A Love Stronger Than Death

 

Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung on a tree.
The King of the angels is decked with a crown of thorns.
He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.
He who freed Adam in the Jordan is slapped in the face.
The Bridegroom of the Church is affixed to the cross with nails.
The Son of the Virgin is pierced by a spear.
We worship Thy passion, O Christ.
Show us also Thy glorious resurrection.

He who clothes Himself with light as with a garment stood naked for trial.
He was struck on the cheek by hands that He himself had formed.
A people that transgressed the Law
Nailed the Lord of Glory to the cross.

Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Then the sun was darkened,
Unable to bear the sight of God outraged,
Before Whom all things tremble.
Let us worship Him.

The disciples denied Him,
But the thief cried out:
“Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom!”

–From the Matins of Great and Holy Friday (source Fr. Stephen Freeman)

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive him.
(John 1:10-11)

At the very heart of the Christian faith is the claim that the transcendent, almighty God of the universe, the maker of all things visible and invisible (as we confess in the Creed), seeing our destitution, our enslavement to sin and death (Hebrews 2:14-15), did not remain far off, but took on not just flesh but our entire humanity–—our limitation, our weakness, our fears (cf. Matthew 26:36-46), our temptation (Hebrews 4:15). He lived among us, taught us, cared for those He met, and initiated His followers into a new way of life, one suited for the Kingdom of Heaven which he proclaimed was close at hand (Matthew 4:17). These things he did not out of any compulsion, but out of his boundless, bottomless love for His creation.

And we killed Him.

The verses above, the first part of which we sing during the solemn procession with the cross, starkly contrast Jesus' divine dignity with His cruel, inhumane treatment at the hands of His crucifiers. We may see the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers who put the Lord to death as far removed from us in both time and space, but do we see them in our hearts? We Orthodox confess with St Paul that we are, each of us, the foremost among sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). We sin daily against Christ in our lack of concern for our neighbor, who is a living icon of Christ.

Yet we are reminded that Jesus went to His passion voluntarily, fully knowing what was to happen. In fact, it was for His passion, more than for any other reason, that He was incarnate (John 12:27). And, as Fr. Stephen Freeman wrote earlier today, "Christ offers no condemnation from the Tree." During the procession last night, I thought about how just as the Lord destroys the dominion of death with resurrection and new, everlasting life, so also He answered the very worst sin in history, blooming from the same root that wraps around all of our hearts, not with anger, threats, or judgment but with love, mercy, and forgiveness: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34) According to tradition, the Roman centurion who crucified Jesus and pierced His side with the spear later became a Christian and a martyr, known to us as St Longinus. Even Judas could have been forgiven as Peter was if he had repented of his betrayal.

In both cases evil is defeated by its opposite: death by life, hatred by love, destruction and perversion of nature by new creation. As St Paul teaches, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21) In Christ we become more than conquerors (Romans 8:37) over the god of this world and all his weapons and taunts. But we prevail as Christ did, not by answering death with fear or evil with condemnation, but by loving even those who hate us with a love stronger than death, confident that by the cross and the tomb, Christ has made a path for us through death to everlasting life.

May the joy of the Paschal season dwell richly in your hearts.