CATECHETIC HOMILY OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE (+407)
'ON THE HOLY AND BRIGHT DAY
OF THE GLORIOUS AND SAVING RESURRECTION
OF CHRIST OUR GOD'

(Instead of preaching their own homilies, the holy Church bids Orthodox Christian pastors to read this ancient text at Easter. No one is to remain seated during its reading; all stand to hear it, just as for the holy Gospel.)

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If there are any who are devout and love God,
let them enjoy this beautiful and radiant feast of triumph!

If there are any who have been wise servants,
let them enter the joy of their Lord!

If there are any who have labored long in fasting,
let them now receive their wages!

If there are any who have worked from the first hour,
let them receive their fair compensation today!

If there are any who came at the third hour,
let them celebrate the feast with thanksgiving!

If there are any who arrived at the sixth hour,
let them have no misgivings;
they will not be deprived because of that!

If there are any who delayed until the ninth hour,
let them approach and not be afraid!

If there are any who tarried even as late as the eleventh hour,
let even them not be alarmed by their tardiness!

For the Lord, Who is jealous of His honor,
will accept the last as well as the first.

He gives rest to those who come at the eleventh hour
just as He does to those who work from the first hour.

He is merciful to those who come last,
even while He cares for the first ones.

He gives gifts to each of them, bestowing His grace on all of them.

He not only accepts their deeds, He welcomes even their intentions!

He not only respects their actions,
but also gives high praise to what they offer!

So then, all of you, enter the joy of your Lord!
Receive your reward, whether you came first or last!

Rich and poor, dance for joy together!

Sober people with the heedless, honor this day!

Whether you kept the fast or disregarded it, rejoice today!

The table is fully laden: feast sumptuously!
The calf is fattened: let no one go hungry!
All of you, enjoy the banquet of faith!
All of you, enjoy this abundance of kindness!

Let no one mourn because of poverty, for the royalty of all has been revealed!

Let no one weep over transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the tomb!

Let no one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free!

The One Who was the Prisoner of Death has utterly destroyed it;

the One Who descended to Hades took it captive.

He made Hades take a bitter bite when it tasted His flesh,

just as Isaiah cried out when he foretold this, saying:
'Hades tasted bitterness when it encountered You below.'

It tasted bitterness, for it was undone!
It tasted bitterness, for it had been deceived!
It tasted bitterness, for it had been made to die!
It tasted bitterness, for it had been demolished!
It tasted bitterness, for it had been fettered in chains!

It took a body, but happened upon God!
It took Earth, but encountered Heaven!
It took what was visible, but stumbled upon the invisible!

So, Death, where is your sting?
So, Hades, where is your victory?

CHRIST IS RISEN, and you are overthrown!
CHRIST IS RISEN, and the demons have fallen!
CHRIST IS RISEN and the angels rejoice!
CHRIST IS RISEN and life takes command!
CHRIST IS RISEN, and not a single corpse remains in the grave!

For when Christ was raised from the dead,
He became the very first of those who had fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages! Amen!

AMEN, and AMEN!

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Christ is risen from the dead, by His death trampling Death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

And, since He bestows upon on us everlasting life,
we adore His resurrection on the third day.

by Rev Dr Steve Griffiths

Gospel: Mark 16:1-8

If you are into soap operas or period dramas or other dramas on TV, there is one thing in common with us all, I think, which is this: we all like a happy ending. That's certainly the case for me, anyway. I really don't like an unhappy ending or worse still, an ending that is really ambiguous that I don't really understand. I get like that with Broadchurch or Silent Witness or whatever. I watch a whole series and then the final scene doesn't give me the end I want or leaves me guessing or leaves me waiting for the next series to start. It's so frustrating, isn't it!!

It's part of human nature to want a happy ending, to want happy ever after. It's interesting how the Church has taken the story of Jesus' resurrection and made it a happy ending. But, actually, that is not how it is written. Bizarrely, the resurrection story is not a happy one at all. Let's run over the facts as Mark records them in his Gospel…

Jesus had suffered horrendous torture and an unimaginable death. And then his body is taken away by Joseph of Arimathea. And that's a bit odd in itself because traditionally the family would have taken the body. But this stranger comes along and gets permission to take the body and the family are not included in the plans. Mary is completely sidelined. In chapter 15, it says: "Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body of Jesus was placed."

