Third Sunday after Pascha. Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, Tone 2; the Holy Apostles Aristarchus, Pudens and Trophimus (54-68)
Read
Acts 6:1-7; Mark 15:43-16:8
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
Courage. It’s a virtue we don’t hear much about now a days. But it’s certainly a virtue that we see illustrated in our Gospel reading this Sunday!
Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Sanhedrin, boldly approaches Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus in order to complete His burial before the Sabbath. We might fail to notice the courage that this took for Joseph. He will be publicly aligning himself with a man condemned by his own council and executed as an insurrectionist by the Romans. He will have to scrabble to get the body down and buried in a linen cloth that he will have to purchase on his way to the cross and lay Jesus in his own tomb. As he scrambled through the evening to complete before sunset, contact with the dead body would render him ritually unclean for the normal sabbath activities that evening and the next morning.
Or how about the Myrrh-bearing women on their way to the tomb? “Who will roll the stone away for us?” was not a question simply about mechanics. The stone was far too heavy for them to move, it’s true, but the tomb was sealed under Pilate’s orders and guarded. The woman knew there was no way they are were going to open up for a group of Jewish women who wish to complete the burial process that Joseph started. Yet, it doesn’t stop them. They do not turn back but proceed courageously, hold to what at first appears to be a foolish hope.
When they arrive to discover something they never expected- the tomb empty and the promise to see the Risen Christ. If their courage was so strong in risking everything simply to complete Christ’s burial, how much more their courage upon discovering Him risen from the dead! How much stronger OUR courage, brothers and sisters, who have the privilege of receiving many more years of Holy Tradition as evidence of the Lord’s saving providence in the world!?
As we continue to proclaim “Christ is Risen!” throughout this season, do not tire or become accustomed to it, but allow it to be a rallying cry of courage in facing the world. Let us continue to have the courage encouraged by St. John Paul the Great: “I plead with you–never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”