Hey everybody this is Steve and God has shown
His face to us. The first week of Great Lent ends with the
Sunday of Orthodoxy. “On this day, the first Sunday of Lent,
we commemorate the restoration of the holy and
venerable icons…” [a] And that might be kind of confusing. We’ve spent the last few weeks learning
from the Publican and Pharisee, from the Prodigal Son. We’ve learned about judgment and forgiveness. These are all lessons that make sense as we
prepared for Great Lent. So why does [Great] Lent itself start with
a Sunday dedicated to icons? We’ll get there. But first, a bit of history. The Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrates the restoration
of icons after the end of iconoclasm. Iconoclasm, which literally means the destruction
or breaking of images, was a time when people tried to stamp out icons and end their use
in the Church. After centuries of persecution, when countless
icons were destroyed and countless saints were persecuted (and even killed) for standing
up for the Truth, the Church finally restored the use of icons. This happened on the first Sunday of Great
Lent in 843, and we’ve been remembering this Triumph of Orthodoxy on the first Sunday
of Lent ever since. By the way, remember that word “triumph.” We’re going to get to it later in the video
because it doesn’t mean what you think it means. Ok, at this point, you may be thinking that
the Sunday of Orthodoxy is like an anniversary. Icons were restored on the first Sunday of
Lent in 843, so we celebrate that every year. But that still doesn’t really explain what
the restoration of icons has to do with Great Lent or our journey to Pascha. And, if you’ve read the Gospel and Epistle
readings that are assigned for Sunday, you probably noticed that they don’t seem to
have anything to do with either icons or Orthodoxy either. [Michael Scott explain like I’m 5] That’s because the Triumph of Orthodoxy
isn’t merely about icons or the Faith in an abstract sense. It’s about honoring the saints and holy
people of God who suffered and died for the Truth so that we too could rejoice and benefit
from the Truth of the Gospel. And this actually builds on the original meaning
of the first Sunday of Lent. Because, before people fought to remove icons,
and before the Church finally restored them, the first Sunday of Lent was dedicated to
Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel, and all the prophets of the Old Testament, who, as we’ll
soon see, also made great sacrifices to remain faithful to the Lord. You can still find that original theme in
the Scripture readings that the Church has assigned for the first Sunday of Lent. Because remember, they don’t seem to have
anything to do with icons. But they do have a lot to do with the prophets. That’s obvious in the Epistle, where St
Paul recites a long list of prophets and their great deeds: “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets -- who through faith conquered
kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises…” [b] We covered what exactly those promises were
back in episode 14 of our Live the Word series. Feel free to check that out if you haven’t. But for now, just keep in mind God made certain
promises to His people, to our ancestors in the Faith. And, as we’ll see, that promise is fulfilled
in us. Because not only is the life of the Church
connected in Christ, but so are the times of the prophets and ancient Jews. “But wait, Steve!” you may exclaim. “The Gospel reading is Philip bringing Nathanael
to see Christ. We don’t see any reference to prophets there!”[c][d] Or do we? [Michael Scott turntables] “And wait, Steve,” you may also exclaim,
“you still haven’t explained what triumph has to do with anything, even though you promised[e][f][g]!”