And what about the disciples? Had they experienced a happy ever after ending? Far from it. The disciples were depressed and terrified and had run away: gone into hiding. As far as everyone was concerned - family and friends - Jesus was gone. End of story.

And then the Resurrection happens. "Alleluia", we think…everyone is happy now. But no - look again at the story…

First, there is anxiety: verse 4, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"

Then, verse 5: "and they were alarmed".

And finally verse 8: "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."

There is no alleluia in the story! Depression, fear, anxiety, alarm, distress, terror, fleeing from the scene. These are the words used to describe people's response to the Resurrection. There was no spring in the step of anyone that first Easter morning; only fear, distress and confusion and an urge to get away as soon as possible.

And here is the incredible thing: these are the last words of Mark's Gospel. There is no happy ending at all. This is it. This is how Mark concludes the Good News of Jesus Christ: "So they went out and ran away from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid."

You'd think he could come up with a better ending to his story than that! It's the type of ending a scriptwriter for Silent Witness might be proud of - but not the Holy Scriptures, surely!

It's completely bewildering. Surely Mark knew how much Good News the resurrection of Jesus was? Why did he end his account this way? Why does he end with an account of bewildered women, too scared to speak out the truth?

Well, let's assume that he did have a good reason and let's try to find out what it might be…

Mark's account is action-packed: there is a lot of movement here. The women, at the start of the story are moving towards the tomb. At the end of the story, they are moving, rapidly, away from the tomb. But the women are not the only people on the move in this story…

They had come here to find Jesus but the young man says to them in verse 6: "Jesus has been raised. He is not here. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee." Jesus is on the move too! He's gone: on his way to Galilee. So, if the women wanted to see him again, they needed to get on the move too.

And there's something beautiful for us here; a beautiful twist to the story as Mark tells it…

Jesus has gone ahead of them to Galillee. Haven't we heard that somewhere before in Mark's Gospel? We have. And to find it, we need to leave behind these final words of the Gospel and go right back almost to the first words…Mark 1:9: "Not long afterwards, Jesus came from Nazareth in the province of Galilee…"

Do you see what Mark is telling us? He's saying this…You have read through the Gospel, from beginning to end, you have read the stories of healings and miracles, you have read the parables and all the wondrous events of Jesus' life - and now the Resurrection has happened and now we need to go right back to the beginning again and reflect on it all in the light of the Resurrection. And in the light of the cross and resurrection, we will find new meanings and new applications for our lives. And when we get to the Resurrection again, we need to go back to the beginning again. And so on and so on…

Mark is constantly taking us on this circular route; always bringing us back to the one who has gone ahead of us, always bringing us back to Galilee.

When we think we have finally caught up with Jesus, he is on the move again - and so the chase continues. Onwards and onwards: like playing a game of catch.

Jesus is always on the move…

And of course, that is the beauty of following the church calendar and the seasons of the church year, as we do here at St. Andrew's. Because, every year, we are brought back to Galilee and the story begins again. And this time, we apply it differently to our lives because we are different people too. So long as we think we have understood the story, we haven't really got it at all: we need to go back to the beginning again and see what fresh insights God wants to give us. Every time we get to the end of Mark, we are told to go back to square one, go back to Galilee, and experience the miracles of grace again and again and again.

And as we do that, as we keep moving on, chasing Jesus, trying to catch up with him, so we will experience that grace in our lives and deepen our knowledge of what resurrection is really about.

You see, the resurrection is not some static story that happened in history 2000 years ago. The resurrection is a dynamic movement - an experience of grace that each one of us is called into again and again and again.

And none of us are left out of this. God wants to reveal his resurrection power to each one of us.

Well, you may be here this morning and you may think, "That's alright for him to say: he's got a dog-collar on! If he knew about my past, or what was in my mind, or the secret things of my life, he wouldn't be so sure that God's grace was for me."

Well you'd be wrong! And here's how I know…

Look again at the words of the young man to the women…"But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee".

