Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Third Sunday in Lent

O come, let us rejoice to the Lord!
        Let us shout aloud to God, our Savior.
Let us come near His face with thanksgiving,
        and with psalms let us shout aloud to Him.
For God is a great Lord
        and a great king above all gods,
because the Lord will not reject His people.
        For in His hand are the ends of the earth,
        and the heights of the mountains are His.
Because His is the sea and he made it,
        and His hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us bow down and fall before Him,
        and let us weep before the Lord who made us,
because He is our God,
        and we are the people of His pasture
        and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you hear His voice,
        “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
        according to the day of testing in the desert,
when your fathers tested;
        they scrutinized and saw My works.” (Psalm 95:1–9)

The band of the pious had conquered the force of the impious; so it was right for them to offer the triumphal hymn to God, especially the choir of the apostles and martyrs. Beyond them, everyone of their kind would have in mind the thought, Come, let us rejoice in the Lord, let us shout to God our Savior, who brought about our salvation through sufferings to make us all immune to suffering, who chose to descend into Hades so as to raise us up to the heavens. Before the time of retribution, let us have recourse to repentance, and before the sentence is pronounced on us, let us placate the Lord; let us offer him also appropriate hymn singing.

Then he brings out God’s victory and the idols’ defeat. Beyond words is the power of our Lord; He is true God, He has power over all, and He proves the falsity of the name of the so-called gods. Next, he shows, as far as is possible for human nature, the signs of the divine power. He is maker of everything, Lord of all, He personally guides all things, with His hand He encircles creation, with a word He personally created moisture and dryness; His are the tops of the mountains, even should the demons times beyond counting persuade the fools among men to build on them temples dedicated to them.

So let us come together with enthusiasm and offer Him due worship, and beg for His mercy, weeping and wailing, He being our Maker and Lord. The history of Josiah and the people instructs us about the tears they shed after the reading of Deuteronomy. He is our Lord by nature, and particularly is He our God: he calls us His own people, and provides care as though for His own sheep.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms 95.2–4