Lilyo of Thursday

The Lilyo of Thursday brings an interesting insight into repentance and justification.

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The small excerpt I'd like to highlight is three lines from the sooghito:

Great is the fear when the Judge shall exact judgment by will

For he that says, “I am justified” is he that will be arraigned

And the mouth that professes, “I am guilty” will find mercy before the Judge.

These lines are a clear reference to Luke 18:9-14, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. In this parable, Jesus declares the tax collector who was too embarrassed by his sins to even look to heaven when praying justified, as opposed to the Pharisee who met all criteria of men for being justified and was prideful for his justification. This is indicative of the Syriac theological idea that no one - not even those who follow all the religious laws - are justified and God owes us no reward and there is no way to guarantee salvation other than through the mercy of God. No man can stand justified before God by his own merit - hence why God declares righteous the repentant thief at His crucifixion. How significant that even the righteous King David, who wrote the book of Psalms sinned, is equally lowly before God for the criteria of men for justification may seem to distinguish persons greatly on earth, but we are all unworthy before God; both a king and a thief must bow before God and ask for mercy. Indeed, in all the instances of the righteous men that are named in the main Sedro of the fourth watch, their righteousness is a gift of mercy from God after submission to God rather than an act of self-justification (Adam, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph, Phineas, Eleazar, Daniel, Ezekiel, the Three Youths, the Apostles, the martyrs, etc.) - all of them were justified by their rejection of their own objectives and submission to the will of God. God is the Judge, and judgment shall be His alone - human justification is simply superficial in regards to divine judgment for only God can truly justify.

Our Lord, accept our service, our prayers, come to our aid and have mercy on us!