It is about this time, in the middle Great Lent, where those who have been taking their spiritual lives seriously begin to feel weary and overcome by their struggles to fast. It becomes harder to give alms and even to pray. It’s an annual tradition that every Orthodox Christian experiences: Great Lent around this time doesn’t always feel “Great”.
In her infinite wisdom, as her children are experiencing wearied and tired, the Orthodox Church around the world brings our attention and focus to the precious wood of the cross. We bring it down to the center of the Church, arrayed in flowers, and we bow down before this instrument of God’s love. We do this so that our difficult journey towards Great and Holy Pascha might be sweetened., because the Cross is a reminder to us that despite the many times we feel like giving up…or we lose faith…or we begin to grumble against God…despite all of these things, the cross is a reminder to us that mankind is still lovable.
Our march through this period of Lent, and indeed through life itself, is not unlike the journey that the Israelites took with Moses after they entered into the wilderness of Sin. We remember from Exodus, how Moses delivered Israel out of the hands of Pharoah after decades of harsh slavery. They plundered Egypt and made their way out into the desert, only to have Pharoah change his mind, and send his armies to slaughter the people.
Despite seeing all that God had done for them, the people began give up and to doubt God: “Are there no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us way to die in the desert?”
Yet, in the midst of their grumbling, God told Moses to stretch out his wooden rod over the sea, and through that wood, God blocked Pharoah’s armies with a pillar of fire, and opened the sea for Israel to escape. Once they were safely across, Pharoah’s armies chased after them until God told Moses to once again stretch out his rod over the sea, and the waters crushed the enemies of God’s people in one swift blow.
The people shouted a hymn of praise from the shoreline after seeing God’s power and love for them. “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorified in holiness, marvelous in praises, doing wonders?”
One would think that after seeing a miracle like this, Israel would be strengthened and have an unwavering faith towards God! Yet that faith and trust lasted only 3 days. The people, thirsting in the desert, came a place called Marah and saw that the water that was there was too bitter to drink. The scriptures say that they complained again, until God told Moses to take a tree (another piece of wood) and to throw it into the waters. As soon as the wood hit the water, it became sweet, and Israel’s thirst was quenched.
This is a pattern that continues throughout the entire Old Testament! The people ran out of water again, and complained again: “Why is it that you brought us here to Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our cattle with thirst?” So God sends Moses to a rock and tells him to use his wooden rod to smack it, causing life giving water came from the lifeless rock. By this time, Moses had been fed up with all of the complaining that God’s people had done, that he called that place “Temptation and Abuse” because of all the abusive language the people had used and because they tempted the Lord saying: “Is the Lord among us or not?!” If you were to keep reading in your Orthodox Study Bible through the first 5 books, you see every few subheadings the title: “The People Grumble”
All of this I bring to our attention, not to be judgmental or accusatory, but rather to point out that over the past 4,000 years…nothing has changed when it comes to the human race. It has been this way since the very beginning, when Adam fell by disobeying God’s commandments and turning His back on our Lord’s Love for him. We can look at our own lives and the many miracles that God has worked for us, ( indeed they are numerous) yet how often do we grumble against Him when things don’t go the way we want them to? How often do we lose faith, or forget about the works of God when we look at the suffering of the world?
This is why we give Glory to God for the Cross in the middle of Great Lent. It was a wooden rod that God used to spread the Red Sea and to conquer the enemies of His People. It was through a wooden rod that God made water appear out of a lifeless rock. It was the wood of the tree that sweetened the bitter waters of Marah and allowed God’s people to be nourished. Today, it is the wood of the cross that now sweetens the waters of our Lenten Journey. This wood that stands before us is a reminder that despite how often we turn our backs on Him, or spit in His face by not making our relationship with Him a priority…and despite all of the times that we grumble against Him, we have a God who continually embraces us.
Somehow through it all, mankind is still lovable.
We look to the cross and we see Christ’s arms stretched out, waiting for us to turn back towards Him. Let us continue to find the strength to deny our fallen impulses, to complete the course of the fast, and to enter into the joy of our Lord’s triumph over death at Holy Pascha.