neuroBIBLISTICS

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Reverend Fathers, dear brothers and sisters, today we enter the fifth Sunday of the Great Lent. Christ is on his way to Jerusalem. He is already on the road to suffering for us. Church dedicated this Sunday to St. Mary of Egypt to show us that in order to receive Christ in his glorious Resurrection we must give more. More was too required to conquer the death, so God himself had to intervene to die for our sins.

The Gospel reading according to St. Mark introduces us to the great truth of Salvation through Resurrection. Christ says to his disciples: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, …and kill him. And after three days he will rise” (Mk). The epistle to Hebrews continues on in explanation. “Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things… through the greater and more perfect tent… not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” This is the truth of our Salvation, Christ is working out our Salvation, and in the coming days, we will again witness the importance of sacrifice and resurrection.  “How much more will the blood of Christ, … purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” This ultimate sacrifice has eternal consequences because it is the sacrifice made by God himself who put on our flesh and remained God. This sacrifice is the end of the dead works, for it is the Resurrected sacrifice. 

In the second Gospel reading, Christ got invited to the house of one of the Pharisees, Simon. There he ate the dinner, and one sinful woman came to him. She “brought … ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment” (Lk). This is an example of acting repentance, working repentance. She did not say a word, but she showed her inner state of the heart through her works of love. Christ compared sinners to the people who got money from the moneylender, and their debts were canceled. One who received more loved the moneylender more.

Our Lord said to Simon: “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much.” The sinful woman showed her love to Christ, while Simon did not. Her works were true acts of repentance, in tears, not in words or promises, but “here and now” in working repentance.

St. Sava and Saint Mardarije were free of the dead works but full of the works of acting repentance. Only by living in the state of constant repentance – turning toward Christ, they were able to feel the power of the Resurrection and to live with this power on the earth and in eternity. Repentance is work, total change of the route, and turning toward God. The moment we turn to Him, we are in his presence. Whoever is in the presence of God, the Living God, there is no death whatsoever. St. Mardarije’s relics remind us of what the presence of God means.

Let us work on our spiritual way toward Jerusalem, thinking of the ultimate sacrifice.

Let us act out repentance, not in words, but in true actions.

Let us be thankful for the presence of God that we have in the Holy Communion and in our Saints, and give thanks to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!