactions:
Jesus but also to see
Lazaros, whom he Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the
things Jesus did, believed in Him. (John 11:45)
had raised from the
dead12. And negative ones:
Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death. (John
11:53)
10 So the chief 13The contrast here is stunning.

priests planned to
Jesus Christ had just brought his friend Lazarus back from the
put Lazaros also to darkness of the tomb. And the chief priests, who were supposed to be
death13, shepherds of the people, wanted to cast Lazarus back into the
darkness.
14As we read John’s account, we cannot help but get the impression
11 because on
account of him many that the chief priests did not resist Jesus for theological reasons.
Rather, it was to maintain their position of wealth and power. As the
of the Jews were chief priests reason:
going away14 and
believing in Jesus. ‘If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the
Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our
nation.’ (John 11:48)
How often do we resist God because we see Him (or His call) as a
threat to our wealth, or comfort, or status?
12 The next day a 15The dramatic events of Holy Week present us with what appears
great crowd15 who like a jarring contradiction. On Palm Sunday, the crowds praise Christ
and proclaim Him King. Yet in a few short days, the crowds will turn
had come to the feast
on Him:
heard that Jesus was
coming to Jerusalem. But they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify
Him!’ (John 19:15)
Did the crowd change its mind? Or were they two separate crowds?
St. Matthew also presents us an account of Palm Sunday in his Gospel
115
account (Matthew 21:1-11). A few verses later, we read this interesting
detail:
But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that
He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, ‘Hosanna
to the Son of David!’ they were indignant and said to Him, Do You
hear what these are saying?‘ And Jesus said to them, 'Yes. Have you
never read, “Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have
perfected praise?”’ (Matthew 21:15-16)
Perhaps it was children, then, in their innocence and purity, who

praised the Lord when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.
This seems to be captured in the iconographic tradition as well,

which depicts children praising Christ during His triumphal entry
into Jerusalem.
13 So they took 16Palm leaves were a sign of victory, and the defeat of an enemy:
branches of palm
trees16 and went out On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred
seventy-first year, the Jews entered it with praise and palm branches,
to meet him, crying, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with
"Hosanna! Blessed is hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and
he who comes in the removed from Israel. (1 Maccabees 13:51)
name of the Lord17,
17As the Venerable Bede writes:
even the King of
Israel18!" ‘In the name of the Lord’ signifies ‘In the name of God the Father,’ just
as [our Lord] himself said elsewhere to the unbelieving Jews, ‘I have
come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; another
will come in his own name, him you will receive.’ Christ came in the
name of God the Father because in everything that he did and said he
was concerned with glorifying his Father and with proclaiming to
human beings that he is to be glorified. The antichrist will come in his
own name, and although he may be the wickedest person of all and a
great help to the devil, he will see fit to call himself the Son of God
while ‘being opposed to and raised above everything that is said to be
God and is worshipped.’
Venerable Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.3
18The political overtones of this title later become a reason for the
Romans to get involved. At John 18:33, Pontius Pilate asks Jesus if He
is the King of the Jews. In a political sense, such a king would present
a direct challenge to Caesar and Roman rule. The Romans did not
care about the religious disagreements of their subjects; but they
would not tolerate challenges to their empire.
116
14 And Jesus found a 19Here is the full passage:
young donkey and sat
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
upon it; as it is
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
written19, Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)
20One of the patterns we see repeated throughout the Old Testament

15 "Fear not,
is Israel’s struggle to remain faithful to God. While the Lord was
daughter of Zion;
leading His people out of Egypt, their trust in Him wavered:
behold, your king is
coming20, sitting on a Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us
donkey's colt21!" serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the
Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. (Exodus 14:12)
Later, after Israel was settled in the Promised Land, the people
wavered again and again, and each time were delivered into the heads
of their enemies. Each time, God sent Judges, prophetic figures who
would lead the people to repentance and deliverance.
Yet, the people eventually grew dissatisfied with God’s authority.

They asked for “a king to govern us, like other nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).
When Israel made this request, the Prophet Samuel warned the
people that they would be displeased with a king, who would tax their
money and draft their sons into armies and their daughters into
service.
And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have
chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day. (1
Samuel 8:18).
At the time of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Israel was

ruled by a Roman Emperor. Yet now, after centuries of waiting, the
true King of Israel approaches.
21Christriding on a donkey would shatter the expectation of some

that the Messiah would be a merely political figure: someone who
would deliver Israel from Roman rule and establish a new,
independent Jewish Kingdom. Yet, as Christ Himself tells us:
My Kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)
And this, not a general or warlord, is precisely the Messiah

