Forty days after His Nativity, Christ was presented to the Temple. Forty days after His Baptism, He was tempted and tested by the devil. And forty days after His Resurrection, He ascended into Heaven. Surely there is significance in the fact that each of these three all-important events in His earthly life was followed by a period of 40 days—40 days to bring the Nativity, the Baptism, and the Resurrection forward to completion.
After all, what is a birth if it is not brought to the Lord? What is a baptism if it is not followed by discipleship and testing of faith? And what is a resurrection if it remains bound to the earth and mortality? In everything that happened to Him Jesus was also showing to us the way to fullness of life. We are born so we can find our place in God’s design. We are baptized so we can be strengthened by divine grace against all the assaults of the Enemy. And we die in order to be resurrected to eternal life. In everything Christ shows the way because He walked the way before us.
And when He would no longer walk with mortals as a Man, He sent the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father, to show us how to live this fullness of life in the days of our lives. Praise the Lord who did not leave us orphans on the Day of His Ascension. Praise the gift of the Spirit! In the Orthodox Church this coming Sunday is the Sunday of Pentecost.
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