Sermon on Great Friday before the Holy Shroud.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters,
We will now venerate the Holy Shroud, the icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, on which He is depicted being taken down from the Cross and prepared for His burial.
What an amazing and inconceivable spectacle: the Son of God and Giver of life is lying dead!
Adam, the first man, through sin, fell away from God, the source of life and immortality; and thus, death came into the world. God didn’t create death; it came because of sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6), – says the Apostle.
Adam has sinned and died, likewise all his descendants have sinned and therefore died. But Jesus Christ didn’t sin, and nevertheless He died. This is amazing and inconceivable.
But how was this made possible?
– The prophet Isaiah answers this question:
“He was wounded for our iniquities; He was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, everyone has turned aside into his own way: and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all… for the transgressions of my people He was led to death.” (Isaiah. 53)
Jesus Christ many times taught His disciples, revealing to them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer, that for this purpose He came into the world.
Not for Him was it necessary, but for us, for our salvation. Otherwise, we couldn’t escape eternal condemnation for our sins; otherwise, we couldn’t break the union with the devil and his angels, in which the first man Adam entered, when he listened to the advice of the snake.
We need to realize that we are all sinners, having no defence, that our sins inevitably and justly deserve eternal suffering. However, we now repent of our sins with hope and confidence, knowing that they will be forgiven to us.
Where does this confidence come from?
– From the Cross of Christ. Christ’s Cross is the pledge of God’s love for us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3)
The two thieves crucified on the right and on the left of Christ represented all of mankind. One was blaspheming and stayed unrepentant, the other recognized God’s justice in his own destiny, he came to believe in Christ suffering for the sins of all, and asked Him that he might be accepted into His Kingdom.
If there were no Cross of Christ, these two sides wouldn’t exist, but there would be only one side: all would inherit eternal fire.
“In the midst of two thieves, Thy Cross was found to be a balance of justice; for the one was borne down to hell by the weight of his blasphemy; the other was raised up from his sins by the knowledge of theology…”
Till the end of the age Christ’s Cross will be preached in the Church as a testimony for all. For some this will serve as salvation and for others as condemnation. Christ’s Cross and His suffering will serve as judgement for the unbelieving and unrepentant, who reject this dread sacrifice offered for their salvation.
Those who now disregard the Cross will be terrified when they see it shining from heaven on the last day of the world, as the Lord says:
“Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Mat 24)
When our Lord Jesus Christ was on the Cross, the whole creation suffered with its Creator: “sun darkened, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split”. But our hearts are not deeply touched by the sufferings of the Son of God for our sins.
If we take to heart Christ’s Cross, if we always recall His suffering in order to reconcile and unite us to God, we will never quarrel or be angry at anyone. If we take to heart and remember mockings and insults, which the Son of God endured from those base people, we will never be proud, vainglorious, or envious.
Now as we bow down and venerate His Shroud, let us pray that the Lord takes away “the heart of stone from us and give us a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11), – as the prophet says, – the heart which is capable to believe and to love.
Amen.
