First Saturday of the Great Fast: Great Martyr Theodore the Recruit; Our Venerable Father and Confessor Theophilactus, Bishop of Nicomedia.
Day 6 of the Great Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain these ingredients.
Hebrews 1:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:1-10; Mark 2:23-3:5; John 15:17-16:2.
Read Hebrews 1:1-12
Who is Our Lord Jesus Christ? This is a question that we need to take very seriously for two important reasons. Firstly, the answer reveals how well we understand the faith which we have received and profess, and are we able to proclaim it to others. Secondly, this question is one that we need to feel confident in posing to both those who seek truth and those who are opposed to the truth. In the letter to the Hebrews who Jesus Christ is a central theme, especially who Jesus is to the Jews and how does he relate to salvation history as Jews understood it from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the rulers and kings of Israel, and the prophets. The author of the letter plainly states that the revelation in Christ is superior to the Old Testament revelation of the prophets and so Christ is not another prophet. He shares in the same nature as God. In other words, Jesus Christ is God incarnate and is higher even than the angels. “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) Our Lord poses the very same question to His disciples. There is no little amount of confusion among them. Even Peter after declaring that Jesus is the Christ then refuses to allow Him to go to Jerusalem to suffer; Peter does not fully understand yet.
Brothers and sisters, every year as we embark upon our journey through Great Lent this question goes before us. We move slowly through the Fast towards Great and Holy Week where the question begins to be answered, yet perhaps like the apostles we still are not sure. We are plagued with doubts, our sinfulness obscures the truth. Yet on the days from Great and Holy Friday to the radiant and bright day of the Lord’s Pascha the answer is revealed to us in the strangest of ways: the Cross, a bruised and broken Jesus, an empty tomb. Let us journey onward to the tomb and let us bring others we know who seek truth with us. Let us journey together with the apostles, the Mother of God, Mary Magdalene, the centurion, the Good Thief, and the Myrrh-Bearing Women singing: “Rejoicing in the virtues of the Spirit may we persevere with love, and so be counted worthy to see the solemn Passion of Christ our God, and with great spiritual gladness to behold His holy Passover.” (Sticheron from Forgiveness Sunday Vespers)