His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros

Homily for the Service of the Twelve Gospels

Matins of Great and Holy Friday – May 2, 2024

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church

Flushing, New York

 

My Beloved Christians,

Tonight, our service overwhelms our hearts and astonishes our minds, as we contemplate the vision of God crucified in the flesh.

We stand in awe before the One Who suspended the land in the midst of the waters, and our planet in the midst of the stars, as He hangs upon the Cross for our redemption and eternal life.

We have listened to the eloquence of the Twelve Gospels, which contain the agonizing details of our Lord’s arrest, trial, and Crucifixion. And we have glorified His condescension, his Humility, and His long-suffering – His μακροθυμία on behalf of us all.

Our Lord Jesus Christ made of His Cross many things.

He made of the Cross a compass, to orient our lives in the way of sacrificial love.

 He made of the Cross a ship’s mast, by which we might book passage for the safe harbor of Heaven.

He made of the Cross a ladder, by which we might climb, step by step, into lives of righteousness and truth.

He made of the Cross a bridge, by which we might pass over, following the Thief, from this world to Paradise.

And He made of the Cross a pulpit, from which He preached his Last Seven Words, seven utterances, seven sermons, that call for our utmost attentiveness.

Tonight, my beloved brothers and sisters, I will mention only one of these sermons, the fifth one, which, in the Greek language, is a single word:

         Διψῶ – I thirst.[*]

The Lord Jesus, knowing that He had accomplished all things for our salvation, He spoke this simple utterance to fulfill the Scripture. What Scripture was fulfilled? In the Psalms of the Prophet and King David, we hear these words:

And they gave me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.[†]

But it could not only have been for this one Scriptural verse. Surely not! The Lord gave this sermon to all humanity for all time, with a single word: Διψῶ. What is He asking from us? What are we to take away from this?

In that moment by the Cross, someone ran and grabbed a sponge, soaked it with vinegar and wrapped it around a reed, and gave it to Him to drink.[‡]

Vinegar! They gave the Lord vinegar. Many of you have known pious Orthodox Christians, some who are surely among us tonight, who commemorate this on Holy Friday. For the entire day, they refuse all food and drink, except they take a sip of vinegar, in memory of our Lord’s extreme condescension. But there is more to this than a beautiful tradition of pious souls throughout the centuries.

This briefest of sermons calls all of us to become more sensitive and compassionate to the thirst of all those around us.

Those who are suffering from thirst for connection,

thirst for understanding,

thirst for forgiveness,

thirst for love.

In that moment on the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ drank in – not the vinegar and gall of hatred and humiliation, but the torment of every parched soul and broken heart the world has ever known. And He said, “I thirst.” He knows our pain. He knows our suffering. He knows our loss and our grief.

Before He was nailed to the Cross, in a rare moment of his tormentors’ sympathy, the Lord was offered another drink. The Gospel reports:

And when they arrived at the place called “Golgotha,” which means “Place of the Skull,” they gave Him a mixture of vinegary wine and pain-killing wormwood to drink. But when Jesus tasted it, He would not drink it. [§]

And why? Because He was willing to drink in all the agonies of the human condition without anything to mask the pain. He suffered with us, so that He might transform that suffering, “the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that Flesh is heir to,” [**] into redemption, into salvation, and ultimately into eternal life.

So the question for us from His simple sermon tonight is this:

What thirst will you quench in those around you? Will you bring them the vinegar of bitterness, the gall of spite? Or will you soften their pain, and quench their souls that are parched from a lack of love, a lack of friendship, a lack of compassion?

As we leave the Service of His Passion this evening, the Lord remains upon His Cross, in His Pulpit. Listen to His sermon. Let it fill your heart and soul and mind. You will then find that this Pascha will be a real resurrection of your life, your love, and your spiritual being.

Καλή Ἀνάσταση. Ἀμην.