During Great Lent we are not simply following rules. We are learning to deny ourselves. We are learning to take up our Cross. We are learning how to follow Christ. If we spend life focusing on ourselves, we will never take up the struggle of our cross. The Church focuses on the Cross so that we can learn how to live as Christ wants us to live.

Transcript:

My brothers and sisters, the third Sunday of Great Lent, we are halfway through Great Lent, if you can believe it already. It is the 21st day of Great Lent. I know, right? It’s hard to believe there’s three weeks behind us, and three weeks ahead of us. However, the church wants us to remember what we are in this for. Why are we engaged in Great Lent? That is what the church is reminding us today, and Christ makes it quite clear. He says, “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

This, my brothers and sisters, is why we are in Great Lent. We are learning how to deny ourselves, we are learning how to pick up our cross, and we are learning how to follow Christ. We are not simply following the rules. We have been talking about this now for several weeks. Great Lent is not about the rules. It is about learning how to live as God wants us to live. It is about learning what the Stavro means, what the cross means in our life, because Christ calls us all to take up and pick up our cross and to follow him into heaven.

Before we pick up our cross, Christ says we have to deny ourselves. You see, I have learned in my few years in life, … for those of you watching on the internet, that was my wife that laughed at me. My wife’s older than me. That’s what she gets for laughing at me. So much for denying myself, right? I’m sorry. I have learned that as long as we’re trying to please ourselves, we will never take up our cross.

As long as we live life trying to make everything about ourselves, about our money, about our prestige in life, of about our place in society, as long as we make life about ourselves, we will never take up our cross, because the cross means struggle, and suffering, and none of us desires to suffer. This is why the church reminds us today, this is what Great Lent is about. When we fast, we’re learning to get over ourselves. We’re learning that life isn’t about us so that we can take up our cross.

You see, fasting is just the first step. It’s not the rules. Fasting leads to our cross. The cross, my brothers and sisters, isn’t about pain and suffering. It is about life. The cross is the power of God, and it is about resurrection. We sang, prior to the gospel reading, we sang Τὸν Σταυρόν σου προσκυνοῦμεν, Δέσποτα, καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν σου ἀνάστασιν δοξάζομεν, your cross, oh, master, we venerate, and your holy resurrection, we glorify. You see, the cross, my brothers and sisters, leads to something. It leads to life with Christ.

We have to get there, and we have to welcome our cross. Christ did not take up his cross begrudgingly. He took up his cross with love. He did not endure the pain just to fulfill some law. He endured the pain so that we could live with him, and so that death would no longer have any control over humanity. You see, we get so wrapped up in the rules of Great Lent, in searching the ingredients list, and looking at the table next to us. Well, what are they eating?

Arguing about whether lathi means olive oil or canola oil, arguing about whether or not Boca burgers are okay, but beef burgers are bad. It’s not about the rules. It’s about the cross, and it’s about love, and it’s about God’s courage, and his power over death. You see, my brothers and sisters, we are going to have the power of God on our side when we take up our cross. He’s not going to leave us abandoned. He’s not going to leave us to ourselves. God doesn’t say, “Pick the hard way, and I’m going to wait here.”

He walks with us. Sometimes, and for many people, many times, he picks us up and carries us through those difficult times. This is why the church lifts up the cross halfway through Great Lent. It’s a reminder of what we are doing and why we are doing it. We’re doing it for life and we’re doing it for love. I pray, my brothers and sisters, that the power of the cross gives you the strength to engage fully in the rest of Great Lent. Not for the rules, but to change the way we live, and to learn how to live as God wants us to live.

Then we can follow him into heaven. Then we can find ourselves at the gates of the kingdom, and Christ welcomes us in, good and faithful servant. It begins with the cross. It begins with life and love. Glory to God.