In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today, after the Saviour asks: "Who do men say that I am?” Peter replies: “You are the Christ”. That means the Messiah. That means: the One who is sent by the Father to be the Saviour, and the Redeemer. The Saviour at that time then charges them to tell no one about Him. In other words, certainly the Apostle Peter made the correct confession, but it was not the time to talk about it. Then the Saviour, if you recall from the Gospel, went on to teach them what was going to happen to Him: that He had to be arrested; that He had to endure suffering; that He had to die, and be crucified; and on the third day rise again.

I’m putting all this emphasis on these words because quite soon, when it comes to Holy Week, we are going to be living again with the Disciples, and Apostles through all the events of the Passion of the Saviour. We are going once again to see the Apostles overcome with fear, forgetting everything that the Saviour had taught them. They are going to forget everything, and it’s going to take even a long time after the Resurrection before they really accept what had happened, and begin to live by what had happened.

Again, I am putting a big emphasis on this because we live lazily in the wake of the Apostolic experience. We live very lazily in the wake of their experience. We, in the same way, will very easily confess that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the Anointed One. He is the Saviour. But then, we forget. We get overcome by fear because of all the difficulties of life. We forget to turn to the Saviour. We forget that He rose from the dead. In fact, that is how we are living our lives a lot – we forget. We forget that we can call upon Him.

The Apostle, when he was speaking to the Hebrews, said that when sacrifices in the previous ages had been offered, they had been offered by priests who were fallen human beings, themselves. In fact, those sacrifices could not by themselves do anything or accomplish anything regarding the restoration of the broken communion between us, and the Father. It was only this great event of the Death, and Resurrection of Christ that could do it. The Apostle then described Him as the great High Priest who doesn’t go into the holy place of the temple with the blood of animals to sprinkle the blood in the holy places once a year. He is the One who, Himself, goes into the Holiest of Holies in Heaven in the presence of God, having offered Himself wholly, and completely in a manner we can’t explain, no matter how we talk about it.

We talk about it a lot, but we cannot really explain it. We can only accept that it happened. The Saviour is the Saviour. He is the true, eternal High Priest who entered into the Holy of Holies once for all, on our behalf, offering Himself, His Blood, everything about Himself, and bringing us with Him. It is He alone, by doing what He did, dying, and rising from the dead, who re-opened the possibility of life-giving communion in love with God, because He is, Himself, God.

Only He, Himself, could do it. He emptied Himself, and became a human being. He let us try to overcome Him because we are co-operators with the evil one. We are so stupid. We can’t see, and then when we do see, again overcome with fear, we run away. We believe all sorts of other things. We accept cheap substitutes that are no substitutes at all, but only fakes – instead of remembering that Jesus Christ said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). Nothing in life, no matter how much pain, no matter how much turmoil, no matter how much sorrow, is going to come to good fruit without being in the context of Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life – the only One.

Therefore, let us not be judgemental of the Disciples, and Apostles in a couple of weeks when it is time to walk with them again on the way of the Passion. Instead let us give thanks to God for His love for us. Let us give thanks to God for those Apostles who repented, woke up, and lived by the Resurrection.

Let’s ask their prayers that we, too, may be able to wake up, stay awake, and not keep falling asleep. Staying awake, may we keep following the Saviour with the focus of our hearts and our whole lives on Him, and Him only, no matter what happens, and glorify Him, together with His Father, who is from everlasting, and His all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America