Dear Orthodox brothers and sisters,
On the Palm Sunday, thousands of people had come to their Holy City, Jerusalem. When they heard that Jesus was coming, they went out to meet Him. They raised their voices in joy, shouting: “HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID; BLESSED IS HE THAT COMETH IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST” !
Jesus accepted the royal welcome. He WAS a King. But His “KINGDOM WAS NOT OF THE WORLD”. What kind of a King was Jesus Christ? HE came to rule over people’s hearts. HE came to conquer evil and sin in man’s nature. HE came to gain the love and devotion of man’s souls. HE WAS A SPIRITUAL KING!No wonder that within five days the very same people turned a somersault in their thinking and cried out at the crucifixion: “We have no King but Ceasar”! And as for Jesus, they cried; “CRUCIFY HIM, CRUCIFY HIM” !
The haunting services of Passion/Holy Week are deliberately designed by the Church to help us re-live in a very real way the suffering, death and then theResurrection of Christ.
On Holy Thursday, we hear Christ bid farewell to us in the long first Gospel Lesson. On Great Friday, we re-live the agony of the Crucifixion. We go through a Funeral Service involving the Burial of Christ. HE is placed in the Tomb, and people come to weep at the Tomb.
Holy Saturday is a day of apprehension and anticipation. And then, on the the “DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE”, all sadness turns to gladness, all darkness turns to brightness, for, “CHRIST RISES FROM THE DEAD” !
When early in the morning Myrrh-bearing women found an open and empty Tomb, the Angel told them: “JESUS IS NOT HERE + HE IS RISEN” !
CHRIST IS RISEN, brothers and sisters ! That is the cry that re-echoes over and over again among us today. What significance does the Resurrection ofChrist have for us today? It tells us we have a living (reigning) Lord. Christ is Risen, HE is alive. Jesus Christ, the lover of mankind, is with the Father, and we can turn to Him all our needs.
The Resurrection puts seal of Divine approval on all that Christ said and did. What He claimed is true. This shows now that He is; “THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD” !
I pray that the Resurrection Liturgy today may prove to be a personal resurrection for You. May the Risen Lord resurrect You to accept the great gift of eternal life that He offers You, so that all of us may share in the true joy of this feast of feasts as we sing:
“We celebrate the death of Death, the downfall of Hell, and the beginning
of a life new and everlasting”! (Easter Canon)
For:
“Christ is risen from the dead, by His death He has destroyed death (our
death) and to those in the tombs (to us) He has bestowed life everlasting”!
(Easter Hymn)
“THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE, LET US GIVE THANKS AND REJOICE” !
CHRIST IS RISEN + INDEED HE IS RISEN !
REMEMBER YOUR HOLY CHURCH WITH AN EASTER GIFT !!!
Your’s in Resurected Christ,
Proto Radmilo Ž. Stokić