A Homily on Holy and Great Friday

“My God, My God, why haveYou forsaken Me?” (Mt 27:46)

Thus cried out the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus, nailed to the cross for the sins of the world—and therefore for yours and mine as well, brothers and sisters. “My God, My God! why have You forsaken Me?” He cried out according to His human nature, which had infirmities but not sins. But how could God the Father, who had sent Him into the world for the salvation of the world, forsake His Only-begotten, His beloved Son? The Godhead was inseparable, and for endless ages will remain inseparable, from the human nature of Jesus Christ. This forsaking means, then, beloved brothers, that the human nature in Jesus Christ was given over to all the torment, to all the horror of the sufferings of the cross, to all that dreadful, mortal grief which He experienced even in the garden of Gethsemane before He was seized by the band of evildoers led by Judas Iscariot. Even then He began to be horrified and to be anguished, and He said to the disciples: “My soul is sorrowful unto death; stay here, and keep watch with Me” (Mt 26:38). Imagine, then, what the bodily torments were, what was the grief of the all-righteous and all-loving, sensitive soul of the God-Man, who endured execution for all human sins—for the sins of Adam and Eve and of all their descendants without exception, and therefore for yours and mine as well! And you and I, brothers, are greater sinners, and are liable to countless punishments for our countless iniquities. Judge, I say, judge what was the sharpness, the bitterness, and the burning of the torments of the cross, what was the grief of soul of the Lamb of God, who took upon Himself the sins of the world, how heavy was His forsaking by God—that is, the giving over of His humanity to all the burning of the sufferings, and of His soul to all the crushing, boundless, dreadful grief. After this you will understand in what state was the soul of the God-Man hanging on the cross, when He cried out: “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Yes, it was, together with His most pure body, in a state of dreadful sufferings, unimaginable and beyond depiction. Learn, then, from this, O man, whoever you may be, the bitterness, the absurdity, the ugliness, the abomination, the madness, the repulsiveness, the tormenting and death-dealing power of sin; learn how contrary to nature it is for us, how alien to our divine nature, created in the image of God, and how the all-holy, all-perfect, all-good Godhead abhors it, and after this let all of you judge how we ought to deal with sin, which seduces us and defiles and perverts our nature, corrupting it, casting it into eternal dishonor, into eternal grief, into eternal torment—if we do not hate it, that is, sin, with all our soul, if we do not repent of our iniquities, if we do not turn away from sin completely. Picture, imagine what would become of us if the Only-begotten Son of God had not suffered for our sins and satisfied the righteousness of God, and if God had forsaken us forever, withdrawing His grace! Oh, the mere imagining, the mere faint picturing of it freezes the blood and casts the soul into trembling. Oh, if only I and all sinners always remembered this forsaking of unrepentant sinners by God, especially when sin tempts us, and all fled from sin more than from a serpent, than from a bloodthirsty beast, than from a cruel enemy. Oh, then there would be far more who are saved; then the earth would not be smitten with terrible calamities for the sins of man: with crop failures, floods, destructive earthquakes that strike down thousands of human lives, sweeping epidemics, the spoiling of the fruits, devastating fires. Then it would be a paradise of God, abounding in righteousness and in every natural gift of God. Then there would be peace and safety on the earth; there would be none of these terrible crimes, among which we recently saw the most dreadful of the dreadful—the brazen and malicious murder, in broad daylight, of a peace-loving and loving, meek Tsar. Oh, how the world is now overflowing with transgressors and transgressions! But how much longer is it to exist—this sinful world, this earth, the dwelling place of sin, stained with the blood of guiltless and innocent victims, this gathering of every abomination? Is not the time of the universal purification by fire already drawing near? Yes, it is surely near at hand now. If the Apostles in their time spoke of its nearness, then all the more decisively can we speak of the nearness of the end of the age.

Brothers and sisters! While there is still time for us, let us draw near with fervent repentance to the Savior of the world, and with love and tears kiss His wounds, endured for us. Let us love righteousness, let us love mercy, that we may obtain mercy. Amen.