Our Lord Jesus Christ addresses us through the Prophets, sometimes in His own voice and at other times in ours, as He unites Himself with us, as it is written, "the two shall be one flesh." This is why in the Gospels, when discussing marriage, the Lord states they are no longer two but one flesh. One flesh, for due to our mortality, He took on human form; not one deity, as He is the Creator and we are created beings. Therefore, whatever our Lord articulates as the Flesh He assumed applies both to the Head who has ascended to heaven and to those members still enduring their earthly struggles. Let us listen to our Lord Jesus Christ speaking in the prophecies. For the psalms were composed long before the Lord was born of Mary, yet not before He was acknowledged as Lord: for He was the Creator of all things from eternity, yet born in time of His creation. Let us have faith in this Divine nature and strive to comprehend Him as equal to the Father. This Divine nature, equal to the Father, shared in our mortal existence, taking on our humanity, so that we too might share in His Divine nature, not from our own but from His.
"Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me" (Psalm 138:1). Let the Lord Jesus Christ declare this; let Him also address the Father: "Lord." For His Father is not merely His Lord, but He chose to be born according to the flesh. He is the Father of God, the Lord of Man. Do you understand to whom He is a Father? To the equal Son. The Apostle states, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God" (Philippians 2:6-7). For this form signifies the Father, the Form equal to Himself, the only-begotten Son, who is begotten of His own essence. But for our benefit, so that we might be reshaped and partake in His Divine nature, being renewed for eternal life, He embraced our human condition. What does the Apostle declare about Him? He states: "But He emptied Himself, took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man." He existed in the Form of God, equal to the Father, yet took on the form of a servant, thus becoming lesser than the Father...
"You have known my sitting down and my rising up" (Psalm 138:2). What does it mean to sit or to rise? He who sits humbles himself. The Lord then sat during His Passion and rose in His Resurrection. You knew it, meaning You willed it, You approved it; by Your will, it was enacted. If you choose to hear the words of the Head as expressed through the Body: a person sits when they humble themselves in repentance; they rise when their sins are forgiven, finding hope for eternal life. Do not elevate yourselves unless you have first humbled yourselves. Many wish to stand before they kneel, seeking to appear righteous without confessing their sins...
"You have understood my thoughts afar off; You have set a boundary for me" (Psalm 138:3); "You have seen all my ways before" (Psalm 138:4). What does afar off signify? While I am still on this pilgrimage, before reaching my true homeland, You have discerned my thoughts... The prodigal son went to a distant land. After enduring toil, suffering, sorrow, and need, he remembered his father and desired to return, saying, "I will arise and go to my father." He resolved to arise before he sat down. Here, you can identify him stating: "You knew my sitting down and my rising." I was seated in want; I arose desiring Your Bread. You have known my thoughts from afar. I journeyed far indeed, but where can I flee from Him whom I have forsaken? Thus the Lord says in the Gospel that his father came out to meet him as he walked. Truly, for He understood his thoughts from afar. "My way," he says; what could be worse than the way that led him away from his father...? What is my way? That through which I have traveled. What is my boundary? What I have achieved. You have traced my path and my limit. Yet this distance was not hidden from Your sight. I had traveled far, and yet You were there. "And all my ways You saw beforehand." He didn't simply say "saw"; He stated "saw in advance." Before I traversed them, before I entered into them, You saw them; and You allowed me to wander in labor, so that, if I dared not labor, I might return to Your ways. For there is no falsehood on my tongue. What did he mean by this? Behold, I confess to You, I have followed my own path, I have become distant from You, I have strayed from You, with whom it was good for me; and without You, my condition has worsened...
"Behold, O Lord, You know all my works" (Psalm 138:5). You knew my last actions when I tended to the swine; You recognized my past deeds when I requested my share of inheritance. The past actions led to the present sorrows; the ancient sin from our fall; the last punishment when we entered into this weary and dangerous existence. And if this is the end for us, it may also be so if we wish to return. There remains one last destiny for the wicked, to whom it shall be said, "Depart into everlasting fire" (Matthew 25:41)... You have created me and placed Your hand upon me. Crafted where? In this mortality; now to fulfill the purpose for which we all were created. For no one is born without God being his creator in his mother's womb; there is no being whose maker is not God. But You have fashioned me in this labor and imposed upon me Your guiding hand, humbling the proud. For He lowers the proud in a healing manner to uplift the humble...
