In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
John 1.1-17
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, for he was before me.'”) And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
The Gospel reading for the Divine Liturgy today gives us the familiar opening verses of Saint John’s Gospel, often referred to as the Prologue to that Gospel because some of what it speaks to us of concern things before the time of our Jesus’ earthly ministry; and, indeed, some of the things it speaks of are from before time itself was brought into being. Some might wonder why it is that the Church chooses to bring us these words on this particular morning, the morning when we celebrate the glorious resurrection from the dead of our Lord and Saviour after His three days in the tomb. After all, we have many passages in the Gospels telling us what took place that morning. Why not tell us of the women who went to the tomb early in the morning, intending to care for his body, and wondering how they were going to move the heavy stone, only to find the stone already moved and the tomb empty? Or why not choose readings about how Peter and the other Apostle ran to the tomb once they’d heard they women’s story and also found it empty? Or remind us of how the women saw angels in the garden where the tomb was? Or how Mary Magdalene met the Risen Lord there and spoke with Him? Or how He met with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus and spoke with them but they only recognised Him in the breaking of the bread when He sat down to eat with them? Or how He appeared to the Eleven, entering the locked room in which they had hidden themselves?
The simple answer is that we do, of course, have such readings as part of Pacha. Those who came early to our Paschal Divine Liturgy would have heard read the first eight verses of the final chapter Saint Mark’s Gospel which recounts many of the details I mentioned. And those who attended services yesterday for Holy Saturday would have heard all of the last chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel, which also tells us of many of these events. It may be useful to recall here the words of Saint John in his Gospel when he tells us that if a person were to try to write down all the Jesus had done and said during His time on earth, the world could not contain all the books that would be written as a result. Well, neither does the Church try to cram everything in to one short service (no matter how long any particular service may seem to some). No, the Liturgies and other services of Holy Week are all intertwined, each playing its part in telling us the story of the suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of our Lord.
And what part does today’s Gospel play? Now, of course, I was not part of the process that decided upon this reading being chosen for today; but when we look to what the Fathers have to say about this passage, I think I may dare to make a suggestion. Let us consider just a few of the words, which I think go to heart of this passage: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. There is much that can be said about what is written here, but to put it most simply, the essence of what the Fathers tell us is that Saint John is assuring us that God Himself became a man and came and lived among us. It reminds us on this joyful day of Pascha Who it was that suffered, died, was buried, and rose from the dead; it was God Himself who had taken flesh for our sakes, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity Who freed us from ours sins upon the Cross, and in rising from the dead gave us the promise of eternal life. Think of how vast the universe is. The one who made all that was willing to become a mortal man for our sakes. More than that, He was willing to suffer and die upon a cross for us.
And not just for the sake of those of us whom we might consider to be good or worthy, for none of us are worthy of such a gift from God, but for all men, even the worst of sinners. Think of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who helped the Romans and had made himself rich from the misery of his own people; Christ said to him that salvation had come to his house. Think of the man sometimes referred to as the ‘Good Thief’ who hung on a cross to the right of our Lord on Golgotha; we do not know what his crimes were, but he himself declared that he was deserving of his sentence of death on a cross. But Christ said to him ‘this day you will be with Me in Paradise’. And think of Saint Mary of Egypt, a woman who not only willingly embraced a life of serious sin, but rejoiced when she could drag others down with her into the sewer that was her unholy life. She ended as a great saint of the Church.
Wretched and unworthy though they may once have been, Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead for them. And wretched and unworthy as we are now, Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead for us. This is why we should be joyful in our faith every day of our lives. And this is the reason of our joy this glorious Pascha, and why we proclaim: ‘Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!’
Amen.
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