9 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34
Yesterday we left Abraham and Isaac walking up the mountain together. Today the story reaches its summit. “Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.” At the last moment the angel calls: “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” Abraham sees a ram caught in a thicket and offers it “instead of his son,” and he names the place “The Lord will provide.” God then swears by himself: “by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” St Paul hears the echo of this chapter when he writes: “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” Isaac was spared; the Son of God was not. Tradition places Moriah where the Temple later stood, near the hill where Christ was crucified, so that the mountain of the test became the mountain of the gift.
In the Gospel Jesus speaks openly of that gift: “the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected… and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Peter, who had just confessed him as the Messiah, takes him aside to rebuke him, and Jesus answers: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” Then he speaks to all: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Today the Church remembers forty soldiers who did exactly that. At Sebaste in Armenia, around the year 320, under the emperor Licinius, forty Christian soldiers refused to sacrifice to idols. They were left naked through a winter night on a frozen lake, with a warm bath-house on the shore for anyone who would deny Christ. One gave up and ran to the bath; a guard, seeing the faith of the others, took off his own clothes and joined them, so that forty still stood on the ice. St Basil the Great, preaching on their feast, imagined them praying: the winter is bitter, but paradise is sweet; the frost is painful, but the rest that follows is blessed (in substance). St Paul gives the meaning of such suffering: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” Nothing is lacking in Christ's sacrifice; what remains is for his members to share in it, so that his love reaches every place and age.
Theme: “Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
The ram in Isaac's place, the Son the Father did not withhold, and the Forty Martyrs who would not turn back.
“Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.” Psalm 40:6
“He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” Romans 8:32
Apply: Thank the Father tonight for one gift that came to you through the Cross.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2
“For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,” 2 Corinthians 4:17
Apply: Accept one daily discomfort this week without complaint, for Christ.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” Psalm 116:15
“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Revelation 2:10
Apply: Pray this week for one Christian community that suffers for the faith.
God provided the Lamb on the mountain; Christ invites us to share his Cross.
The martyrs show that no comfort is worth more than fidelity to Christ.
Take-home resolution: Carry one hidden cross daily for the rest of the Fast, offered for the persecuted Church.
Dear friends, on the mountain Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the wood. Then the angel called: do not lay your hand on the boy; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me (Genesis 22:12). A ram was offered in his place, and the place was named: The Lord will provide.
St Paul tells us what God provided: he who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us (Romans 8:32). Isaac came down the mountain alive; Jesus went up Calvary and gave his life, and on the third day he rose.
When Jesus spoke of his Passion, Peter tried to stop him, and Jesus said: you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things. If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (Mark 8:33–34).
Today we remember the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, who stood through a winter night on a frozen lake rather than deny Christ. When one fell away, a guard took his place. Paul says: I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake (Colossians 1:24). May their prayers help us carry our cross to the end of this Fast. Amen.
Children, God stopped Abraham and gave a ram instead of Isaac. But God the Father gave us his own Son, Jesus, because he loves us so much. Today we remember forty brave soldiers who stood all night on ice because they loved Jesus. When something is hard this week, say: Jesus, I carry this with you.
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father did not withhold you from us but gave you up for us all, and on the mountain of the Lord he provided the Lamb. You call us to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow you. By the prayers of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, who stood firm through the frozen night, give us courage not to turn back toward easy comfort, and let our small sufferings serve your body, the Church. Amen.
The story of Moriah reaches its summit. The knife is lifted, the angel calls, and a ram dies in Isaac's place. The epistle (Colossians 1:24–29) speaks of rejoicing in sufferings and of “completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church”. Christ's sacrifice lacks nothing. His body the Church still has its share of suffering to bear with him. In the Gospel Jesus says openly that he must suffer, and calls his followers to take up their cross. Today our Church also remembers the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, who did exactly that.
Setting.
The narrator slows down. Each act is told separately: building, arranging, binding, laying, reaching out, taking. No word of protest from Isaac is recorded. A boy able to carry the wood could perhaps have resisted, and later Jewish and Christian writers often imagined him consenting. The text itself is silent. God's voice stops the deed, and the promise that began in chapter 12 is sealed with an oath.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” (22:12)
God does not learn something he did not know. The story speaks in a human way of faith shown in deed. The word “withheld” returns in Paul: “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us” (Romans 8:32). What God spared Abraham, God himself gave.
“offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.” (22:13)
“Instead of” is the key to the verse. Isaac goes home alive and another dies in his place, and the Fathers saw the Lamb of the Cross in this.
“by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” (22:18)
The blessing is for all nations. St Peter quotes this promise to his fellow Israelites in the Temple (Acts 3:25), and Paul calls it the gospel told beforehand to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). Abraham remains the father of Israel, and through his offspring the nations are drawn in.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that in Abraham's offspring all the nations will be blessed, and that this offspring is Christ (CCC 706). Hebrews 11:17–19 makes Moriah a lesson on faith in the resurrection. St Irenaeus says that Abraham readily gave up his only son to God, so that God might be pleased to give his own only Son for all Abraham's descendants (in substance). The Church reads the chapter toward Calvary, where no hand stops the Father's gift, and the Son gives himself.
Setting.
Near Caesarea Philippi Peter has just said, “You are the Messiah” (8:29). Now Jesus says what kind of Messiah he is. This is the first of three such teachings on the road to Jerusalem (8:31; 9:31; 10:33–34). The elders, chief priests and scribes named here were the leaders in Jerusalem at that time. The Church does not lay the Passion on the Jewish people (CCC 597).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (8:33)
Peter has rebuked Jesus, and Jesus rebukes Peter with the same verb. “Behind me” is the place of a disciple, the same phrase as the first call, “Follow me” (1:17). Jesus does not cast Peter off. He sends him back to his place, and the Lord who gave him his charge will restore him.
“let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (8:34)
He says this to “the crowd with his disciples”, so it is for everyone. In that world the cross was no figure of speech. Hearers knew what it was to see a condemned man carry his beam through the streets.
“For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?” (8:36)
Jesus reasons like a merchant weighing a bargain. No gain can buy back the self that has been lost.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that Peter scorned the prediction and that the others did not understand it (CCC 554), that Christ calls his disciples to take up their cross because he suffered for us (CCC 618), and that the way of perfection passes by way of the Cross, with no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle (CCC 2015). The cross of a disciple shares by grace in the one Cross that saves.
Tradition remembers the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, in Lesser Armenia, as soldiers who refused to deny Christ about the year 320, in the time of Licinius. St Basil the Great preached on them. According to the account, they were left naked on a frozen lake to die. One gave way, and a guard, moved by what he saw, took his place, so that the number stayed forty. They are a Great Fast sermon without words: those who lose their life for Christ's sake will save it.