Pascha. Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Acts 1:1-8. John 1:1-17.
Read Acts 1:1-8
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
“Are we there yet?” Any parent who has taken children on a long car trip has probably heard that question coming from the back seat, more than once. “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” is the apostles’ equivalent of that question.
They had already covered this ground with Jesus. Resisting comprehension in the face of Jesus’ teaching that he would be rejected, suffer, die, and rise from the dead, they imagined a cross-less way to Jesus’ kingdom and places of honour for themselves of which they were not yet worthy. But all that was behind them, or so they thought. Jesus had gloriously risen from the dead. Surely, the only thing that could come after that was earthly deliverance from Roman rule and to “restore the kingdom to Israel.”
But that kingdom of Israel was always to be one whereby “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). St. Luke writes that all the apostles had gone through with Jesus was only what “Jesus began both to do and teach.” Jesus was commissioning them to continue those things through their witness to Him in ever outward concentric circles – “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
No, we’re not there yet. Two thousand years later, at this end of the earth we are privileged recipients of the apostolic witness to Jesus Christ. Now it is we who are called to look outward from ourselves and keep the gospel spreading until the “time…which the Father has put in His own authority.”
The Paschal Homily of John Chrysostom
Is there anyone who is a devout lover of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Is there anyone who is a grateful servant?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward.
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.
For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavour.
The deed He honours and the intention He commends.
Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward.
Rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!
Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again,
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Saviour has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
“You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.”
Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.
Hell took a body and discovered God.
It took earth and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?
Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead.
For Christ, having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!