First Sunday of the Great Fast: The Sunday of Orthodoxy; Our Holy Father Porphyrius, Bishop of Gaza (420)
Great Fast Day 7. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated today.
Hebrews 11:24-26,32-40; 12:1-2; John 1:43-51.
Read Hebrews 11:24-26,32-40; 12:1-2
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
They say, “You are the company you keep.” Even people who are very accepting of others have commitments and perspectives they will be looking to see shared by those they allow closest to them. Belonging is a deep human desire. We may want to belong but find ourselves excluded. Belonging faces us with the question of who we want to be and what we are willing to do to be that.
Today’s reading puts us in good company: Moses, Old Testament heroes of faith, Jesus,…and us. Each one has something they did, something they could have done instead, and a reason they chose as they did.
Moses chose “to share ill-treatment with the people of God”. Heroes “refus(ed) to accept release”. Jesus “endured the cross”.
Moses could have “enjoy(ed) the fleeting pleasures of sin” and “the treasures of Egypt”. Heroes could have gone along to get along. God the Son could have not condescended to be among us.
Moses “looked to the reward”. Heroes wanted to “rise again to a better life”. Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before him”.
So, what are we to do, not do, and why? We are to “lay aside every weight, and sin” and “run with perseverance” instead of allowing sin to “cling so closely” because “God had foreseen something better for us”.
What had God foreseen? “That apart from us (Moses and the heroes) should not be made perfect.” God sees us as belonging with them! We live as one of them by “looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” This is the company we are called to keep. This is where we belong. The question is, is that who we want to be and what are we willing to do to be that?