Orthodox Sermons & Articles

Today is the Third Sunday of Great Lent and our Church remembers the Precious Cross of our Lord and Savior. This celebration of the Cross in the middle of Lent is wisely appointed to encourage us on our way to salvation so that we do not fall into dejection or depression by thinking only about our imperfection. This celebration of the Cross gives us hope that there is a light at the end of our dark journey through sin. This light is a firm knowledge that Jesus made it possible through His death and resurrection no matter what we did, or who we were, although under one condition – if we only WANT to enter that light through confessing our sins and changing ourselves for the better.

This change requires not so much an outwardly visual change but rather an essentially inner transformation. When we meet our friends they always are good with us, but sometimes we feel that our relationship with them is not as warm as it used to be: even though we see the same smile, we feel there is something wrong. We feel it because we communicate with others not only bodily but also spiritually (or on our souls’ level), and our soul feels that the inner essence of either our friend or ourselves has changed. Change can be made in both directions: to good or to evil. Today’s celebration of the Cross encourages us to make changes to good and reject evil by our whole essence or being. We can do it by loving each other.

Why did Jesus go on the Cross? Because He loved us and is still loving us with His Whole Essence. Consequently, this same love is required of us in order to enter the Light of God. You see, our Lord has given us hope of salvation and has proved that He cares for us and wants us to enter His Glory. Great Lent is a period of time when we have to think about what is holding us back and preventing us from following Jesus Christ. For one person it is anger that holds him or her back, for another it is love to his or her wealth, for a different person it is his or her laziness, for another it is his or her pride and so on. Our Holy Orthodox Church asks us during this time not only to think about our imperfection but also to begin our transformation into becoming a person suitable for the Kingdom of God. Therefore, if somebody asks us, "What is this change for?" we know what to answer, "To get what we were offered by Christ on the Cross, that is salvation."

The Precious Cross of our Lord is a powerful symbol of His victory over eternal death as well. What does this tell us? First, those who say that they do not need to change because they will die anyway are mistaken because there is a difference in dieing: we can die bodily on earth and enter eternal death afterwards, or we can die bodily on earth and enter eternal life afterwards. Every intelligent person would pick life over death. Somehow, we do not realize it or this subject is not clear to us because we humans usually pick the way from earthly death to eternal death. By remembering and honoring the Cross of Jesus we are supposed to wake up from our spiritual drunkenness and start our life over by drawing a line that would lead us to another and better way from earthly death to eternal life. This line is perfectly seen in the Gospel; therefore, we need to read Scripture. God always gives us choices to choose from, because we carry His image. We are like God because we have free will, but we are also unlike God because we do not know what is best for us, and we jump from one place to another often forgetting about our obligation. So, the second revelation about the Cross would be that the Cross is a hint from God. Yes, we are free to choose one way of life or another, but God loves us so much that He does not want us to follow the wrong way on one hand, but He also cannot destroy our free will and just drag us to Him on another hand. This is why He humbly gives us this hint: "Look at the Cross. Why do you think I came down from heaven and was crucified? Was it because I wanted glory or power? No, I had it before the world was created. So, I did it for you because you are My beloved creatures." All we have to do, dear brothers and sisters, is to think hard over every act of God and try to compare our deeds and thoughts to His. The result might be terrifying for us but this is why we have Great Lent – to correct our mistakes and not to let them just go as they may.

The third revelation of the Cross is that we all have to carry our own cross up to the end. Each one of us has his or her cross to bear in life and usually it is not too difficult to figure out what it is. Therefore, looking at the Cross of Jesus in the middle of Lent we have to strengthen our will and carry on with our life. There is a story about this topic. One very poor man always complained to God that he had the most difficult cross to carry and he asked God to change it. One night an angel appeared to him in a dream and took him to a room with many crosses of different sizes in it, with each individually covered by a cloth. The poor man was allowed to pick any cross he wanted but he could not uncover any before he made his choice. Looking around the room this man could not decide which one would be easy enough for him to carry. Finally, he found the smallest cross and uncovered it; there was written on this cross: "Poverty." As he was already poor, he himself had now picked the same cross he knew how and was best able to carry. The lesson of this parable or story is that God gives us the easiest cross we can bear. Moreover, we have to be thankful for it because our cross reminds us of the way to eternal salvation.

Dear brothers and sisters, our journey through life is not smooth and quiet. Life throws us from one problem to another, from pleasantness to bitterness, from high position to low position. However, there is a way to avoid this bitterness after this life is over. We Christians strongly believe that our soul is immortal and that life does not end with our bodily death. So, let us do everything possible to escape the horror of eternal agony and pain. Great Lent is a very special and wisely picked time for our spiritual exercise and change. So, let us use it for our own good. Let us remember the Cross of Jesus Christ and the Salvation that was brought to us through it. Let us look for helpful hints from God and save our souls.

Amen.