"Tell his disciples and Peter…"

It is so significant that Peter gets singled out by name. No disciple had failed Jesus as much as Peter. No-one had fallen as short as Peter had. No-one felt as bad as he did. And yet Peter is singled out: "Go and tell the disciples and Peter…"

This is a clear sign that even Peter was forgiven by God. He had been singled out for God's grace. And the message is clear: if even Peter can be forgiven, then there is no sin too big for God to deal with.

There is nothing that you and I have ever done in the past that God cannot forgive. There is no shameful secret that cannot be brought before God that needs to remain hidden from his glorious, grace-filled light. Whatever your past - whatever your present situation - God can forgive anything. Absolutely anything.

He can forgive Peter: he can forgive even you: he can forgive even me.

OK, I think we are getting closer now to answering the question we started with…Why does Mark end his Gospel like this? Why does Mark end the Gospel so enigmatically, with the women running away - afraid to tell anyone about what has happened?

Actually, I think the answer is really simple…

It's because Mark's Gospel isn't finished.

The Good News of Jesus Christ can't end in silence. Mark is waiting for you and me to finish the story!! He is waiting for you and me to go out and tell people the Good News.

The women in the story run away in silence - but someone has to proclaim the Gospel, someone has to continue the Gospel. It's up to you and me to complete the story…

I said earlier that the resurrection is a story about dynamic movement: the women are moving, Jesus is moving. Now the question is this: how are we moving in this story? Are we going to run away and hide in silence, knowing that Jesus has been raised from the dead but too frightened to tell anyone about it? Or are we going to complete the story and go out to proclaim the Good News of the resurrected Christ to the people of Enfield and a wider world in need?

If we won't - who will?

The young man in the story presents each one of us with an incredible challenge as we sit here this morning: "You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised. He is not here."

This is the truth of the resurrection. This is the truth of the Easter Story.

The truth is that Jesus has moved on. He has gone ahead of us. Our task is to play catch up: to chase after him. He is going back to Galilee. And we need to follow him there.

We need to go back to the beginning. We need to soak ourselves in the Scriptures. We need to soak ourselves, again and again, in a profound personal experience of Jesus - his healing for you, his miracles for you, his life-changing teaching for you. And we need to proclaim our experience to a broken world.

The resurrection is not the end of the story. We need to finish it.

In the Celtic Christian tradition, the symbol for the Holy Spirit is a wild goose. And it's a beautiful symbol because no matter how carefully you might creep up behind a wild goose and try to catch it and tame it, it will always fly away from you.

Jesus is like that too. We cannot tame Jesus and turn him into a 'happy ever after' story. We must each spend our lives chasing him and following where he leads.

We are not on a wild goose chase. We are chasing the wild goose. And there is a huge difference between the two…

And so, this morning, we don't shout "Alleluia" because the story has ended. We shout "Alleluia" because the story continues - and you and I are partnering with God as the scriptwriters.

Where will you take the story from here? It's up to you…

by Pope Benedict XVI

Easter is the feast of the new creation. Jesus is risen and dies no more. He has opened the door to a new life, one that no longer knows illness and death. He has taken mankind up into God himself.

"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God", as Saint Paul says in the First Letter to the Corinthians (15:50).

On the subject of Christ's resurrection and our resurrection, the Church writer Tertullian in the third century was bold enough to write:

"Rest assured, flesh and blood, through Christ you have gained your place in heaven and in the Kingdom of God" (CCL II, 994).

A new dimension has opened up for mankind. Creation has become greater and broader. Easter Day ushers in a new creation, but that is precisely why the Church starts the liturgy on this day with the old creation, so that we can learn to understand the new one aright. At the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word on Easter night, then, comes the account of the creation of the world. Two things are particularly important here in connection with this liturgy.

On the one hand, creation is presented as a whole that includes the phenomenon of time. The seven days are an image of completeness, unfolding in time. They are ordered towards the seventh day, the day of the freedom of all creatures for God and for one another. Creation is therefore directed towards the coming together of God and his creatures; it exists so as to open up a space for the response to God's great glory, an encounter between love and freedom.

On the other hand, what the Church hears on Easter night is above all the first element of the creation account: "God said, 'let there be light!'" (Gen 1:3). The creation account begins symbolically with the creation of light. The sun and the moon are created only on the fourth day. The creation account calls them lights, set by God in the firmament of heaven. In this way he deliberately takes away the divine character that the great religions had assigned to them. No, they are not gods. They are shining bodies created by the one God. But they are preceded by the light through which God's glory is reflected in the essence of the created being.