"Your art has marvelously manifested itself in me; it has become strong; I cannot attain it" (Psalm 138:6). Listen closely, for what I am about to share is obscure yet rewarding in understanding. Moses, the holy servant of God, to whom God spoke through the cloud, did so because, from a human perspective, He needed to communicate to His servant through something created. He longed to witness the reality of God's presence and said to God, "If I have now found grace in Your eyes, show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:13). As he yearned for this and sought from God in a familiar manner, God replied: "You cannot see My face; for no man can see My face and live" (Exodus 33:20). But, "I will place you in the cleft of the rock, and I will pass by; and when I pass by, you shall see My back"—a figure revealing a mystery of truth. "When I pass by," says God, "you shall see My back"; as if He possessed a face on one side and a back on the other. We cannot fathom such majesty, for anyone who thinks of God in such terms constructs an idol in their heart. These words contain profound mysteries...
Those who were angered by the Lord they had seen now seek counsel for salvation; and it is said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38). Behold, they saw His back, whose face they could not perceive. For His hand was not forever upon their eyes; it was laid upon them only as He passed. After He departed, His hand was removed from their eyes. Once it was lifted, they asked the disciples: what shall we do? Initially cold, then warm; first angry, then fearful; first hard-hearted, then kind; first blind, then enlightened...
Behold, as a fugitive in a distant land, one cannot escape the gaze of the one from whom he flees. And where can he go when his boundaries are exhausted? Is that not what he says? "Where shall I go from Your Spirit?" (Psalm 138:7). Who in the world can escape that Spirit, which fills all things? "And where shall I hide from Your presence?" As he seeks a place to hide from God's wrath, what refuge will provide safety for a fugitive from God? Those who provide shelter for fugitives question from whom they fled, and if they discover someone enslaved by a less powerful master, they will protect him without fear, believing he poses no threat. However, when they learn of a formidable lord, they either refrain from offering refuge or do so with trepidation, for even a mighty man could be deceived. Where can one find a place free of God? Who can deceive God? Who is unseen by God? From whom does God not demand accountability? Where can that fugitive hide from the face of the Lord? He twists and turns, desperate for an escape.
"If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, You are there" (Psalm 138:8). Finally, their wretched flight has made it clear that they cannot separate from Him whom they sought to flee. Behold! He is everywhere; my question remains—where shall I escape? He found guidance, leading him who now extends compassion... If I have sinned and descend into the depths of my transgressions, refusing to confess—thinking, "Who sees me?" (for who in Hades confesses to You?)—You are still present to bring judgment. Where can I hide from Your presence and not find You punishing? He devises a plan saying, "I will flee from Your face; I will escape from Your Spirit; that is, from Your righteous presence." But how? "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea" (Psalm 138:9). Even if I flee to the depths of the sea to escape Your divine gaze, will the One I am fleeing from not already be there...? For what is the end of the sea but the end of the world? Therefore, let us race ahead with hope and longing on the wings of dual love; let us find no peace except at the edges of the sea. For if we seek rest anywhere else, we will be thrown into the depths. Let us take flight to the far reaches of the sea, ascending on the wings of love; and in the meantime, let us run to God in hope, meditating upon Him at the other shore.
Now, listen to the One who can guide us there—the same One from whom we long to flee due to our anger. What follows? "And there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall uphold me" (Psalm 138:10). Let us reflect upon this, beloved brethren; may it be our hope and comfort. Let us reclaim the wings we lost through lust; for lust is the weight that has cast us down from our heavenly freedom, the Spirit of God’s light. As we fell, we lost our wings and have been ensnared, but He redeemed us with His blood, having escaped to where we once were captured. He provides us with the wings of His commandments; we shall lift them high, freed of weight...
Then we must have those wings; He must guide us, for He is our Helper. We have free will; but with this gift alone, what can we achieve unless He who commands aids us?
And reflecting on the length of the journey, what did he contemplate? "And I said, 'Perhaps darkness shall cover me.'"
THEOSIS