[h] [Michael Scott empty promises] Hold on, I’m getting to it! At the very end of this Sunday’s Gospel
reading Nathanael, who was skeptical about Jesus at first, becomes convinced that Jesus
is the Messiah, the promised one, the one who has come to save Israel. He’s convinced of this because Jesus tells
Nathanael that He saw him, in a mysterious way, while he was still under the fig tree. [i] It seems that whatever was going on beneath
that fig tree was known only to Jesus and Nathanael, and this is enough to blow Nathanael’s
mind. And Jesus tells Nathanael if you think *that’s*
impressive, just wait and see what’s to come. "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see
heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." [j] If you’ve ever read the Book of Genesis,
you might recognize the reference to an important moment in the life of Jacob. Jacob is the son of Isaac and the grandson
of Abraham, one of the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Except Jacob really wasn’t supposed to be
a patriarch. His older brother, Esau, was technically the
one who was supposed to receive that inheritance. But Jacob tricked his father, Isaac, into
blessing him. Which caused Esau to get very, very angry. And caused Jacob to run away. While he was on the run, he spent the night
in an isolated place. And, in a dream, he saw a great ladder. The bottom rested on the earth, and the top
reached all the way to heaven. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending
the ladder. And by the ladder, he saw the Lord, who told
him this: “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your
father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring…
and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring.” [k] Jacob was comforted and inspired by this vision. And he made a vow, to return to his father’s
house and be reconciled with his brother; and to worship the Lord. “If God will be with me, and will keep me
in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come
again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God…” [l] Years later, Jacob finally encountered his
brother. And it was a terrifying moment. Remember, Jacob tricked his father and basically
stole his brother’s inheritance. His brother had every reason to want revenge. By finally meeting his brother, Jacob was
putting his life in his brother’s hands. He was potentially walking into a trap and
certain death. Yet, the night before this meeting, something
incredible happened. Jacob was alone. Yet the Scripture says that, all of a sudden,
he found himself wrestling a mysterious man until the sun rose. Jacob had the upper hand. He was winning. And he wouldn’t let go until the mysterious
person blessed him. But first, this mystery man did something,
well, mysterious. He gave Jacob a new name. “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but
Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”[m] And when Jacob asked for the man’s name,
he wouldn’t give it. He simply offered Jacob His blessing. Jacob seems to have realized something after
he received the blessing. Because he marveled at this and named the
place where they wrestled Peniel, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life
is preserved.” [n] But before Jacob has time to collect himself,
he looks up and sees his brother approaching with 400 men. Remember, Jacob is all alone. And his brother, Esau, is armed. And very, very mad. So Jacob walks out to meet Esau. And he bows down 7 times. He humbly prostrates himself 7 times before
the brother he wronged. What happened next was completely unexpected. “But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced
him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” [o] This sounds a lot like the Parable of the
Prodigal Son, doesn’t it? Just like we saw in episode 166: when the
Prodigal Son returned to his father, a confrontation that could have easily ended in judgment instead
became a moment of forgiveness and reconciliation. Jacob, despite his sin, despite the ways he
had wronged his brother, wrestled with God until daybreak. He humbled himself in the wilderness. He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard
him. The Lord came to him. And Jacob looked upon the face of the Lord
and lived. This is all very similar to Nathanael. In the Gospel reading for the Sunday of Orthodoxy,
we learn that he had been seeking the Messiah his entire life. And, when he encountered Jesus, he was prepared
to be disappointed (because there’s no way the poor son of a Nazarene carpenter could
be the one promised by God). But, despite his doubts, Jesus is the One
promised by God. Nathanael, just like Jacob, looked upon the
face of the Lord. And lived. Then, Jesus promised Nathanael that he would
see what Jacob had seen--the union of heaven and earth. While he started a skeptic, Nathaneal ended
up confessing the truth about Jesus, the truth that is the foundation of the Gospel: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”[p] Nathanael looked upon the face of the Lord
and lived. Like we mentioned earlier, in the epistle
reading this coming Sunday, Paul gives us a long list of prophets who received a promise,
that they would see the Lord. And these great saints endured many sufferings