What is the creation account saying here? Light makes life possible. It makes encounter possible. It makes communication possible. It makes knowledge, access to reality and to truth, possible. And insofar as it makes knowledge possible, it makes freedom and progress possible. Evil hides. Light, then, is also an expression of the good that both is and creates brightness. It is daylight, which makes it possible for us to act.

To say that God created light means that God created the world as a space for knowledge and truth, as a space for encounter and freedom, as a space for good and for love. Matter is fundamentally good, being itself is good. And evil does not come from God-made being, rather, it comes into existence through denial. It is a "no".

At Easter, on the morning of the first day of the week, God said once again: "Let there be light". The night on the Mount of Olives, the solar eclipse of Jesus' passion and death, the night of the grave had all passed. Now it is the first day once again - creation is beginning anew. "Let there be light", says God, "and there was light": Jesus rises from the grave. Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger than lies.

The darkness of the previous days is driven away the moment Jesus rises from the grave and himself becomes God's pure light. But this applies not only to him, not only to the darkness of those days. With the resurrection of Jesus, light itself is created anew. He draws all of us after him into the new light of the resurrection and he conquers all darkness. He is God's new day, new for all of us.

But how is this to come about? How does all this affect us so that instead of remaining word it becomes a reality that draws us in? Through the sacrament of baptism and the profession of faith, the Lord has built a bridge across to us, through which the new day reaches us. The Lord says to the newly-baptized: Fiat lux - let there be light. God's new day - the day of indestructible life, comes also to us. Christ takes you by the hand. From now on you are held by him and walk with him into the light, into real life. For this reason the early Church called baptism photismos - illumination.

Why was this? The darkness that poses a real threat to mankind, after all, is the fact that he can see and investigate tangible material things, but cannot see where the world is going or whence it comes, where our own life is going, what is good and what is evil. The darkness enshrouding God and obscuring values is the real threat to our existence and to the world in general. If God and moral values, the difference between good and evil, remain in darkness, then all other "lights", that put such incredible technical feats within our reach, are not only progress but also dangers that put us and the world at risk.

Today we can illuminate our cities so brightly that the stars of the sky are no longer visible. Is this not an image of the problems caused by our version of enlightenment? With regard to material things, our knowledge and our technical accomplishments are legion, but what reaches beyond, the things of God and the question of good, we can no longer identify. Faith, then, which reveals God's light to us, is the true enlightenment, enabling God's light to break into our world, opening our eyes to the true light.

Dear friends, as I conclude, I would like to add one more thought about light and illumination. On Easter night, the night of the new creation, the Church presents the mystery of light using a unique and very humble symbol: the Paschal candle. This is a light that lives from sacrifice. The candle shines inasmuch as it is burnt up. It gives light, inasmuch as it gives itself.

Thus the Church presents most beautifully the paschal mystery of Christ, who gives himself and so bestows the great light. Secondly, we should remember that the light of the candle is a fire. Fire is the power that shapes the world, the force of transformation. And fire gives warmth. Here too the mystery of Christ is made newly visible. Christ, the light, is fire, flame, burning up evil and so reshaping both the world and ourselves. "Whoever is close to me is close to the fire," as Jesus is reported by Origen to have said. And this fire is both heat and light: not a cold light, but one through which God's warmth and goodness reach down to us.

The great hymn of the Exsultet, which the deacon sings at the beginning of the Easter liturgy, points us quite gently towards a further aspect. It reminds us that this object, the candle, has its origin in the work of bees. So the whole of creation plays its part. In the candle, creation becomes a bearer of light. But in the mind of the Fathers, the candle also in some sense contains a silent reference to the Church,.

The cooperation of the living community of believers in the Church in some way resembles the activity of bees. It builds up the community of light. So the candle serves as a summons to us to become involved in the community of the Church, whose raison d'être is to let the light of Christ shine upon the world.

Let us pray to the Lord at this time that he may grant us to experience the joy of his light; let us pray that we ourselves may become bearers of his light, and that through the Church, Christ's radiant face may enter our world (cf. LG 1). Amen

Delivered at the Easter Vigil Homily-2019