Bright Thursday; the Holy Martyrs Theodulus and Agathopedes and Those with Them (c. 305)
Bright Week. No fasting or abstention from foods.
Read
Acts 2:38-43; John 3:1-15
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
A popular question that circulates in the modern day Protestant movements comes out of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus: ‘Are you a born again Christian?’ The presumption is that one is only authentic in as far as you answer ‘yes’. The understanding that to be ‘born again’ one must have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour and that this day on the calendar marks the day of when you have been saved. This is a modern day interpretation of a text that has been taken out of the proper context in the Church. We must remember that the Scriptures were written in the Church for the sake of the Church, so one would only presume that the proper interpretation would have been handed down in the Church.
So how do we respond to this type of a question? We take Jesus’ own words of explanation at face value: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” The practice handed down by the apostles, directly instructed by Jesus Himself, of Baptism and Chrismation is the way into the Kingdom. These two sacraments have never been symbolic rituals, but through the power and energy of the Holy Spirit they forever change those who receive them. We receive what one needs to be united with God, In Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is only the beginning. You still have within you the tendency to sin and you will face a continual struggle to fight off all kinds of temptations that can separate you from the will of God. Born in God’s image you have been given a free will. You can choose at any time to ignore God in the same way as did Adam and Eve. The more we grow closer to God the more we grow in God’s likeness. This process of union with God is called Theosis: Greater and great growth into the Kingdom.