for the sake of this promise, holding on to the hope they had in God, even though they
didn’t live to see that hope fulfilled. However, as we also said earlier, that promise
has been fulfilled in us. Because we have looked upon the face of the
Lord and lived. The promise of the Lord is that He would unite
heaven and earth as if by a ladder. That He would give us new life just as He
gave Jacob a new name. The promise of the Lord is that He--though
God, though invisible, though transcendent and beyond us--that He would take on flesh,
and become one of us. With hands we could hold. With a heart that could break for us. With blood He could spill for us. With a face we could look upon. So that we can live. This is why on the Sunday of Orthodoxy we
loudly chant, “The indescribable word of God became defined when He became incarnate
of You O Theotokos. He restored our soiled image to what it was
of old by joining it to His divine beauty. We confess salvation, and recount it in word
and deed.”[q] While the Sunday of Orthodoxy may seem like
an anniversary (the celebration of the return of icons), it’s actually a celebration of
the revelation of the fullness of God’s love, which we see in Jesus Christ, who is
fully God but also fully human. And it’s a celebration of the saints who
preserved and embodied this sacred truth. Christ is not just a man who was made incarnate
2000 years ago; He is the same Divine Son of God in whose image we are made: who is
revealed in the lives and bodies of the saints whose icons we now venerate. We are blessed to be able to see the face
of Christ in the Church’s icons and the Mystical Sacraments of the Church only because
of the great sacrifices of the many men and women who dedicated their lives to the Lord
and the spreading of the Good News He brought us. These sacrifices are celebrated on a day that
originally commemorated the prophets of the Old Testament because those prophets too made
great sacrifices for God. They set the example of suffering for a promise. Except it was a promise that they never saw
fulfilled. And of course, the great witness of those
saints and prophets through the ages is why we not only worship Christ through His icons
but also venerate Him in the great saints and prophets that devoted themselves to Him
over the course of thousands of years. These saints and prophets embody more than
anything else the Good News that is the story of Jesus Christ: that a life of sacrificial
love for God and neighbor leads to eternal life. And we celebrate the great saints in icons
because they preserved the great message that the invisible God has become visible. That the invisible God has become visible
in them. That we can look upon the face of the Lord
and live. Remember that word, “triumph”? Today, we use that word to mean “victory.” But, in ancient Rome, triumphs were ceremonies
to mark the celebration of a victory. A victorious general would march through the
city with his army and the spoils of war: the treasure he captured from the enemy. At the end of Divine Liturgy on the Sunday
of Orthodoxy, we make a procession while holding our icons high. Because our victorious general has conquered
death. And we hold up icons as the spoils of war:
treasure that displays our victory to the world. Because the transcendent Son of God has remained
true God of true God yet has also become the true human being, and He continues to make
true human beings in His likeness, a likeness preserved in the icons of the Church. We look upon icons because we can now look
upon the Lord. We reach out and touch icons because we can
now reach out and touch the Lord. We can even kiss icons because we can now
kiss the Lord, who humbled Himself so He could embrace us with His resurrected Body and lift
us into His Kingdom. This is the Triumph of Orthodoxy. And none of this would have been possible
without the faithfulness and sacrifice of the great saints and prophets that came before
us. Revealing to us that the Lord of all continues
to be revealed in them, and that He desires to continue the work of making Saints today. That He still seeks to reveal Himself in and
through us, as new saints. So let's Be the Bee, and live the triumph
of Orthodoxy by being icons of our loving Lord. Be the bee and live Orthodoxy. Remember to like and subscribe. And share. I'll see you all, next week. It’s a new year, and a new opportunity to
lead more effective ministry in your home or parish. Join the almost 700 students who have taken
our “Effective Christian Ministry” course and are transforming the way they lead people
to Christ. Click the link on the screen to learn more,
or go directly to effectivechristianministry.org. [a](Synaxarion for Sunday of Orthodoxy)
[b](Hebrews 11:32-33) [c]could be fun to do this with like a dubbed
video of someone who looks really mad (i'd be happy to do it) and to have your very calm
voice over it...or something. [d]LOL YES PLEASE
[e]expect this to ring out like this "you promiiiiiiiiiiiiiised"
[f]LOL [g]The voiceover will be so deadpan. [h]And another. [i]Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under
the fig tree,’ do you believe? (John 1:50)
[j](John 1:51) [k](Genesis 28:13-14)
[l](Genesis 28:20-21) [m](Genesis 32:28)
[n](Genesis 28:30) [o](Genesis 33:4)
[p](John 1:49) [q]Kontakion of the Sunday of Orthodoxy
