Homily 60 – Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, St. Mary of Egypt
St. John Orthodox Church, Edwardsville, Pennsylvania
April 21, 2013
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God.
Are you ready for the journey?
This week, we journey to Jerusalem. We encounter all life has to offer – especially death.
We encounter on Saturday the raising of Lazarus, and by Sunday the word has spread and all of Jerusalem awaits our triumphant arrival.
Our Lord tells us – get ready.
It looks triumphant, and in some respects it is. But Christ is telling us that he goes to Jerusalem, not for praise and glory, but to be delivered up to the Romans, the Gentiles, and to be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon. And ultimately, to die on a cross.
We have been hearing this theme throughout Great Lent. Control your flesh. Deny yourself and your wants and needs. Sacrifice what you want for what your neighbor needs.
Climb the ladder – the first step of which is renouncing the world. Pick up the cross. Don’t just endure what the world gives us – embrace it. Pick it up. Recognize that it is a way – the way – to crush our will and replace it with the will and desire of our Lord.
All of these lead us to today, as we contemplate our death – both in the world and to the world.
We are given the example of St. Mary of Egypt, who lived a life in pursuit of what we euphemistically call “Earthly pleasures.” Rather than subduing her will, she indulged it, pursuing every desire of her fleshly existence.
But then – she encountered the Cross, and the Theotokos, and she quite literally left the world for the desert. She spent the next 35 or so years there.
We aren’t all called to leave the world for the desert. Thank God. I wouldn’t last a day in the desert.
However, we are still called to renounce the world. Our Lord tells us in the Gospel how we do this. It is so simple – yet so difficult! The Revised English Bible makes it clearer:
He said, ‘You know that among the Gentiles the recognized rulers lord it over their subjects, and the great make their authority felt. It shall not be so with you; among you, whoever wants to be great must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ (Mark 10:42-45, REB)
Now, that is simple. If you want to be great, serve. If you want to be free, become a slave.
Doing that very thing isn’t so easy, though.
Ingrained in us from the time we are quite young is the idea that we control our selves – that we are in charge of what we do.
To take that idea and place ourselves in submission to another human – goes against every instinct we have toward self-preservation.
Yet, that is exactly what Our Lord asks of his disciples, and exactly what he asks of us.
Let’s not forget – he did this. The Creator of the cosmos – became part of that cosmos. He didn’t come to us as God – he came to us as human.
He continued to be God, he continued to be human. That is why we have such difficulty wrapping our mind around the incarnation.
If we found an earthly ruler who abdicated the throne, gave up all power and authority, in order to be the domestic help for a poor family, we would consider that person insane!
King Edward the 6th gave up the throne, gave up his power, but retained his wealth. Pope Benedict the 16th gave up his power and authority, but similarly retained his comfort.
In the person of Christ, God the Word, the Eternal Logos, chose for himself – a cave, a manger, a mother.
He owned nothing – truly just the clothing on his back. He is homeless, depending on the kindness of others for his basic needs.
Sound like any God or King you know?
Not to me. Sounds to me like the King or Czar who decided to be a custodian or perhaps a garbage man – and even that understates the condescension of Our Lord.
And he tells us to do likewise.
That is picking up our Cross. That is following Him. That is the essence of the faith we practice.
Everything we see as “rules” are actually there for this very purpose – so that we might learn how to deny ourselves what our being cries out for. Food! Rest! Comfort! Ease!
We deny ourselves of all these things – in order to gain that which is infinitely better.
Because what we gain, by sacrificing ourselves and placing ourselves at the mercy of others, in service to them –
What we gain is the continual presence of Our Lord. Our Comforter, the Holy Spirit. God – our Creator. We give up our life – and gain …
… everything.
What we surrender is death – what we gain is life. Just like St. Mary of Egypt.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God.
Bogoslov 