Third Sunday of the Great Fast: Veneration of the Holy Cross; Octoechos Tone 3; The Holy Venerable-Martyr Nikon and his two hundred disciples martyred with him.
Day 21 of the Great Fast.
Hebrews 4:14-5:6; Mark 8:34-9:1.
Read Hebrews 4:14-5:6
When we feel the sting of failure, it can be a great comfort to draw upon someone who has gone through what we are experiencing. Today’s epistle reading says that Christ in “every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning.” How can Christ ever truly identify with us in our plight if He has not sinned like us?
Who really knows the full onslaught of temptation, the one who gives in early saying that it is so strong or the one who endures it to the end? No other human can say they know temptation better than Jesus does. This is why, in the tone 1 troparion of the Divine Liturgy, we can acclaim Christ as the “only lover of mankind,’ not that we do not truly love but that no other human love is sinless.
In Jesus Christ, humanity – previously only sinful – became sinless and eternally united with divinity. “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession… Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”