Deep musings from a beloved Church Father.

Some very thoughtful, and deep quotes from one of our ancient fathers in the Faith. Athanasius of Alexandria. Alexandria, Egypt. 

 St Athanasius the Apostolic, was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His episcopate lasted 45 years (c. 8 June 328 – 2 May 373), of which over 17 were spent in five exiles ordered by four different Roman emperors. He is considered to be a renowned Christian theologian, a Church Father, the chief defender of Trinitarianism against Arianism, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century.

 “He, the Life of all, our Lord and Saviour, did not arrange the manner of his own death lest He should seem to be afraid of some other kind. No. He accepted and bore upon the cross a death inflicted by others, and those other His special enemies, a death which to them was supremely terrible and by no means to be faced; and He did this in order that, by destroying even this death, He might Himself be believed to be the Life, and the power of death be recognised as finally annulled. A marvellous and mighty paradox has thus occurred, for the death which they thought to inflict on Him as dishonour and disgrace has become the glorious monument to death's defeat.”
― St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation   (298 - 372 A.D.) 

“In ancient times before the divine sojourn of the Savior took place, even to the saints death was terrible; all wept for the dead as though they perished. But now that the Savior has raised his body, death is no longer terrible; for all who believe in Christ trample on it as it were nothing and choose rather to die than deny their faith in Christ. And that devil that once maliciously exulted in death, now that its pains were loosed, remained the only one truly dead.”
― Athanasius, On the Incarnation

If I do not wash you...

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."  Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."  Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" John 13:6-9 ESV

I am so eternally grateful that Peter asked Jesus that question! When I think about Jesus washing the apostles feet and Peter asking, "Lord do you wash my feet? ...You will never wash my feet." Jesus reply "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." That statement makes me think about justification by Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. We know scripture informs us that we are saved by grace, and not by works. Our Lord said "If I do not wash you...". He said that they do not understand what he's doing now, but later on they would understand. What we see in this amazing event is Christ giving us a lesson, not only a lesson about how to serve others, but a loving doctrinal lesson, that it is His washing that makes us clean from sin, and when He... washes us, He washes us once and for all, clean from all of our sin. It is His work that opens the doors of Heaven for all who Believe. It is not our own righteousness, but His, which He imparts to us, that opens the gates of Heaven to a person. "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." He has done the work. 

O Lord, you will ordain peace for us,
    for you have indeed done for us all our works. - Isaiah 26:12

Now when Peter said "Lord, not only my feet but also my head and my hands." We hear that and we think ...oh such devotion and love, and faithfulness. 'Now Peter understands' we say to ourselves. But Jesus once again corrects him and says, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean...". It's so easy in our human minds to want to do the things that make us holy. Christ is here telling us 'you cannot, let me make you holy in the way that I do it. For it is the only way possible.' What a beautiful picture of justification by faith. Jesus simply, and miraculously washes us in our baptism and cleanses us from all our sin in his name, the name of the Triune God. And it is our faith in His work and His act on the cross that is delivered to us in our baptism. Our faith clings to His work.

   "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."