St Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
161 N. Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Third Sunday of Lent - Veneration of the Cross

Third Sunday of Great Lent – Veneration of the Cross

Today is the third Sunday of Great Lent  – we are midway through our spiritual pilgrimage taking us toward Holy Week and the bright Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. On this day we venerate the Holy Cross of our Lord. The Cross is brought out before us at this midway point as a reminder and a signpost pointing the way toward Pascha.

The Cross, once a symbol of torture and death, has become a symbol of our restoration. It is the sign of Christ’s victory. It is an intersection point uniting us to Christ… 

In the Gospel reading appointed for this day, Christ says to us: ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’ This threefold prescription provides clear instruction as to what we must do if we are to make progress in our spiritual journey.

First, we must deny ourselves. Now… if we are being honest, that doesn’t sound very attractive does it? Who would want to deny himself? Life is hard enough as it is without actively oppressing ourselves. Why would Christ ask this of us?

Christ calls us to deny ourselves because He is the Great Physician and He knows that, if we are to be healed, we must begin by rooting out the primary disease that afflicts us. Pride is the original and underlying sin that separates mankind from God and from each other. If we look deeply for the root cause of so much of our self-inflicted sufferings, we will find that selfishness and pride are the fuel that feed the fire of our sins. When we argue, when we are offended, when our plans are thwarted by some obstacle, when we don’t get what we want, when we are frustrated or depressed or disappointed – all of these things are manifestations of an underlying pride and self-preoccupation.

As a consequence of the fall, our self-will is broken… we don’t know what is best for us. We think that if we satisfy our passions, if we fulfill our desires, if get our way – we think that these things will bring us happiness. But they do not… and the inevitable obstacles that get in the way of our will and our desires become the source of our greatest misery and we use this excuse to justify inflicting misery on others, even those we love.

Christ calls us to deny ourselves… to deny our selfish will and tendencies. In denying ourselves we open ourselves up to, and make way for, the possibility of accepting God and His holy will. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “to deny oneself is to be dead to sin, but alive to God.”

Next, Christ calls us to take up our cross. Taking up one’s cross means to accept without complaint and to endure with patience whatever sorrows or difficulties are set before us. It means to accept and courageously take on whatever responsibilities and uphill battles there might be in front of us. Each and every one of us has major and minor crosses that we must bear in this life. Perhaps we suffer from illness, perhaps we are out of work or we’re struggling to make ends meet, perhaps we have difficult relationships with others in our lives. These challenges can either make us or break us. We can approach them with resentment, anger, and frustration – wishing that things were different and being miserable about things; or we can approach them with humility, endurance, and patience – calling upon God to be with us and to give us strength.

Taking up one’s cross not only means to accept and deal with what comes our way, it also means that we recognize and proactively respond to the call of God in our life. We must not shrink away from opportunities to do good, to show love, and to give of ourselves in serving God.

And so, we say ‘no’ to our selfish pride and we say ‘yes’ to Christ and His cross, and we follow Him… We follow Christ along the path of service and mercy to others. We follow Christ along the path of truth and purity. We follow Christ along the path of prayer and being attuned to the will of God at all times. We follow Christ along the path of sorrows and persecution, even unto death. And in so doing, we follow Christ along the path of resurrection and victory!

It is a paradox, it seems completely opposite of what we would expect… our fallen nature calls out to us to treat ourselves as number one, to please ourselves, and to seek after our selfish desires. But Christ tells us: ‘Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’ Let us not be afraid. Our loving Father knows what is good for us. He leads us along the way that leads to light and life. May God grant us the courage to deny ourselves, to take up our cross, and to follow Him.  

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