The Holy and Great-Martyr Theodore the Recruit (286-305)
1 John 4:20-5:21; Mark 15:1-15
Read Mark 15:1-15
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
As we stand before the Great Fast, and conclude the Gospel of Mark, we encounter in the lectionary the opportunity to hear and contemplate the Passion of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Today’s text presents for us a fulfilment of one of the prophecies of Isaiah: “As a Lamb before its shearer was dumb, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7). Our Lord opened not his mouth when there were made false accusations at him in the palace of the High Priest, nor did he respond to Herod, nor to Pilate. St. Gregory of Nazianzen points out that “a lamb, he is silent—yet he is word proclaimed by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” This silence is a pathway for victory to prevail: “Others gain victory through making defences, but our Lord gained victory through his silence, because the recompense of his death through divine silence was the victory of true teaching” (Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Titian’s Diatessaron). Our Lord is the silent and innocent lamb who passed through the false judgements of this world, so that we may receive a merciful judgmentally ourselves.