Sunday, March 28, 2004
Lenten Fast (Tone 8)
Mary of Egypt
Kellia: Nehemiah 12:43-47 Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-14 Gospel: St. Mark 10:32-45
Nehemiah 12:43-47 RSV, especially vs. 43: "And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced,
for God had made them rejoice with great joy, the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard
afar off." To grasp the spirit conveyed in today's reading, one might first consider the anguish endured earlier by God's
People, as recorded by Jeremiah the Prophet: "The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; He
marked it off by the line; He restrained not His hand from destroying; He caused rampart and wall to lament, they languish
together. Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the
nations; the law is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the Lord. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the
ground in silence; they have cast dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the maidens of Jerusalem have bowed their
heads to the ground. My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the
destruction..." (Lam. 2:8-11).
The lament which Jeremiah expresses and the joy conveyed in Nehemiah speak of Jerusalem, its city wall, and the same
nation of Judah. Between the two memoirs lay seventy years of exile in Babylon for God's People, during which they
labored for their masters and "sat down and wept" as they "remembered Zion" (Ps. 136:1 LXX). In those years, Jerusalem
lay in ruins. Finally, however, supported by the generous policy of the Persian King, Cyrus, the exiles returned to rebuild
the city, its walls, and the Temple. As Nehemiah wrote, that which "the Lord determined to lay in ruins" was rebuilt,
though after the exile there were additional years of hard work, until a day came when they could offer "great sacrifices"
and rejoice (Neh. 12:43).
The entire Mystery of Christ is concerned both with destruction and mourning and with restoration and rejoicing. Hence,
today's reading serves as a type of God's determination, on the one hand, to destroy our pride, to break down the defensive
walls around our sins, to fill our eyes with weeping until our hearts are poured out in grief at the pristine beauty which we
have wasted. On the other hand, in Christ, God has opened the way back to our true City. There, as a People struggling to
be healed and restored, we have the privilege of offering great sacrifices and of gladly rejoicing in the salvation wrought by
our great God and Savior.
The emphasis on rejoicing "with great joy" (vs. 43) of which Nehemiah speaks ought to call us to Divine Liturgy above all,
for what the Lord gave us is supremely 'eucharistic' - an act of joyous praise and thanksgiving for "all things of which we
know and of which we know not."
Likewise, "the joy of Jerusalem [is meant to be] heard afar off" (vs. 43). Men should be drawn to our worship "from afar,"
as were the courtiers of Tsar Vladimir when they visited Byzantium and stood in the Hagia Sophia and were mystically
drawn up into heaven.
Such elevation of the spirit happens when the Faithful ungrudgingly give "daily portions for the singers and the
gatekeepers; and...set apart" support for the Priesthood (vs. 47). The fashioning of workable organizations in each of our
congregations and the generous support of the physical fabric of the temples, the clergy, the choirs, and the congregational
gathering places for fellowship and education are necessities, for we are physical as well as spiritual beings.
Because we are sinners, any of these requirements will fail if we neglect "the service of purification" (vs. 45), which our
God provides for us. Nothing can so divert us from the struggle for renewal in Christ as neglect of the Liturgy, as not
sharing the Faith, as failure to support the Church's physical fabric, and as not keeping cleansed through confession before
the Lord.
O Lord, save Thy People and bless Thine inheritance; grant us victory over our enemies.
