2023 Daily Lenten Journey – Day 7

The Sunday of Orthodox is a day of grand celebration. The Church goes back to her roots with a (often public) procession of icons to commemorate the historic restoration of the Holy Icons by the Empress Irene in the 8^th Century. Sunday School children line up with Altar servers and chanters, and proudly display their favorite icons. If it wasn’t Great Lent, you might expect a festival. That’s how excited people get for the Sunday of Orthodoxy.

Amidst the sound of falling icons and excited children, it can be difficult to remember the cause of the joy. Today is a celebration of faith, not just history. In the Gospel lesson for today we hear the first disciples telling their friends they had actually found the messiah. He was real!

At that time, Jesus decided to go to Galilee.  And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”  Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.  Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip said to him, “Come and see.”  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”  Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”  Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”  Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”  Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?  You shall see greater things than these.”  And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

John 1:43-51

The truth of ‘God-become-man’ is the cause of today’s joy. God has blessed us with appearing in the flesh for all to see. Some believed. Some did not believe. But all saw Him. In the ancient world, many religions claimed the reality of various gods. It was a common tradition to parade ‘your god’ through the streets.

This practice is the origin of today’s procession of Holy Icons. There’s only one thing different. Christians are celebrating the REAL God, unlike the pagans. Their god was never seen in the flesh. OUR God allowed the world to see Him. Their god was some distant overlord, smiting his people from above. OUR God became one of us to save us from death. So, we sing a hymn of joy today.

That’s cause for celebration!