Fifth Sunday of the Great Fast: Our Venerable Mother, Mary of Egypt; The Repose of Our Holy Father Methodius, Teacher of the Slavs; Our Holy Father Eutychius, Archbishop of Constantinople.
Day 35 of the Great Fast.
Hebrews 9:11-14; Hebrews 7:26-8:2; Mark 10:32-45; John 10:9-16.
Read Hebrews 9:11-14
When two people have a falling out, something must happen to make things right between them. The offending party needs to apologize and make up for their actions. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the offending party has completely changed inside. Feelings of loss, dishonor, empathy, and regret may have brought the offender to the point of wanting to restore the relationship, but the internal transformation of the person is a deeper work that we cannot effect ourselves. We may be able, in human terms, to admirably amend our ways but, “the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
Revealing Himself to humanity in a project spanning millennia, God communicates in the only way that is intelligible to us – the culturally understood language of each time and place. The Jewish tabernacle worship beautifully showed how people are to approach God in His holiness. All were called to a place in the temple, even the Gentiles, but the increasing restriction of access, purity of materials, and sanctity of persons as people approached the center – the holy-of-holies – was a theo-drama on a national scale, revealing to the world the transcendent God’s will to be among His people and the necessity of our recognition that, though we are still the image of God, we are a fractured image in need of restoration.
Christ accomplishes what the Jewish high priest depicted – the perfecting of our conscience through the Holy Spirit. Old Testament believers were also able to experience a change of heart but, like them, we can err in thinking the job is done by fulfilling external observances, instead of having our conscience purified by the blood of Christ through continually coming to Him in confession and communion.