“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice, and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. By Myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me.” (John 5:28-30)
High and prominent on the icon screen you will often notice an icon of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ enthroned on the Judgment Seat in the Kingdom of Heaven. On His one side is the Mother of God and on the other side is St. John the Baptist. Both are looking in to Him and bending their bodies towards His throne. This is the Deesis icon, a Greek word meaning adoration, or prayer, or else intercession. They are interceding on behalf of humans on earth to the One given the responsibility for judging human sheep from goats, as we are made to understand in the text above which is read at every funeral.
It is those two persons who are nearer to the perfection of the Lord Jesus than any other people on earth. Indeed, St. John the Baptist is given wings in some icons to illustrate his proximity to the angels. He and the Mother of God passed through their times on earth without being affected by all the wiles of Satan. Their prayers are intercessions for human beings on earth and those who are making the transition from life on earth to life everlasting. They are proof for all men and women that it is indeed possible to pass through the world being attacked by the demons and challenged by all the temptations that assail us without surrendering to any of them. Satan is challenged, frustrated and ultimately defeated in their lives. Like us they had possessed the divine gift of freedom without ever surrendering their free will to serve sin and evil. Satan who never sleeps tests us awake or asleep. Many will insist that it’s impossible to go through this lifetime and not sin. For example, Luther’s entire theology is based on that false premise. Orthodoxy is never defeatist. True Christians point to the Mother of God and St. John the Baptist as proof positive that it is possible, therefore our duty to make every effort to struggle against evil and sinfulness using those two spiritual heroes as incentives and role models.
We lesser Christians who have sinned and have been forgiven also pray for those we love, those we barely know, and those whom we know not at all. Our loving Lord hears every prayer and takes into account what we request, because He understands that our prayers are empathetic. We comprehend the reasons why sinners fail—so have we.
But the prayers of the perfect have another flavor. He whom our Master identified as the greatest of all who had been born of women gives us all a goal to aim at, even realizing that we can never hope to match his perfection. Who fasts as John did, or lives the life of constant prayer alone in the desert, wearing clothes made of a camel’s hide, with the courage to confront the royal family and take the consequences? He stands alone even among the greatest saints of history.
And who can equal the purity of life which the Mother of God lived? With what wisdom did she have the good sense to say neither yes nor no when asked if she would consent to be the Mother of the Son of God, but instead replied, “Let it be according to Your [God’s] will.” And endure the humiliating, agonizing suffering of that perfect Son crucified before her eyes? Who else but she and the Baptist could be worthy intercessors on behalf of all Christians and all humanity? Those two who adore Christ Jesus pray on our behalf, interceding with Him for mercy on our souls.