The stone was sealed. The soldiers were posted. The women went home to rest.
And inside the tomb, the Lord of life was making the most powerful journey in history – to the place where the dead had waited since Adam.
Holy Saturday is not the absence of God. It is God hidden. And hiddenness is not the same as absence.
Day 48 of the Great Lent
Lenten Reflection – Day 46 of the Great Lent: Maundy Thursday – Luke 22:14–30 & John 13:1-20
The Table, the Towel and the New Covenant
“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
Christ longed for this meal. Not dreading it. Longing. Because this is the meal that changes everything. The Passover that fulfils every Passover. The lamb of Egypt giving way to the Lamb of God.
St. Cyril: the words “this is My body” create what they declare. The bread becomes the body. The wine becomes the blood. Not symbolically. Really.
After forty-six days of fasting: the bread that was denied is now the body that is given. Receive.
Further, the washing of the feet is participation. Not spectacle. We must be washed. We must receive. We must let the God of the universe touch our dirt.
That is harder than any act of service. Letting ourselves be served by the One who made us.
Tonight: sit still. Extend your feet. Receive.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Wednesday of Holy Week – John 12:19-50: The Last Day of the Light
“A little while longer the light is with you.”
The most urgent sentence in Holy Week. A little while. Hours. By tomorrow evening, the light will be arrested. By Friday afternoon, extinguished. By Friday evening, in the tomb.
“Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.”
The fast has been forty-five days of walking in the light. Every reflection. Every prayer. Every Scripture. The light has been saying: walk while you have Me.
Wednesday asks: have you walked? The little while is almost over.
For our journey today
– Let the grain fall
– Speak the secret belief
– Walk while you have the light
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Tuesday of Holy Week – Matthew 22:15–33: Two Traps, Two Truths
The Pharisees and the Sadducees both tried to trap Christ in the Temple on Tuesday. Both failed.
The tax trap revealed the truth about identity. The coin bears Caesar’s image; give it to Caesar. You bear God’s image; give yourself to God.
The resurrection trap revealed the truth about God. “I AM the God of Abraham.” Present tense. God does not preside over corpses. The dead are alive in Him.
The traps failed on Tuesday. By Friday, the enemies will bypass the arguments and use soldiers instead. But by Sunday, the resurrection argument will be proved. From inside an empty tomb.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Monday of Holy Week: Luke 19:40-20:8 – He Saw the City and Wept
Yesterday: hosannas. Today: tears.
Christ looked at Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and wept.
Not quiet tears. Audible sobbing. The King who entered in triumph yesterday is breaking down today.
“If you had known, even you, the things that make for your peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
St. Ephrem: God’s first response to final refusal is not punishment. It is grief. The physician weeps when the patient refuses the cure.
The fast has been offering peace for forty-two days. Have you received it? The “if” is still open. But the week is moving.
St. John Chrysostom: when you refuse the shield, you are exposed to the sword. God does not destroy the city. God offered the peace. The city refused. And the consequences followed.
The Great Lent has been a shield. Forty-two days of prayer, fasting, repentance, and the Spirit’s intercession. The shield was offered. Today: is it in your hands? Or on the ground?
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Palm Sunday – The Donkey, Not the Chariot: Mark 11:1–7
The King of the universe had every option. Gold chariots. War horses. The full display of imperial power.
He chose a borrowed donkey that had never been ridden.
From the Bo’utho of Mor Jacob: “He loathed ornate chariots of the nobility, and instead chose a colt in His humility.”
St. Ephrem: the colt is humanity itself. Bound. Tied. Waiting. And Christ sends His disciples: untie it. Bring it. I will ride upon it.
The bound thing becomes the King’s vehicle. The thing no one valued becomes the instrument of salvation.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Day 41 of the Great Lent – Lazarus Saturday: John 11:14-46
Martha heard theology. “Your brother will rise again.” She knew the doctrine. Someday. At the end. When everything is made right.
Christ corrected her. Not by adding information. By changing the tense.
“I AM the resurrection and the life.”
St. Cyril of Alexandria: the resurrection is not an act Christ performs. It is who Christ is. Where He is, death cannot remain. The tomb that contains His presence cannot contain death.
Martha’s confession at the grave: “Yes, Lord. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God.”
Before the miracle. In the grief. At the tomb. That is the faith the raising stood on.
For our journey today:
– Roll away your stone
– Hear your name
– Unwrap the graveclothes
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Day 40 of the Great Lent – The 40th Friday:Matthew 4:1–11
Forty days. Moses fasted forty days on Sinai and came down with the Law. Elijah fasted forty days to Horeb and heard the still small voice. Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness and defeated the devil with the Word of God.
The Sedro prayer: “This is the fast through which the Lord of all defeated the boastful adversary who defeated the first Adam through food.”
Adam fell because he ate. Christ stands because He fasts. The first Adam lost the battle through food. The second Adam wins it through the Word.
The forty days are complete. Holy Week begins. “Make us worthy to fight in this battle, at the least as the workers of the eleventh hour.”
The fortieth day does not end with a victory lap. It ends with a plea for mercy. The sins are great. The mercy is greater. And the blood is precious.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
Day 39 of the Great Lent – 2 Corinthians 6:1–10: Now Is the Accepted Time
Paul slams the word “now” into the sentence like a fist on a table. NOW is the accepted time. NOW is the day of salvation.
The fast has a deadline. Passion Week is approaching. The window that thirty-nine days of discipline have opened will not stay open forever.
St. John Chrysostom: do not wait for a more convenient season. There is no more convenient season. The inconvenience of the fast is the convenience of the grace.
Eleven days before Pascha. The clay is as soft as it will be. Receive what God is offering. Now.
For our journey today:
– Receive the grace now
– Hold the paradox
– Name what you possess
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
*Day 38 of the Great Lent – Galatians 5:13–26* : Works versus Fruit
The flesh produces works. A work is something we manufacture. We go to a factory. We apply energy. We follow a process. We produce an output. The output is a product of our effort.
The Spirit produces fruit. A fruit is something that grows. We do not manufacture an apple. We plant a tree. Water it. And we wait. The tree produces the fruit. Not because we forced it. Because the life in the tree produced it.
After thirty-eight days of fasting, praying, confessing, and running: was the output works or fruit? Did we manufacture holiness by effort? Or did the Spirit grow something in us while we were tending?
Look for the fruit. It is quieter than you expected. And more beautiful.
For our journey today:
– Look for the fruit
– Name the joy
– Tend the tree, stop manufacturing the fruit.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis
