Metropolitan Anthony Bloom said that the Cross is both a tragedy and a victory, revealing what is perhpas the greatest and most beautiful paradox in the Gospel. The tragedy lies in Christ’s innocent suffering and the shameful nature of crucifixion—a punishment for criminals and political outcasts—yet Christ willingly endures it out of selfless love.
Our Lord did not will to be lifted up on the Cross for his own sake. He did it for us. Because Christ’s death was freely offered, the Cross becomes the act of sacrificial love that transforms death from tragedy to glory. “The Cross,” he said, “an instrument of infamous death… because Christ’s death was that of an innocent, and because this death was a gift of self in an act of love—becomes victory.”
Christians are called to embrace this paradox: taking up the Cross means denying selfishness and opening ourselves to divine love, which is, in Metropoltian Anthony’s words, “love sacrificial, love crucified, but love exulting in the joy of life.” This transformation demonstrates how defeat leads to glory through self-emptying love and ultimate hope.
As citizens of God’s kingdom, we are called to engage the world by discerning between its God-given goodness and its potential to become a rival to God.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16) The same divine fire brings warmth to the repentant and burns the unrepentant. God’s presence doesn’t change—we do.
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Here’s an excerpt from my online Bible Study. In this discussion of Luke 4, we delve into the second half of Luke 4:17-19, where Jesus reads from Isaiah’s prophecy and declares His Messianic mission. The passage states that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Jesus, anointing Him to preach the Gospel, heal the broken-hearted, deliver the captives, and give sight to the blind. In this discussion, we link Jesus’ mission to the concept of the Jubilee Year, a time of liberty and restoration in Israel, symbolizing the Messianic reign.
In this excerpt from my online Bible Study, we explore Luke 4:14-15, where Jesus returns to Galilee empowered by the Spirit and begins teaching in synagogues, earning widespread praise. Saint Ephraim the Syrian and Origen emphasize Jesus’ spiritual power and the significance of teaching within the synagogue. The discussion highlights the centrality of the worshiping community in experiencing and learning the faith. The episode concludes with a reflection on facing temptations with God’s strength and becoming ambassadors of His grace.
Just as Jesus faced 40 days of temptation after His baptism, we too can expect spiritual struggles when we get serious about our faith. Being in the wilderness isn’t a sign of failure.
When we give our lives over to Christ, one of the first places He begins working is in the people we meet. It’s easy to say, “Thank you, God, for bringing this person into my life,” when someone is helpful, supportive, and inspiring. But what about those people who test our patience, who annoy us, or who we’d rather avoid? Can we still say, “Thank you, God, for bringing this person into my life”? Every person Christ sends our way is there for a reason—either so we can serve Christ through them, or so we can learn something about ourselves that’s needed for our spiritual healing and growth. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17) Whether a person brings us joy or frustration, every encounter is a chance to break free from our egos and selfishness, and to truly live for others. The only thing we need to ask God is for the wisdom to discern why He brought us together. Even those who annoy or persecute us are there to teach us compassion, kindness, and forgiveness. They help us learn to deal with negative emotions without letting bitterness take root. And sometimes, we’re the ones God has sent into someone else’s life to help them grow in patience and love.
“And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and it shouted with a loud voice, saying, ‘Leave us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ But Jesus rebuked it, saying, ‘Be quiet and come out of him.’ Then the demon threw him down in their midst and went out of him, having done him no harm.” (Luke 4:33-35)
In the above passage, note that the demon identifies Jesus as the “Holy One of God.” In Psalm 16, it says, “you will not abandon me to Hades and nor let your Holy One see corruption.” “Holy One” is a term for the Messiah.
The demons say, “we know who you are.” But Jesus says, “be quiet.” He stops the demon from confessing him as the Holy One of God. He doesn’t allow him to say this.
St. Cyril of Alexandria says, “He would not permit the unclean demons to confess him. It was not right for them to usurp the glory of the apostolic office or to talk of the mystery of Christ with polluted tongues.”
Knowing who Jesus is is not enough. St. Augustine says, “the devils confessed Christ, but lacking charity, lacking selfless love, it availed nothing. Do not boast of that faith that puts you at the same level with the devils.”
Again in Luke 4:41 we read, “And also demons were coming out of many people shouting and saying, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to talk because they knew he was the Christ.”
St. Athanasius the Great says, “Even when the demons spoke the truth, when they said, ‘You are the Son of God,’ the Lord himself silenced them and forbade them to speak. He did this to keep them from sowing their own wickedness in the midst of the truth. He also wished us to get used to never listening to them, even though they seem to speak the truth.”
There are a couple of very important things to note in this insight from St. Athanasius.
First of all, temptations are very rarely enticements inciting us to do something that is outright evil. Most often they are a distortion of the truth. Jesus does not want the demons to confess him as the Christ, the Son of God, because he knows that they will take that truth and they will distort it in such a way that will confuse the people and take them away from him.
We can see this all the way back to Genesis 3 with the first temptation. The devil says to Eve, “If you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will become like God. And God does not want that.” This is a twisting of the truth because God does want us to become like him, but we can only become like him with him by participating in the life that he calls us to. We can’t do it on our own. So he doesn’t even allow the demons to declare the truth because he knows they’re just going to twist the truth up.
The second thing St. Athanasius says is Christ wants the people to get used to never listening to the demons. In our lives, we give agency to what we pay attention to. The things that we pay attention to, we give power to in our lives. So by listening to the demons, even when they are speaking the truth, we’re allowing them access into our hearts and minds, and eventually this will turn on us.
Even though these demons are saying the absolute truth, Jesus is the Christ, is the Son of God, he says, “no, you are not allowed to say that.”
Jesus’ refusal to accept testimony from demons, even when they spoke truth, reveals that the source of the message matters as much as the message itself. In our own spiritual lives, we must learn to discern between authentic revelation that draws us closer to God and deceptive truths that, while factually correct, lead us away from genuine relationship with Christ. The demons knew who Jesus was, but their knowledge was sterile, lacking the love and surrender that transforms mere intellectual assent into saving faith. As we navigate a world full of competing voices claiming spiritual authority, may we cultivate the wisdom to recognize that true knowledge of God only comes from humble hearts that seek Him in truth and love.
Eastern Orthodoxy 