And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day… .”

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach” (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, emphasis mine)

In the Gospel appointed for the Feast, brethren, we hear our Lord tell his disciples, “Thus, it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer… and to rise from the dead the third day…” (Luke 24:46, emphasis mine). “Thus, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer.” Elsewhere, in St. John’s Gospel, our Lord tells his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, emphasis mine). “In this world you will have trouble.”

We may ask ourselves, brethren, in philosophical quandary, “What is evil? What is suffering? Is suffering necessary? Was sin necessary?” For us—humans with such a finite perspective on the deepest mysteries of the universe—it is the same as a soldier on the front line asking, “What precipitated this war?” It is not wrong to ask the question. It is just poor timing. Focus on the battle. Raise the gun. Take aim. Fire. You do not begin a scientific inquiry with bullets flying by your head. Similarly, we find ourselves in the heat of a spiritual war. It is a war for our souls. The bullets whizzing by our heads are the temptations of the demons and the unruly passions of our souls. Now is not the time to ask, “Why is this happening to me?” Now is the time to fight.

We can look around us and become disheartened—there is so much death and suffering in this world. What is wrong? What is the point of life? We can become overwhelmed by the many shades of evil. But as disciples of Jesus Christ, suffering should not surprise us, for Christian discipleship is not a remedy for suffering. Understand this, brethren: Christian discipleship is not a remedy for suffering. Christ says, “Thus, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer.” As followers of Christ, can we expect less?

“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:15-17).

In context, our Lord has just taught his disciples to serve one another. He has set for them the example of foot washing. But in broader perspective, our Lord’s words can be applied to every facet of our lives: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is great than his master.”

“Thus, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer… .” “In this world, you will have trouble… .”

Our Lord’s resurrection and ascension, brethren, is glorious beyond compare. It is our joy and our hope. It is our own destiny. It is the prophetic word of Ruth fulfilled:

“Do not urge me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge” (Ruth 1:16).

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may also be” (John 14:3).

But to arrive at the Land of Promise, we must go through the Wilderness of Sin (cf. Exod 16). To see Minas Tirith restored, set high above, glistening on the spurs of the Ered Nimrals, we must pass by Minas Morgul; we must pass through Mordor. To see the glory of the New Jerusalem (cf. Rev 21-22), we must endure the reign and ruin of Antichrist.

Every week in the Creed, we confess, brethren:

“And I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, … who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again in glory, to judge the living and the dead.”

“Who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.” “I go [to] prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Our place, brethren, as co-heirs with Christ (cf. Rom 8:17) is in heaven with Christ. This is theosis. This is salvation. Human nature has been raised from earth to heaven. We become “by grace what God is by nature” (St. Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation). We are promised peace, joy, holiness, freedom from sin, perfect relationships, perfect love, glorification (cf. 1 John 3:2). But let us not forget what we confess earlier in the Creed, “

And I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, … who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered, and was buried.”

“Crucified, … suffered, and was buried.” The way to heaven is the way of the Cross. The way to glory is the way of humiliation. The way to heaven is through hell and death—death to sin, death to passions, death to ego, death to selfishness.

“But Jesus… said, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’ The [disciples said,] ‘We are able’” (Matt 20:22).

“Truly… I say to you, … when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18).

Our Lord has cut a way through the dark, dense wood of sin that we inhabit. But he has not paved the way. He has made a way, but the way is still stony, and uneven, and dangerous. There is a way—a journey—and the journey will cost us our lives. But at the end of the wood… is a vista, bright and glorious.

“Beauty… smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach.”

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!