Saturday, January 29, 2005
The Translation of the Relics of St. Ignatios the God-Bearer
For a Hieromartyr: Sirach 51:1-12 Epistle: Hebrews 10:32-38 Gospel: St. Mark 9:33-41
St. Mark 9:33-41, especially vss. 35, 36: "And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them,
'If any desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.' Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of
them." During this week, the readings have directed us to different aspects of faith in Christ, toward union with the
Incarnate God, our Lord Jesus Christ. One can observe the shift in St. Mark's Gospel as the Lord Jesus begins announcing
His Passion and Resurrection (at Mk. 8:31). By repeated emphasis on the Cross, the Lord reveals that union with Him
requires us to take up our cross (Mk. 8:34).
In the present reading, the Lord teaches how to take up the cross. Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid captures the essence of
this 'how to:' "The Lord does not forbid us to desire to become His favorites, for He wants us to desire advancement in the
spiritual life. But He does not want us to grasp for honors and privileges, but rather to acquire the heights by humility."
Notice the manner in which the Lord develops the teaching. First He indicates the way with words: "to be first, the same
shall be last of all, and servant of all" (Mk. 9:35). Then He places a living icon before us, a tiny child. Who was that child?
Tradition identifies him as St. Ignatius of Antioch, yet as we approach the Lord's own Nativity, we might also think of that
child as Christ Himself, the humble, vulnerable God Who indwells the manger of our souls.
Without question, the Lord chose to be born in the lowest place when He became a man. The Imperial Roman society into
which He came was hierarchical in its class structure. The Roman Emperor and the Patrician classes were at the top,
followed by freeborn Roman citizens. Next, those who had attained freedom but were not citizens, and finally at the
bottom, in the lowest class, were the subjugated peoples and slaves. Under Roman Law, the slightest, minor legal
distinctions existed between slaves and subjugated peoples. Being born the subject of a conquered nation, the Lord Jesus
was in the lowest class with the slaves of Roman society.
As a citizen of a subjugated nation, the Lord was under the governance of a tiny Jewish satellite kingdom which was
governed by the Herod family within the greater Roman Empire. The Herods were a dynasty of petty princes from Idumaea
who ruled the Jews and retained power by Imperial favor. Scripture tells us that as a newborn, the Lord became the target
of a genocidal attack on all infant boys in the district around Bethlehem, this because of the political fears of Herod the
Great (Mt. 2:16). The infant Jesus survived, of course, by divine protection when His family fled into Egypt beyond
Herod's laws. As a refugee, the Lord again took on last place in His social world.
Note: even though a citizen of the kingdom of the Herods, the Lord still came under the larger, overarching Roman legal
system with its code of laws that applied to all persons throughout the Empire, both in districts managed directly by the
Romans and in all occupied or client states. Later in His adult years, when the Lord Jesus was arrested, tried for a capital
crime and found guilty, He received the routine death sentence of crucifixion from the Roman governor, a means of
execution reserved for those in the lowest social class.
Consider the two commands that the Lord issues to His followers: "take up your cross" and "be last of all." The Apostle
Paul, a freeborn Roman citizen, observed that the Lord "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:7,8). The Master models what He expects of us.
O Christ God, Thou hast dwelt in a cave, and a manger did receive Thee: Glory to Thy condescension, O Thou only Lover
of mankind Who hast revealed to us the heights of humility.