prophesied about in the Old Testament:
117
It is not to be thought that there is any suggestion of humility in riding
upon the ass. On the contrary, the ass and the mule were the animals
used in peace by great persons for their progresses, as the horse was
used in war … Zechariah 9:10 specifically mentions that the coming
one was coming in peace.
International Critical Commentary at 426
22Jesus was glorified in a paradoxical way: upon the Cross. Jesus was
16 His disciples did
not understand this glorified in His self-sacrificial love, a love that led Him to join His
people in the tomb so He could raise them to unending life.
at first; but when
Jesus was glorified22, Many others claimed to be the Messiah in the time of Christ. Yet all
then they died when their political revolutions and revolts crumbled. In
remembered23 that contrast to these false “messiahs,” the death of Jesus Christ was no
this had been written defeat. It was not the end of a failed political project. It was, rather,
the very Son of God’s victory over death, accomplished by His own
of him and had been humiliating (yet completely voluntary) death.
done to him.
23So much of our understanding of Christ happens in retrospect,
following the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
During His earthly ministry, Christ’s disciples squabbled and argued

and were cowardly. They betrayed their Lord. They doubted.
Somehow, though they saw all these signs and miracles, they still did
not have eyes to see.
17 The crowd that It is only later that Christ teaches His disciples to understand the
Scripture, and see Him in the prophesies. It is only later still, after
had been with him
the descent of the Holy Spirit, that the cowardly and ignorant
when he called fishermen because fishers of men and catch the whole world in their
Lazaros out of the nets, drawing creation out of the dark abyss of sin and death and up
tomb and raised him into the ark, the Church, Christ’s very Body.
from the dead bore
witness.
18 The reason why

the crowd went to
meet him was that
they heard he had
done this sign.
118
Major Themes
• Finding joy in the face of struggle
• The gentleness, rather than antagonism and division, that God brings
• False deliverance (and false messiahs) vs. real deliverance (and the real Messiah)
• Merely earthly kingdoms vs. the Kingdom of God
Study Questions
1. Are you ready to welcome Jesus into your heart?
2. How can you become more childlike?
3. Is Jesus the Messiah you’re looking for?

Let us also come today, all the new Israel, the Church of the Gentiles, and let us cry
with the Prophet Zechariah: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O
daughter of Jerusalem; for behold, thy King comes unto thee: He is meek and brings
salvation, and He rides upon the colt of an ass, the foal of a beast of burden. Keep
the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands sing His praises:
Hosanna to the highest; blessed is He that comes, the King of Israel.
119

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Triodion Readings

The Sunday Gospel & Epistle readings

BUILDING FAITH TO MOVE MOUNTAINS

A new ministry course designed to help you:

Module 2: Connecting with God

Module 3: Living with Connection

In 2013 we launched ExeGenius, a project designed to help everyday Christians

These wounds need healing. And what greater

I pray that this resource will help you find the

(1) the four weeks leading up to Great Lent;

Sunday of the Prodigal Son……………………………………………………………………………..14

Sunday of St Gregory Palamas…………………………………………………………………………64

Sunday of the Holy Cross…………………………………………………………………………….….76

Sunday of St John Climacus……………………………………………………………………………..85

Sunday of St Mary of Egypt…………………………………………………………………………..…98

Epistle 2 Timothy 3:10-15

Gospel Luke 18:10-14

Live the Word #19

10 Timothy, my son, you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my

11 my persecutions, my suﬀerings, what befell me at Antioch, at lconion, and at

This word appears in only a few of the New Testament books:

As readers, we can sometimes be quick to judge the Pharisee for his

and the other a tax 3In

It used in Matthew 6:5 to describe the posture of the hypocrites as

The Pharisee stood firmly, boldly, self-assured. There is nothing

5In Greek, ὁ φαρισαῖος σταθεὶς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν (oh fah-ree-SEH-ohs

Though the Pharisee claimed to be thanking God, his remarks are

St. Augustine, Sermon 351.1

It would be more accurate to translate the Pharisee’s words as

St Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, discusses how insuﬃcient good or

Recall that the Pharisee is described above as standing facing himself.

Without love, his good works were empty.

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Homily 120

St. Nikiphoros the Hesychast,

13 But the tax 12In Greek, ἔστησαν μακρόθεν (EH-stee-san mah-KROH-then).

13ThePublican’s refusal to lift up his eyes is a sign of his repentance

but beat his breast14, 14Compare to Jeremiah 31:19:

This “beating on the breast” is the culmination of the tax collector’s

15Compare to Psalm 50(51), the quintessential psalm of repentance,

Have mercy upon me, O God,

16InGreek, ἱλάσθητί μοι τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ (ee-LAH-sthee-tee mee toh

This English translation is misleading. The Publican prayed that God

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.

We are the Body of Christ because we are Church. We are lifted up to

The Publican’s action was Eucharistic: he oﬀered up his sins and

18As St Basil writes:

He was judged inferior to a humble man and a sinner because in his

St. Basil the Great, On Humility

And consider the words of St John of the Ladder:

St. John Climacus, Step 25: On Humility, Ladder of Divine Ascent

• Self-congratulation vs. seeking forgiveness from others

• Self-reliance in the spiritual life vs. seeking direction from others

• Glorification of oneself vs. glorification of God

2. Do you have a spiritual father?

3. Who in your life is an icon of Jesus?

Hymn from the Triodion

Sessional Hymn of Matins, Tone Four