Dear brothers and sisters, we say those words.
We affirm our belief. in something, not a religious
principle, not a philosophical idea, not a social
movement, but about a person that we confess
based on the eyewitnesses that rose from the
dead. I can remember reading stories from Soviet
times when government officials would come to
a small town to re -educate the population about
Marxist philosophy and the workers and the glorious
future ahead if everybody just gives up enough
now. And they would go on and on and on about
the foolishness of belief in God. The foolishness
of a belief in a Savior who was crucified with
criminals. Who say, and it's just a myth, we
all know this. They would say, that rose from
the dead. And they'd go on and on. And then some
old lady would stand up and say, Christos vizcrese,
and the entire crowd would answer back, Vizcrese!
And the government officials would bow their
heads like these people are just fools. But the
foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of
man. So if it means we're fools, then let's say
we're fools for Christ's sake. But it's an incredible
message. And if the heart has hardened, if there
is fear about what it could mean to believe in
Christ, and I'll say once again, as I did a few
weeks ago in a sermon, Christ is a troublemaker
in your life. If there's a hesitation, if you
are holding something back, you don't want to
confess Christ is risen. You want to have hope
in this world. Isn't it interesting that the
gospel today ends with these words? Not, indeed
he is risen, and Jesus is king and Lord over
all. No, that's later in the book of Revelation.
The Alpha. and the omega, and that the light
of the sun won't be needed, nor will the light
of the moon, because God will be their light.
No, the reading today ends with this sentence.
I will not believe. And that's important. We
hear that today on Pascha. Not to talk ourselves
into some kind of faith, but so we make sense
of... this incredible historical event that has
changed the course of history. Now you may say,
well, lots of things changed the course of history.
But not one heart at a time. Not for peace in
the heart that surpasses all understanding. And
it makes no sense otherwise. We hear these words,
you hear this phrase last night. Let no one fear
death, for the Savior's death has set us free.
He that was taken by death annihilated it. He
descended into Hades, and he took Hades, the
grave, death, captive. We hear those words, and
maybe they go right by us. They sound pious and
religious, but we have to remember death is more
than the death of the body. Yes, Christ rose
bodily from the grave, but our salvation begins
here, now, with life of the soul, with renewal,
with restoration, with glorification, and with
deification in our baptism, in the gift of the
Holy Spirit, and the soul comes alive. The spiritual
meaning and content of death, writes Father Alexander.
Of death as above all a spiritual and not only
a biological reality. This is what the overwhelming
number of Christians, death means exclusively
physical death, the end of this life. And that
Christ rose from the dead has changed nothing.
We still die. St. John Chrysostom says, yes,
but since Christ's resurrection, to die is not
to be cut off. from God. Because the body is
laid to rest and it will rise again. The destruction
of death by Christ, we say trampling down death
by death, is a unique, incredible Christian joy
in the midst of suffering, in the midst of death
even. Because we know that our own death means
that we will come to Christ and that we will
rise again. Otherwise, what's it mean there's
no dead in the tombs? They're with Christ. Christ
said, yes, come to me. Come to me, all ye that
are heavy laden. He didn't say, come to me, all
ye that are heavy laden, and I'll take care of
all your problems and all the suffering. No,
he said, come to me, you that are heavy laden,
and I will give you a rest. Rest for your souls.
Let us rest in God, brothers and sisters. If
Christ is truly risen, then there are no dead
in the grave, but they are with God. Father Alexander
goes on to say this. A modern man, even a Christian,
whose understanding of death is entirely biological,
does not hear the Christian gospel about the
destruction and abolition of death. Because on
the biological level, nothing has happened. Indeed,
nothing has happened after Christ's death. Death
has neither been destroyed nor abolished. It
remains the same inescapable and natural law
for saints and sinners, for believers and unbelievers
alike. The same principle of the world's very
existence. But the Christian gospel... doesn't
just mean the mortality of the body and the immortality
of the soul. You can be dead and spiritually
alive. You can be physically alive and spiritually
dead, cut off from God. So we have to live the
life of the age to come. Thomas could not see
yet in the other apostles the reality of Christ's
resurrection. Bishop Anthony Bloom says because
they were still like statues. They were not animated
by the life of the age to come. They were not
yet imbued with the grace of the Holy Spirit.
They could not yet rejoice fully in what it meant
that their Lord had just walked through those
locked doors. And they were fearful. But when
Christ says, peace be unto you, the first words
he says to the apostles, he says it unto you
and to me. And so we live the life of the resurrection
now, which means the Beatitudes. And this wonderful
verse, now have I made a beginning. This change
has been wrought by the hand of the Most High.
We are to live as peacemakers, as those... Blessed
who mourn for those around us. As humble, as
persecuted, but not struck down. Always hoping
our hope is based on Christ, not on something
else. Not on something else. Not even our own
application and understanding, which can never...
pierce through the holy and incredible reality
of the mystery of the resurrection of God become
man, his death and resurrection. This is a day
of joy. I greet you with the joy of the resurrection.
I pray that the Lord pierces each of our hearts
with his peace and his love and his brightness
so that you will feel The joy that Thomas felt
when you hear this gospel on Sunday. After eight
days, again the disciples were within. And Thomas
this time was with them. The doors being shut,
Christ stood in the midst and said, Peace be
to you. Then he said to Thomas, Reach hither
thy finger and behold my hands. Jesus was not
a ghost. Reach hither thy hand, thrust it into
my side. Be not faithless, but believing. And
Thomas answered and said unto him, The words
that we were dying to hear the entire gospel
of John. From the time we heard, the word became
flesh. My Lord and my God. Amen. Christ is risen.