A Homily on Great and Holy Friday Before the Epitaphios

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29)

Behold, my brothers, the Lamb of God, who has taken upon Himself our sins, my sins, the sins of each of you. Behold the incarnate Only-begotten Son of God, torn to pieces by human envy and malice! What is humanity, then! O how dark, how repulsive is the picture of human malice! Let us fall down before Him in confession and weep before the Lord who created us and who, at the end of the ages, suffered and died for us. With fear and love let us fall, in heart and with our lips, upon these wounds—with fear, for to this day our sins stink before Him and cry out for our punishment; with love, for these wounds and His death were taken upon Himself out of His unspeakable love for us, and naturally call us to love! “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. How consoling these words are for the believing soul! In them is contained our firm hope in the infinite mercy of the heavenly Father, who has been reconciled with us transgressors through the sacrifice of righteousness offered on the cross for our sins—that is, the infinite sacrifice of His Son. How many times have we sinned in a single day and hour, to say nothing of the sins of our whole wretched life. How our sins tormented us! But we repented with faith and heartfelt hope, we looked to the Savior, we sighed, we shed tears over our sins—and behold, they are cleansed, washed away, forgiven; we have found peace, freedom, joy. What does this mean? It means that the Lamb of God, every day, every hour, throughout all the days of our life, takes away our sins, removes them, cleanses them, forgets them, delivering us from eternal condemnation for them. Who has not experienced this in himself? And this is why, before so bloody a spectacle, one that shakes the soul, we stand in good hope, and, though in sorrow, yet in a sorrow pervaded by compunction, by joy, and by a certain solemnity: for we are assured that in this dead One is contained the life of all the living, reconciliation with God, the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of eternal life. Throughout all the world Christians now venerate the wounds of the Savior with the most reverent compunction, and tenderly kiss them, and everywhere, by all believing hearts, the life-giving power of the saving sufferings and death of the Lord is felt: for unceasingly and everywhere He takes away the sins of all repentant sinners, has mercy on them, cleanses, renews, and saves them. O our Savior! From how many spiritual deaths have You saved me too, and each of us. I confess today, in this hour, before this devout assembly, O my Savior, Your mercies shown to me, a sinner beyond all men—that You have saved me from countless spiritual deaths, have saved and still save me from all sorrows, from all falls into sin. And it is only by Your mercy that I am not to this day in the pit of perdition, for I will say with the prophet David: “the pangs of death compassed me, and the torrents of iniquity troubled me; the pangs of hell surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me. And in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God” (Ps 17:5-7): and He always inclined mercifully to the cry of my heart, showed me His wondrous salvation, forgave my sins, dispelled my sorrows, and led me out of terrible straits into a broad place. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away my sins! Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins too! Come, then, with tears of repentance and with love let us kiss the wounds of this Lamb, who has taken upon Himself the sins of the world. And You, O immeasurable Goodness, Lord of heaven and earth—send down yet more of Your blessing upon us, stir up in us sincere repentance and unfeigned love; bear yet a while longer with the world that is perishing in its sins, and by Your shaking signs awaken it from the heavy sleep of sin. Amen.