Readings for Lent

[Traveller]

"An awesome and glorious mystery occurs today: the One Who cannot be contained is now restrained. He Who freed Adam from the curse is bound. The Searcher of hearts and souls is questioned unjustly. He Who confined the deep is now confined to prison.... The Creator is struck by the hand of a creature. The Judge of the living and the dead is condemned to the cross. He Who conquered hell is sealed in a tomb. O innocent Lord Who graciously suffered all things and saved all people from the curse: glory be to You!" Entombment Vesper, or Great Friday

This sticheron expresses in many different ways the mystery of the passion and death of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. And all of these poetical but paradoxical statements point to the greatest paradox of all: that by His dying, Jesus redeemed me from the death of sin and purchased for me new life in Himself.

To be willing to live the Christian life, this new life in Christ, is to be willing to live in such a paradox. It is to believe the words of the Holy Apostle Paul who said: "The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 7:1)

This power of God is revealed to me most strikingly in the redemptive acts of Jesus. It is the power of a love which moved Him to accept the Father's will, to bring all of humanity into the Kingdom, and to embrace the cross. All of the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross is futile unless I decide to accept it, and even more, to embrace it. I am invited to do this day by day as Christ's disciple. I enter into the mystery of union with Him in His passion and death through my surrender in self-giving, however it might be expressed in my life. Perhaps that may be letting my children follow the way God is calling them and not the career I have dreamed about for them. It could be quietly accepting the pain of being helpless and needing to be cared for in a debilitating illness.

Jesus suffered and died for me centuries ago. I am being redeemed now. There is really no time gap between these two events. In that mystical area of time beyond time, Jesus' redeeming act and my being redeemed are going on together now - this day, hour, minute. When I pray with the Church, I am not praying in memory of an event; I am living in the dynamics of the event with that special awareness which recognizes the presence of the Lord. I sit still and let the prayers, hymns, and readings speak to me. And in the strength of these, I encounter the Lord and my own life with new courage.

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 52:13-54:1, Jeremiah 11:18-12:5, Job 42:12-17, Exodus 33:11-23, Zechariah 11:10-13

[Traveller]

"An awesome and glorious mystery occurs today: the One Who cannot be contained is now restrained. He Who freed Adam from the curse is bound. The Searcher of hearts and souls is questioned unjustly. He Who confined the deep is now confined to prison.... The Creator is struck by the hand of a creature. The Judge of the living and the dead is condemned to the cross. He Who conquered hell is sealed in a tomb. O innocent Lord Who graciously suffered all things and saved all people from the curse: glory be to You!" Entombment Vesper, or Great Friday

This sticheron expresses in many different ways the mystery of the passion and death of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. And all of these poetical but paradoxical statements point to the greatest paradox of all: that by His dying, Jesus redeemed me from the death of sin and purchased for me new life in Himself.

To be willing to live the Christian life, this new life in Christ, is to be willing to live in such a paradox. It is to believe the words of the Holy Apostle Paul who said: "The message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God." (I Corinthians 7: 1)

This power of God is revealed to me most strikingly in the redemptive acts of Jesus. It is the power of a love which moved Him to accept the Father's will, to bring all of humanity into the Kingdom, and to embrace the cross. All of the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross is futile unless I decide to accept it, and even more, to embrace it. I am invited to do this day by day as Christ's disciple. I enter into the mystery of union with Him in His passion and death through my surrender in self-giving, however it might be expressed in my life. Perhaps that may be letting my children follow the way God is calling them and not the career I have dreamed about for them. It could be quietly accepting the pain of being helpless and needing to be cared for in a debilitating illness.

Jesus suffered and died for me centuries ago. I am being redeemed now. There is really no time gap between these two events. In that mystical area of time beyond time, Jesus' redeeming act and my being redeemed are going on together now - this day, hour, minute. When I pray with the Church, I am not praying in memory of an event; I am living in the dynamics of the event with that special awareness which recognizes the presence of the Lord. I sit still and let the prayers, hymns, and readings speak to me. And in the strength of these, I encounter the Lord and my own life with new courage.

SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 52:13-54:1, Jeremiah 11:18-12:5, Job 42:12-17, Exodus 33:11-23, Zechariah 11:10-13

[Traveller]

"All you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia!" Galatians 3:27


Great Saturday is our annual return to our own baptism experience. It is the day that connects Great Friday with the Radiant Resurrection. We see too well the gap between the sorrow of Great Friday and the joy of the Pasch. The sorrow simply cannot be replaced by the joy. Rather, the sorrow is slowly transformed into joy - the victory grows from the defeat. The sorrow is aptly displayed in this morning's Jerusalem Matins, while the joy comes slowly in Saint Basil's Baptismal Divine Liturgy. The darkness of Death gives way to the radiance of Life, just as the vestments are changed from black to white at this Divine Liturgy. Jesus, in His obedience to His Father, is the very foundation and beginning of victory and new life.

This was the "hour" of Christ: "For this I have come." The whole life of Jesus is in God, and so too every human life ought to be full of God. Through our baptism and Chrismation, the victorious Christ overcomes Death and its power within us; the sorrow becomes joy; the time of new life and new creation has begun. The Mysteries of Christian initiation witness the beginning of His resurrection in us, but not as yet our own resurrection. Each and every one of us will have to die to the world of darkness and death, and in our baptism we are baptized into Christ and into His death, and thus we can partake with Christ in His New Life - the life of the Father, preparing ourselves for the day without darkness in His kingdom.

When we totally and unconditionally give up the self-sufficiency of our life and put all its meaning in Christ, only then can we taste of the newness of life - an experience that presents to us a new world, a whole new vision and light, the very kingdom of God. Baptism is therefore the death of our selfishness and self-sufficiency just as Christ's death was the unconditional self-surrender to the will of the Father.

These sentiments are vividly portrayed in today's Paschal Vigil Divine Liturgy. Resurrection Eve is the celebrating of this transformation and sharing in the New Life. We celebrate the mystery of baptism as an integral part of our celebrating the Paschal Feast. This Baptismal Vigil Divine Liturgy epitomizes the joy of all those who were "baptized into Christ and who have put on Christ" and who were "buried with Him by baptism into death by the glory of the Father."

Our baptism was the starting point and foundation of our Christian life. All this we contemplate and renew on Great Saturday.

[Traveller]

On this the day of Our Lord's resurrection I offer the traditional Eastern homily - that of St. John Chrysostom, one of the greatest orators and theologians of the ancient church.

If there be any devout people who love God, let them enjoy this splendid and radiant Feast. If any of them be wise servants, let them blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord. If any of them have labored long in fasting, let them now receive their reward. If any have toiled from the first hour, let them now receive their just wage. If any came at the third hour, let them gratefully join in the Feast. If any arrived at the sixth hour, they should not be afraid, for they will not be deprived of anything. If any of them tarried even until the ninth hour, let them approach without hesitation. If any arrived only at the eleventh hour, they should not worry on account of their tardiness. For the Master loves to grant honors and will receive the last just as the first. He gives rest to the one who came at the eleventh hour, just as He does to the one who toiled from the first hour. He shows His mercy to the last, and His care for the first. To the one He gives; on the other, He showers gifts. He accepts deeds and welcomes intentions. He honors labors and praises resolutions.

And so, let all enter into the joy of their Lord, and let the first as well as the last receive the reward. Let the rich and the poor celebrate together. Let the resourceful and the slothful honor this Day. Let those who fasted and those who did not fast be glad today. The Table is bountifully set; let all be satisfied. The Calf is fattened; let no one go away hungry. Let everyone enjoy the Cup of Faith. Let everyone receive the richness of Grace. Let none grieve at their poverty, for the Kingdom that belongs to all people has been revealed. Let none weep for their sins, for forgiveness shines forth from the Tomb. Let no one fear Death, for the Savior's death has set us free.

The One Whom Death imprisoned has extinguished Death. The One Who descended into Hades made Hades the captive. He caused it distress when it tasted His Flesh. When Isaiah foresaw this, he exclaimed: "Hades was all distressed by encountering You in the nether world." It was distressed because it was abolished. It was distressed because it was mocked. It was distressed because it was slain. It was distressed because it was overthrown. It was distressed because it was chained. It seized a Body but discovered God. It seized the Earthly but encountered the Heavenly. It seized the Visible but was overcome by the Invisible. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are abolished! Christ is risen, and the demons are cast down! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and Life now reigns! Christ is risen, and the Tomb is emptied of the dead! For in rising from the dead, Christ became the First-Fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.