Second Sunday of the Great Fast: St. Gregory Palamas; Octoechos Tone 2; The Holy Martyrs Sabinus and Papas.
Day 14 of the Great Fast. Resurrectional Gospel 10
Hebrews 1:10-2:3; Mark 2:1-12.
Read Hebrews 1:10-2:3
There is a saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” It means that we can sometimes consider ourselves so familiar with someone that we take them for granted and not fully engage in what a relationship with them requires. The result is complacency – self-satisfaction, unaware of dangers. The writer of The Letter to the Hebrews is alert to that. He is emphatic: “We must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
If we’re not careful, the Creator can receive less attention than His creations – the ancient beginnings of the earth, the heavens displaying the work of God. We are reminded that even spiritual realities like angels are but created and not to be a preoccupying distraction.
The contrast between all created goods and the one who created them is stark – perishable, aging, temporary, changeable; the Creator remains, unchangeable forever. The heavenly beings are “sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation” – us; the one who sent them sits with enemies subdued.
But today’s epistle reading begins with, “And,” continuing the statement two verses previous: “But of the Son he says…” The Creator spoken of here is revealed to be the Son, consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father. This is what we are to be careful not to “drift away from”. The creation has a purpose, and that purpose is centered on the Son. The Mosaic law was mediated by created angels; the gospel was declared by the eternal Son. We are to look at the Son anew, as the Creator, not the created, his enemies subdued, bringing a great salvation to us that we must not neglect.