Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loves, He rebukes, and scourges every son whom He receives. Blessed is the man who has found wisdom, . . . .”
The Apostle, St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews quotes these opening words from Proverbs, reminding his congregation – and us – that chastisement or discipline is the cross of the sons of God (Hb. 12:4-11). He writes this immediately following the lengthy litany of all the favored sons and daughters of God found in chapter 11, ultimately, concluding with the Son of God Himself in chapter 12 as the pinnacle of and capstone to that litany: “looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hb. 12:2). The Apostle, then, adds this thought for us all: “For consider Him [Jesus] Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls” (Hb. 12:3). He concludes with this reminder before launching into the quote from Proverbs: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Hb. 12:4).
For St. Paul, as for us all who are Christians, everything the litanized saints have endured as evidence of their election, most especially our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, falls under the category of chastisement or chastening and discipline. “’As many as I love,’” says our Lord in His revelation to St. John the Theologian, “’I rebuke and chasten’” (Rv. 3:19). It is this very same Jesus, St. Paul tells us earlier in Hebrews, that “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hb. 5:8). “For it was fitting for Him, for Whom are all things and by Whom are all things,” says the Apostle, “in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hb. 2:10). “Having been perfected,” therefore, “[Jesus] became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, . . . .” (Hb. 5:9).
Of course, this idea of chastisement by the hand of the Lord is not something any of us relishes, let alone really wants to hear or even believe! Even talking about it is quite uncomfortable because this whole concept of divine chastisement is not well received by the prevailing mindset of our culture that has a deformed image of God. Ours is a culture – and we are participants in it – addicted to creature comforts and to happiness as the ultimate goal (a happiness generally independent of or devoid of God), that balks at this apostolic wisdom. “For the [wisdom] of the Cross is foolishness,” says the Apostle, “to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved [disciplined, if you will] it is the power of God” (1 Cr. 1:18-24).
I remember well a former CYS colleague (who was also a former Lutheran as well) who, though quite religious, nonetheless rejected any notion or inference that God might use such chastisement in His dealings with us. Because, in her thinking, how can a God of love “punish”? For her, and others just like her culturally, God punishing or chastising or disciplining is equated automatically with God the angry and wrathful One. The God of her Sunday School days would never do such a thing solely because He is love.
However, just like the heretic Marcion who jettisoned the Old Testament and some of the New because of this very obvious incongruity of deities, our culture has followed suit, unable to incorporate the God of love with the God of discipline. Quite honestly, beloved, if our image of God cannot incorporate this strongly Biblical teaching, then we will have a very stunted and insufficient understanding of our Father in Heaven. Yes, St. Paul says, just as our earthly fathers corrected us for our own good in order to lead us to greater virtue, so does our heavenly Father. In fact, the image of our heavenly Father is the source of such correction here by our earthly fathers! Paul tells us that if they did it for our own good, how much more our heavenly Father Who does so “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Hb. 12:9-10). It is only as we come to terms with this that we gain a freedom only the beloved sons of God can and do experience. I point you to our blessed saints – the holy fathers and mothers of Orthodoxy.
For some reason, we imagine God as enjoying such meting out of chastisement. Again, we tend to speak in terms of punishment. Yet, even if His discipline is a form of punishment per se, we cannot truly believe that God relishes such a thing! No earthly father (unless he is a madman) relishes disciplining his child. Much less our heavenly Father! Yet, it is essential for our correction and reproof and instruction in righteousness, if administered in measured doses (2 Tm. 3:16; Hb. 12:11). How much more does our heavenly Father know the proper doses, laying upon us the Cross He knows we can shoulder (Mt. 11:29-30; Mk. 8:34; 1 Cr. 10:13)? If we trust God we must trust the fullness of God revealed in Sacred Scripture, and most critically, the revelation of the Father through His divine Son, Jesus Christ, Who is the enfleshment of Sacred Writ, that is to say, He is the Word (Logos) of the words (logoi) of Sacred Scripture.
This is why the Church can praise the Cross of Jesus Christ so highly in her hymnody. She knows well the power of the Cross to crucify us and to raise us up again because she knows her crucified and risen Lord! Only unbelief sees it otherwise, making God into some sort of monster deity.
The Cross is always for our salvation. There is no other reason our Lord bids us to pick it up (Mk. 8:34). The Cross sweetens the bitterness of this world, so that what is bitter is made holy by the Cross for our salvation and sanctification (Ex. 15:22-16:1). “[N]o chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful” says St. Paul who speaks from extensive experience, “nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hb. 12:11).
Hear again, beloved, the words of the blessed Solomon the son of David, the king of Israel (Pr. 1:1), but this time we will substitute the phrase “the Cross” for “wisdom”:
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord loves, He rebukes, and scourges every son whom He receives. Blessed is the man who has found the Cross, and the mortal who knows prudence. For it is better to traffic for the Cross, than for treasures of gold and silver. And the Cross is more valuable than precious stones: no evil thing shall resist the Cross: the Cross is well known to all that approach her, and no precious thing is equal to the Cross in value. For length of existence and years of life are in her right hand; and in her left hand are wealth and glory: out of her mouth proceeds righteousness, and she carries law and mercy upon her tongue. Her ways are good ways, and all her paths are peaceful. The Cross is a Tree of Life to all that lay hold upon her; and she is a secure help to all that stay themselves on her, as on the Lord.
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!
VIGIL PROPERS: PROPERS:
Ex. 15:22-16:1 1 Cr. 1:18-24
Pr. 3:11-18 Jn. 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30-35
Is. 60:11-16