Sunday, September 12, 2004 (Tone 6)
The Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross
1st at Vespers, Elevation of the Cross: Exodus 15:22-16:2 Epistle: Galatians 6:11-18
Gospel: St. John 3:13-17
Exodus 15:22-16:2 RSV, especially vs. 25: "And
[Moses] cried to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and
the water became sweet." As the Church confronts the Mystery of the Cross, she continuously
returns to the motif of trees, calling upon "all the trees of the wood, planted from the beginning of
time, [to] rejoice; for their nature hath been sanctified by the stretching of Christ on the Tree."
The Church especially holds up certain trees for meditation, since God gave them a wondrous
role in the history of His People. Such is the case of the tree which Moses threw into the bitter
waters at Marah to make them sweet. Let us heed the call to rejoice in this, for the Lord did not
leave the bitterness of the "tree of knowledge" to overshadow us, but "didst remove it completely
by the Cross." As that ancient tree "made the waters of Marah sweet, anticipating the act of the
Cross," should not we praise God together with all the powers of heaven who magnify the Lord
for His healing and His mercy toward His People?
Three days into the wilderness from the Red Sea, the people found no water. The Sinai peninsula
mostly is an unrelieved, barren waste. Think of the disappointment "when they came to Marah,
[and] they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter" (vs. 23). They faced death
by thirst. However, the Lord in His mercy revealed how their deadly thirst could be removed.
"The Lord showed [Moses] a tree" (vs. 25). Although that tree already was visible to Moses'
physical eye, God revealed to the eye of his heart that the tree could sweeten the water.
Beloved, may the Lord show us the sweetness in the Cross, that Tree which can end the bitter
thirst of sin that drives us to find relief somehow in this world! How many alcoholics have
imagined that their deep thirst could be assuaged in a bottle! How many of us are overweight
vainly trying to feed the inner thirst that is killing us? The honeyed kisses of illicit lovers in this
world do not hold true sweetness. The Lord reveals the Cross. Christ our God has taken away
that terrible dry burning within our hearts "having nailed it to the Cross" (Col. 2:14).
God sweetens the unyielding bitterness of sin. It was not some property of the tree which made
the waters potable. God performed a miracle using the tree; He Himself sweetened the water. He
led Moses to cast in the tree, after which "the water became sweet" (Ex. 15:25). There was no
chemistry available to remove the bitter poison that rendered the spring at Marah more than
distasteful, but actually dangerous. God made the bitter poison wholesome.
Likewise, there is nothing that will remove the bitter poison of sin except a miracle from Him
Who has removed the bane of sin by The Tree of His Cross. "For the message of the Cross...to
us who are being saved...is the power of God" (1 Cor.1:18). Brethren, let us embrace His words:
"he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (Jn. 6:35). Christ has removed the poison!
Having quenched the thirst of Israel, God "made for them a statute" (Ex. 15:25): "If you will
diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in His eyes, and
give heed to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon
you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I Am the Lord, your healer" (vs. 26). Then He led them
"to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees" (vs. 27). Likewise,
our Healer provides the Cross to lead us on to true Life. Let us welcome the Cross with joy and
fear, as the Church teaches us: "with fear because of sin, being unworthy; with joy because of the
salvation which Christ Who was nailed thereon....granted to the world." O our Savior, Thou
hast been nailed to the Cross, though Thou art God Incarnate, in order that Thou mightest save
those in affliction, since Thou art all powerful and good.
