Beloved Brothers and Sisters,

In the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark, we read that while Christ was hanging on the cross He said with a loud voice: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”  These words are, of course, very natural for any suffering person to utter.  Perhaps there have been instances when we have been overwhelmed by troubles or sorrows and such words have come to our minds.  Christ, as a true human being, without a doubt felt forgotten in that terrible and anguish-filled moment before death.    

Although this is so, we cannot consider these words as simply a cry of anguish.  The Lord did not say them by chance, without any theological meaning.  Remember that this is not the first place in Holy Scripture where we find this phrase.  We first read it in the Psalter, in the very beginning of the 21st (22nd) psalm.  Christ very much wanted for those standing by the cross, as well as all of us, to remember this psalm.  Any person, even a person who doesn’t read this psalm very attentively, cannot be but struck by those very lucid prophecies about the Saviour’s passions that are found in it.  It is as if this psalm was written right before the cross!

Let’s highlights some of the clearest prophecies from this psalm:

All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. (verses 7,8)

They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. (verse 13)

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. (verse 15)

They pierced my hands and my feet. (verse 16)

I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. (verses 17,18).

When Christ uttered these beginning words of this psalm, He was not simply expressing His human suffering, but was continuing to call people to Himself.  His mother, the other myrrh-bearing women, and the Apostle John the Theologian were all standing by the cross.  Perhaps, with these words, He was hinting to these people that they should not lose faith or sorrow too much since all of this was necessary, all was foretold by David in the psalms.  

Not only those close to Jesus were by the cross, but also His enemies – the priests and Pharisees.  They came to look and stare at Him and to laugh Him to scorn.  Although they were His enemies, Christ loved them less than He loved His family and friends.  He did not leave them without His attention and continued to call them to Himself, to call them to repentance.  These people were experts in the Scriptures and therefore Christ’s words were meant to be for them one last call to recognize in Him the Saviour of whom David and the other Old Testament prophets and saints wrote.  

Today the world, including our country, our city, and parish are living through difficult times.  Although there is hope for the future, the pandemic continues to claim its victims.  The measures taken to combat it disrupt our regular routine. Our liturgical church lives suffer greatly. Society remains deeply divided.  There is no peace or concord between the Orthodox countries of Ukraine and Russia.  Things are far from calm in Belarus.  Someone is struggling in their personal lives, be it with problems between spouses, or between parents and children.  Perhaps someone is having a hard time at work.  It seems like everywhere things could be better and sometimes one wants to just ask: “Lord, why have You left us?”  Today we have to recognize that He has not left us, but collects us around Himself and His cross.  Therefore, let’s continue our spiritual journey.   Let’s not stop, just like Christ did not stop preaching even at the darkest moment of His life and let’s hope and pray to worthily meet Christ’s Resurrection.

priest Alexis