The Joy of the Resurrection
Notes
Transcript
Many times we find ourselves rejoicing during the day/night of the feast of resurrection or maybe during that whole week, but hardly ever does it go on for longer than that
Then begins the period until pentecost and we often times think there is no meaning to this period - Let us try to see what is the meaning of this period
From the Resurrection to Pentecost
From the Resurrection to Pentecost
And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
ἔκστασις -εως, ἡ; (ekstasis), n. amazement; astonishment.
“Inexplicable and overwhelming joy” So how can we have this Joy?
Rejoice O race of Adam, with spiritual joy, for the creator of Adam, Christ is risen from the dead.
All humanity is considered to be the race of Adam. And so, before the coming of Christ we were doomed. Sin equaled death and since all men sinned everyone was under the condemnation of death.
However, with the coming of Christ we are a new creature, sin has no more power of us as Christ became sin. 1 Jn 2:2
1 John 2:2 (KJV 1900)
And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
propitiation n. — the means of appeasing wrath and gaining the good will of an offended person; especially with respect to sacrifices for appeasing angered deities.
Sin is erased by His blood - Even if your sin drags you to the darkest abyss Continued. 1Jn 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Can sin erase the Resurrection?
Are you deprived of the Resurrection because of your sins?
Never! The Joyous news of the Resurrection does not gladden EXCEPT the heart of the Sinner!
"The truly blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels; the truly blessed are the ones who can see their own sins."
+ St Anthony
So now when someone is far from God and comes back to Him, he is then risen from death to life with Christ.
HOW?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
When we sin we now have the body and blood of Christ that restores our Joy. Jn 6:53-54
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
So if we are Risen with Christ - He raises us from death to life but from what else? From our Human Nature to the Divine Nature
“God became man so that man might become god”
— St Athanasius
We see this in the example of every saint after Christ - every act they do is because of the Divine Nature they inherited
ex.: raising the dead, casting out demons, offering their bodies to severe tortures in every generation up until today, red martyrdom, white martyrdom
And so we can deduct from all the above that this is our Easter deposit or inheritance.
It is our right and our duty to relentlessly demand and claim this every day until your receive filly “to the last mite” (Think of an earthly inheritance that your grandparents never had access to and now you do)
If anyone is naked and lacks the divine and heavenly garment which is the power of the Spirit, as it is said: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him” (Rom 8:9), let him weep and beg the Lord that he may receive from Heaven the spiritual garment.
Let him beg that now stripped of any divine energies, he may be clothed, since the man who is not clothed with the garment of the Spirit is covered with great shame of “evil affections” (Rom 1:26).
Let us beg that this fire come also to us so that, constantly walking in the light, we may never for even a moment “dash our feet against the stone” (Ps 91:12), “but shining as lights in the world,” we may “hold forth the word of eternal life” (Phil 2:15), so that, enjoying ourselves among the saints of God with the Lord, we may find rest in life, glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory forever.
Once we put on this divine nature nothing in the world can strip us of this Joy - not even death as we see in the martyrs where people would leave their homes and run to their death
ex. St Dolagy offering her kids making sure they are killed before her.
So the goal of Pentecost is to intensify our desire for the promise of the Father - This desire is the meaning of Easter - This expectation with desire is capable to overcome human nature - That’s why the Church tries to inspire this great desire in man so that he may be able to be raised above his own nature - So the desire of God overcomes the nature of man - And every year the Church tries during this period to stir up this desire so that the glory of God may be manifest in the innermost recesses of his heart.