Jesus and His disciples were traveling throughout the towns of Galilee, and He
asked them, “Who do men say that I am?” The disciples said, “Some say John the Baptist,
Elijah, or one of the prophets.” Jesus replied, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter an-
swered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” From this moment on, Jesus began to teach
His disciples that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the religious
leaders, be killed, and after three days, rise again.
When Peter heard this, he objected. Having recognized that Jesus was the Messi-
ah (meaning “Christ”, in Greek Χριστός), he could only conceive that the Savior of Israel
would triumph over all enemies through the exercise of power and not weakness, much
less death. He could not yet understand that the Cross is the means through which death
would be destroyed and all spiritual enemies would be defeated. Therefore, this became
the occasion when the Lord taught His disciples that the door to eternal life will always
be open on the other side of the cross. He said: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This is an invitation for us to draw
close to the Lord and become like Him. For if we die with Him, we will also live and reign
with Him.
The cross was the Roman Empire’s tool for cruel punishment, torture, and execu-
tion. However, Christ transforms all things, and He turns even sorrow and pain into paths
towards healing and redemption. He destroys death by death. The most significant sym-
bol of death in the ancient world has become a symbol of life and resurrection for us. The
Cross of our Lord was the means through which He triumphed over death and became a
Sacrifice for our redemption. In this way, the cross is, for us, a symbol of our suffering in
imitation of Christ and a promise of His victory. The Holy Cross is the sign and sacrament
of the liberation and restoration we have been given because of Christ’s sacrifice. By the
Cross, we are united to Him and protected by Him. In the Apolytikion of the Holy Cross,
we chant, “Save, O Lord, Your people and bless Your inheritance; grant victory to the
faithful over their adversaries, and protect Your people, by the power of Your Cross.”
Trials and tribulations are inevitable in this world, but the Holy Spirit gives us His
grace to persevere and, through endurance, to acquire faith, hope, and love. Jesus tells
us that whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for His sake and
the gospel’s will save it. As Saint John Chrysostom says, “For your soul, if you lose it, you
will have no other soul to give: yea, though you had the world . . . you would not be able,
by paying down all earthly goods, with the earth itself, to redeem but one soul.”
The greatest paradox of Christian living is that when we try to hold on to the things
of this world in a selfish way, we lose them. We also lose eternal life because we have
made earthly possessions and pleasures our ultimate treasure. On the other hand, par-
adoxically, when we center our lives on God and do everything to express our love for
Christ and our neighbor, we enter into fellowship with God in this life and receive eternal
life with Him in heaven as well.
We practice self-denial, especially during this time of Great Lent, out of our love for
God and obedience to the Gospel. Therefore, taking up our cross is neither a punishment
nor an end in and of itself, but rather how we overcome this fallen world for the Kingdom
of God. Cooperating with the grace of God in the Holy Spirit, we crucify our “flesh with
its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24), and we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit who
lives in us so that we can walk by His power and according to His will.
We are called to carry our personal cross — a cross of desires, passions, sins, and
challenges in life. When we set aside the things that take us farther from God and choose
the path of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit,
which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Lord calls us to die to our broken selves so we can
be made new in Him. It is important to remember that even if our cross becomes heavy,
we know that there is the resurrection behind every cross. The Divine Light of God shines
in and through us on the other side of the cross. This is why the Lord revealed that light
to His disciples in the Transfiguration, which took place right after He spoke these words.
The last sentence of this gospel reading — “there are some standing here who will
not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power” — refers to the
Holy Transfiguration. Indeed, Peter, John, and James saw the Kingdom of God as a power
and as light at the Holy Transfiguration. We can experience this same power and light of
the Kingdom of God during the Divine Liturgy and in our personal prayer, especially the
Jesus Prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”).
Bearing the cross of Christ takes work. It requires that we deny our selfish will so
that we are ready to receive Christ. It requires that we empty our hearts to be filled with
the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we are called to remember to love ourselves as cre-
ations of God and to help others who are also creations of God. We learn to live in faith,
hope, and love by taking up our cross and following Him. In faith, we know He is with us
even in trials. In hope, we know that the Light of the Resurrection awaits us on the other
side of the cross. In love, we learn that, as it was with Christ, the way to God’s glory is
through humility and perseverance.
The only way out is through. The way to glory passes through the cross daily. Af-
ter having given Himself entirely and without reservation for our redemption, Christ was
seated at the right hand of the Father in glory. We, too, will reign with Him if we take up
our cross and follow Him.
https://www.goarch.org/documents/32058/6612234/Sunday+of+the+Holy+Cross/8140ee79-e10b-8c50-f4f0-0ec870457e44
