This week the liturgical calendar of the Orthodox Church enters the preliminary phase of the season of Lent - which leads to the celebration of Pascha, or Easter. The feast that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah; His overcoming of death, and the divine sanctification and regeneration of all life. The pinnacle of the entire Church year.
The season of fasting and repentance, called Lent, is a time of spiritual reflection and renewal. Traditionally, a time of year where those who were seeking to enter the church community would study the teachings and learn the meaning and purpose of life in Christ. In a manner of speaking, a time of orientation into the new kingdom of God.
I've heard someone call it "Spring training" for Christians. Very appropriate on many levels.
Three preparatory Sundays precede the arrival of Great Lent.
- The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
- The Sunday of the Prodigal Son
- The Sunday of Forgiveness
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As I stood in church this morning, with my usual monkey-mind jumping from tree to tree, I was suddenly struck by the realization that before I discovered Eastern Orthodox Christianity, I had misunderstood the whole idea of the judgement of God. It's not that I can claim in anyway to understand it fully now, but the concept of judgement, and who did or doesn't deserve it, is based on my sense of what is right and wrong, and not God's.
All my doubts and skeptical notions that I've been wrestling with lately, seem to come from this foundational misunderstanding. (see previous blog - http://lifeingrace.blogspot.com/2007/01/random-thoughts-doubts-and-skeptical.html
I had made, and continue to make, God, a judge by my standards, rather than accepting God's standard as beyond mine. As crazy as it might sound, I have even judged God, and found Him guilty by my standards. Which, ironically, is the same mindset that crucified Jesus, and the mindset that I use almost daily to condemn someone else. Of course, I'd never condemn myself, I'm not like other men..........!!!
Father forgive me, for I know not what I am doing..........
As an Evangelical Protestant, and even as a Non-believer, I had thought that Jesus' death on the cross was all about God laying His judgement on Christ instead of me, or humanity in general. The idea of "sacrificial atonement" being that Jesus "took a bullet for me."
In the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee we get a glimpse of the heart of God and the true nature or His method of judging humanity. The Pharisee, by all outward appearances, is the "better" person. He obeys the rules and does all the right "things." While, the Publican on the other hand, is held as an "outcast" by society because he falls so far short of what is the "expected behavior" of a "true" believer. When Jesus tells the parable He reveals that God is not only a JUST judge, but His judgement is always mercy.
The Pharisee prayed loudly and longly with a prideful heart, while the Publican, with a humble and contrite heart barely mumbled.
This parable has so many applications on so many levels, but for me today, this parable tells me that God has already judged us, and His verdict, declared through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, is clear; NOT GUILTY.
Orthodoxy teaches that we are not sinners just because of our actions. Our actions are a symptom of a mortal disease. We are sinners because we are infected with a disease called "Sin." That disease causes eternal death, which is nothing less than eternal separation from the presence of God - the Creator of the essence of everything that is life. The purpose of Jesus' death was to bring God's life back into us as human beings - to repair the connection with the immortality of divinity. He died as God united with human nature to unite human nature with divinity.
Death is not a punishment for sin - death is a consequence of sin, and we are victims of sin. Jesus came to rescue us - not judge us. So many times we Christians quote John 3:16, and stop, but let's make a point of continuing to the next verse:
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." - St. John 3:17
All my doubts and skeptical notions that I've been wrestling with lately, seem to come from this foundational misunderstanding. (see previous blog - http://lifeingrace.blogspot.com/2007/01/random-thoughts-doubts-and-skeptical.html
I had made, and continue to make, God, a judge by my standards, rather than accepting God's standard as beyond mine. As crazy as it might sound, I have even judged God, and found Him guilty by my standards. Which, ironically, is the same mindset that crucified Jesus, and the mindset that I use almost daily to condemn someone else. Of course, I'd never condemn myself, I'm not like other men..........!!!
Father forgive me, for I know not what I am doing..........
As an Evangelical Protestant, and even as a Non-believer, I had thought that Jesus' death on the cross was all about God laying His judgement on Christ instead of me, or humanity in general. The idea of "sacrificial atonement" being that Jesus "took a bullet for me."
In the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee we get a glimpse of the heart of God and the true nature or His method of judging humanity. The Pharisee, by all outward appearances, is the "better" person. He obeys the rules and does all the right "things." While, the Publican on the other hand, is held as an "outcast" by society because he falls so far short of what is the "expected behavior" of a "true" believer. When Jesus tells the parable He reveals that God is not only a JUST judge, but His judgement is always mercy.
The Pharisee prayed loudly and longly with a prideful heart, while the Publican, with a humble and contrite heart barely mumbled.
This parable has so many applications on so many levels, but for me today, this parable tells me that God has already judged us, and His verdict, declared through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, is clear; NOT GUILTY.
Orthodoxy teaches that we are not sinners just because of our actions. Our actions are a symptom of a mortal disease. We are sinners because we are infected with a disease called "Sin." That disease causes eternal death, which is nothing less than eternal separation from the presence of God - the Creator of the essence of everything that is life. The purpose of Jesus' death was to bring God's life back into us as human beings - to repair the connection with the immortality of divinity. He died as God united with human nature to unite human nature with divinity.
Death is not a punishment for sin - death is a consequence of sin, and we are victims of sin. Jesus came to rescue us - not judge us. So many times we Christians quote John 3:16, and stop, but let's make a point of continuing to the next verse:
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." - St. John 3:17
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