DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
St. Luke 22:2-34, 44-56
(3/6)
The Gospel for Thursday of the Week of Cheesefare
Fasting
IV ~ Dying with Christ: St. Luke 23:2-34, 44-56, especially vs. 49: “But
all His acquaintances, and the women who followed Him from
Yes,
fasting can be a “little death” if we choose to find life by dying
to our passions of body and soul.
The choice is ours - to die because we long to join the Lord at His
Table and partake of the will of the “Father which is in
heaven.” Therefore, let us
explore how we may undertake this dying with the Lord Jesus so that we
may receive His life.
The High Priest, Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin brought the Lord Jesus to
Pilate to have Him condemned to death.
Caiaphas saw clearly that it was “expedient...one man should die
for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish” (Jn.
11:50). These leaders of the Jews
feared Jesus, believing that His teaching and His ministry would create unrest
and bring sharp reprisal from the Roman authorities. Still, the Sanhedrin, being flush with
power over the Lord Jesus, Whom they held blindfolded and bound, freely
“mocked and beat Him” (Lk. 22:63, 64).
However, to follow the Lord truly often requires us, like our Lord, to
surrender power with humility, “turn the other [cheek]” (Mt. 5:39),
and forgive those who wrong us.
Such times are fasting if we choose to “incline
downwards” in favor of the will of our Father in heaven.
Pilate was under pressure (vss. 23:2-5,11-22). He inclined to release the Lord Jesus,
but the voices of the Sanhedrin leaders were insistent and
“prevailed” (vs. 23).
Pilate found only a good man in Jesus and no faults, yet, to keep the
“Pax Romana,” it was expedient to acquiesce to these leaders rather
than to risk a tumult (Mt. 27:24).
If, in our fasting, we would die with Him, we shall have to find more in
Christ Jesus than “a good man.” We shall have to find the Savior.
Herod was contemptuous of the Lord Jesus when “He answered him
nothing” (Lk. 23:9), when He did no miracles to entertain him. To die with Jesus Christ it is necessary
to find in Him more than someone of interest to divert us. Truthfully, when we perceive that He is
Life, fulfillment, and restoration to God we shall risk the fasting that will
die with Him.
The Centurion Longinos, in command of the execution squad, did his
duty. Spending hours at the Cross,
watching the manner of the dying, seeing all that took place, and the nature of
the Crucified, he was transformed.
In three hours, a pagan Roman soldier who initially mocked Jesus (vs.
37), ended by glorifying God: “Certainly this was a righteous Man”
(vs. 47). He went on to Baptism and
martyrdom. If we will look with the
eyes of our hearts upon the dying of our Savior, we too shall find what St.
Demetrius of Rostov says of Longinos, that it is “better to be an outcast
with Christ...and to labor in solitude for God”[2]
than to continue among those who mock, disdain, and ignore the Faith.
Joseph of Arimathea “had not consented” with the Sanhedrin
(vs. 51), being a “good and just” man (vs. 50). By fasting, let us become good and just
and not vote against the Lord.
I beseech Thee to purify me with Thy showers of forgiveness and lighten me with fasting.[3]