Homily One on Holy and Great Friday
By St. John of Kronstadt
By St. John of Kronstadt
"O Life, how are you dying?"
(Lamentation Verse on Great Saturday)
Come, all ye creatures: let us bring our songs of departure to the Creator. Countless hosts of heavenly powers! All intelligent inhabitants of the earth! Come, let us bring our songs of departure to our common Creator, Who after the most terrible sufferings peacefully rests in the tomb! Let us draw near to Him and begin to question Him: “Why are You accounted among the dead, Who are alive on high and uncontainable by the heavens, and strangely received into a small tomb? How is it that You, the immortal Author of life, tasted death Yourself, and as a mortal were laid in the tomb? How did it happen that Your feeble but malicious creatures, men, brought You to the tomb? It is evident that You deigned of Your own will to ascend the cross in the flesh, otherwise, who would have dared to touch You, O Almighty One? It is evident that there is a great mystery here, which wicked men and the prince of darkness himself did not know. And indeed, people did not know what they were doing to Jesus. It is evident that from this extreme condescension of Yours towards people much good will come to them: for You do everything only for the increase of goodness and blessedness of creatures. It must be that You suffered out of great need, with the most gracious and wise purpose: You 'have done all things in wisdom' (Ps. 103:24), and You are 'good in all things' (Ps. 145:9). Can it be that Your sufferings and Your death were not the work of Your infinite wisdom and goodness?" Hear, brethren, the answer to this of the Lord Himself, Who suffered for us: "Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it alone remains, but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).
This, then, brethren, is the mystery of the death of Jesus Christ, God and man: like a grain of wheat, if it does not die when it falls to the ground, it remains alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. In the same manner, the Savior died in order to bring the greatest benefit to people through His death, just as He indeed did. Christ the Savior, the Son of God, undertook the great task of redeeming and justifying us sinners through His sufferings and death before the heavenly Father: this is our "justification" (Romans 4:25), says the Apostle; and thus, His death for us, along with the suffering that preceded it, represents an act of the greatest love and divine wisdom, which no created mind can fully appreciate. And as this death is a work of God's wisdom, it is also the greatest mystery. What a comforting truth!
The death of the Savior is a cleansing sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. “This is the cleansing,” says the Holy Apostle John the Theologian, “of our sins, not only of ours, but also of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). He died, and His death on the cross destroyed our curse, which we had deserved from the Father in heaven by our sins. He died, and eternal death, which inevitably had to overtake us without a Redeemer, now no longer has power over us. He is our righteousness in the midst of our unrighteousness; our deliverance in the time of our despair; our sanctification in the midst of our uncleanness; He is our companion in our darkness; life in our death. Does the righteous judgment of God frighten you when you present your unrighteousness? And "there is no peace in your bones because of your sins" (Psalm 38:4 ). The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ will justify you before the Father in heaven. "Who is he that justifies God, who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, yea, and rose again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us" (Rom. 8:34). Do you despair of receiving the kingdom of heaven, finding yourself unworthy of it? Indeed, no man is worthy of it. But Christ our Lord is worthy; He has earned it for us with His priceless blood. Our worthiness depends on His worthiness. By His worthiness He has made us unworthy, too; and by His grace, the good and philanthropic Heavenly Father, by His incomparable mercy, honors men with the Kingdom of Heaven. You will say: "I am a great sinner." But Christ the Savior "came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). Only do not sin intentionally and with malice for the future. You say: "Where can I be and rejoice with the saints who have shone forth on earth with such virtues?" But the saints too were saved by the grace of Christ. If it seems too much for you to be with the saints, then pray to be at least with the thief, crying out: “Remember me, O Lord, in Your Kingdom” (Luke 23:42), and try to live as a Christian should.
We are all sinners, brethren; but if we believe in Christ our Lord, crucified for us, and strive to live according to His teaching, if we resist sin, or, although we fall, rise again, then the death of the Savior, His wounds are our defense (Rom. 3:25). We will escape the torments of hell and will be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom. If we magnanimously endure sorrows, illnesses, deprivations and various misfortunes in life and consider them a due retribution to ourselves for our sins, with faith and love remembering the terrible Passion of the Savior endured for our sake, then we are blessed: the crucified Lord will save us. But woe to those Christians who only have not, and trample on His saving teaching by their disdain for Him, or by insolent philosophies about Him (Rom. 2:8), who live according to the will of their hearts in unrighteousness, in impurity, in forgetfulness of God; they must be horrified by their terrible situation: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). "The wicked will destroy" God (Matt. 21:41). The death of the Life-Giver will not save unrepentant sinners, but will condemn them; but sinners who sincerely repent of their falls, who have heartfelt faith in the Lord and hope in Him and cleanse themselves from sins, will be saved by Him: with His sufferings on the cross the Savior will cover their sins, committed through human weakness. Crucified, O Christ God, you have trampled death by death – save us! Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.