Great and Holy Pascha
The scriptural readings on Pascha (Easter) present us with the mystery of Christ’s resurrection.
During Matins, the resurrection is announced by means of an empty tomb, and when the women are told to go and announce the resurrection, Mark tells us that they, “ . . . said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”
Yet we know that the “Good News” of Christ’s resurrection goes out into all the world. Perhaps Mark is prompting us to go back to the beginning of his Gospel to see Jesus not as another prophet, but as the Son of God.
Or, perhaps, Mark wants us to pick up the story in order to go and announce the resurrection in our day and age.
Then, in the Liturgy, we don’t read about the resurrection. Instead, we begin with John 1, and we hear about the Word becoming flesh.
I think the church chose this reading to make a grand statement: by means of the resurrection, we are recreated. This is a new beginning.
All things come into being through the Word . . . the very Word who has resurrected us to new life.
So, the empty tomb shows us that Christ is no longer bound by time. He is the Word. And, through his incarnation, death, and resurrection, he has transfigured the world.
He is the light in the darkness—the one who has trampled down death by means of his own death!
If we are recreated through Christ’s resurrection, I wonder that this means for us? How do we respond? How do we now live?
Scripture: Mark 16:1-8 (click here), John 1:1-17 (click here), The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom (click here)
Bottom Line: Because Christ is risen, we have a new way to live!
Discussion Questions
- John 1:14 is best translated as “And the Logos become flesh and pitched a tent among us.” This tent is a reference to the Tabernacle, the moveable Temple in the wilderness. What does it mean that the “Temple” is now the person of Jesus Christ rather than a building? What implications does this have for ministry today?
- Why do you think the text says that the women didn’t say anything? Why might they have been afraid? Are you afraid to share the news of the resurrection with your friends? How can you overcome your fear?
- Chrysostom says that all are invited to the feast, even those who come at the “eleventh hour.” How is partaking of the feast transformative? How can you make that transformation last all year long?
- Because Christ is risen, we longer have to fear death. What does that mean for you? How will live differently knowing Christ has had the last word
Moving Forward
The Resurrection of Christ has profound implications for how we live life today.
One of the Paschal hymns states, “Brethren, let us say even to those who hate us, ‘Let us forgive everything for the Resurrection’.”
How will you allow the Good News of “Christ is risen” to inspire you to live a “resurrected life”?
What will that look like?
Changing Your Mind
“And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:16-17)
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Very good questions you have posed. This one,
“How will you live differently knowing Christ has had the last word?”
That starts in the mind. How will we live begins in our thought life.
My wife and I have been reading Elder Thaddeus’s book, OUR THOUGHTS DETERMINE OUR LIVES. Elder Thaddeus expresses how important it is to have thoughts that are aimed/centered on Christ. The Jesus prayer of course is very important in this. Our thoughts, he claims, affect those around us and even the entire universe.
If we are centered on Christ daily, each minute of the day, we will live for Him, show others love and joy, and be content in any situation. That is difficult for me to imagine, but I do believe it.
So, how will we live for Him? Fearlessly. Lovingly. Contentedly. Humbly. For others and not for ourselves.
Amen!
(P.S. I’ve not read that book. I’ll have to check it out.)