Meditations on the Resurrection of Christ
Meditations on the Resurrection of Christ..1
The Lord Christ came to erase sin and erase its consequences, and among the consequences of sin is death. He erased the sin of the world by His death on the cross, and it remained for Him to conquer the death that sin had brought into the world, so He conquered death by the Resurrection. And by His death He gave us hope in the resurrection of the dead. Yet the Resurrection of the Lord had another importance: establishing the faith that seemed to have been lost and ended with the crucifixion of Christ.
It seemed that all the work of Christ had been destroyed by His crucifixion. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” (Zech. 13:7) The disciples fled at His arrest; none of them remained near the cross except John the Beloved. Then they secluded themselves in fear in the upper room; none of them dared to appear or speak. Even Peter, who had once insisted strongly, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You” (Mark 14:31), this too denied and blasphemed and said, “I do not know the Man.”
And the people who followed Christ and saw His miracles were shaken to the core: some cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him,” and some were afraid and fled, and some wept and were satisfied with weeping.
As for the enemies, they grew arrogant and took control of the situation. They deceived the people, forced the governor to submit to their will, and were able to carry out their judgments, not only in crucifying Christ, but even after His death when they secured His tomb with guards.
Everything was dark, gloomy, and despairing… then Christ arose to change the course of events, restore hope to souls, and return faith to hearts.
And the first thing He did after His Resurrection was to go and visit those who had left Him and denied Him. He was not upset with those who abandoned Him in the hardest times. He did not reject the people who denied His goodness. Nor did He despair of those leaders whom He had labored to raise and train, and whom He saw before Him fearful and hidden, none of them daring to utter His name.
He did not say: Where is friendship and where is loyalty? Where is courage and where is valor? Where is faithfulness and where is love? Where is the labor I labored for you for so many years?! He did not confront the situation with reproach and blame, but began by visiting those who had left Him and caring for those who had doubted Him… He looked at that destroyed building and, with wondrous long-suffering, gathered its scattered stones to rebuild again with the same stones.
How many miracles occurred at the time of Christ’s crucifixion: the sun was darkened, the earth quaked, the rocks split, the tombs were opened, and the veil of the temple was torn… but did everyone benefit from these miracles? No, each person benefits according to the readiness of his heart.
When the earth quaked, the thief believed, but the priests and their leaders did not believe. And when blood and water came out from Christ’s side, the centurion and his soldiers believed, but the leaders of the people did not. The matter does not depend on the miracle and its magnitude, but more on the readiness of the human heart from within and his desire to benefit.
And so it happened in the story of the Resurrection, and in the story of the Crucifixion. The miracles existed, but people differed: some benefited, and some did not.
The chief priests and leaders of the Jewish people saw the sun darkened at midday at the crucifixion of Christ. Yet they did not benefit, for their hearts were darker than the darkness upon the earth…
Indeed, after these miracles that led the repentant thief and the centurion to believe, they went to Pilate and said of Christ: “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” (Matt. 27:62–64).
And thus they took soldiers with them, went, secured the tomb with guards, and sealed the stone. And they did not care that they were doing this on the Sabbath—those who said that Christ was a sinner because He healed the sick on the Sabbath! As long as they were zealous for the Sabbath and opposed Christ because of it. In fact, they requested that the legs of the crucified be broken and their bodies taken down so they would not remain on the cross and defile the Sabbath… What strange zeal for the Sabbath, yet they take soldiers with them on the Sabbath night, seal the tomb on the Sabbath night, and set guards over the tomb on the Sabbath—and none of this was a sin!!
As if they said in their hearts while sealing the tomb on the Sabbath: “We have broken the Sabbath in order to break the breaker of the Sabbath!” But Christ—while they were sealing His tomb—was freeing the redeemed from Hades and unsealing the locked Paradise and admitting into it those who had fallen asleep in hope…
How easy it is for people to play with their consciences as they wish. There are persons whose consciences are rounded like a ball, rolling on any side; wherever it slips, it rests! And those people were of that type. But what they did turned against them, not for them. For had they not sealed the tomb themselves and placed their own guards, they could later have objected and said the disciples stole the body. But now that they secured it with guards and sealed it, what could they say when the tomb was empty and Christ had risen in great glory and came out of the sealed tomb just as He came forth at His birth from the womb of the Virgin while her virginity remained sealed…
After the Resurrection of Christ, a great earthquake occurred: “For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.” (Matt. 28:2–4).
Did the guards benefit from this great miracle? Did the chief priests and elders of the people benefit? No, the holy seeds fell on stony ground…
Our father Abraham was right when he said, “Neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” (Luke 16:31)
If an excuse may be sought for the Gentile soldiers who knew nothing about the Messiah and His glory, what of the priests, teachers of the Law, who were supposed to be careful with the commandments of the Lord and their fulfillment? When they heard of the Resurrection from the soldiers, they gave them a bribe, put false words in their mouths, and said to them: “Say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” So they took the silver and did as they were instructed, and this saying is commonly reported. (Matt. 28:11–15)
Thus they did not benefit from the miracle of the Resurrection, but grew in evil. They lied and taught others to lie. And poorly so. They instructed them to say that the disciples stole Him while they slept!! If you were asleep, how did you know in your sleep that His disciples took Him?! Truly, the rope of lies is short…
But they did not stop at lying; they falsely accused others, imputing theft to the disciples. They paid a bribe to cover their actions. They harmed the reputation of the soldiers. They deceived the governor. And they misled the entire people who were deceived by them.
And in all that deception they described Christ as a deceiver. As if they were saying to Pilate: save the people from this deceiver, so that we may deceive them instead!!
The seeds of the miracle of the Resurrection, when they fell upon the hearts of those leaders, fell upon stony ground and had no effect on them.
Their concern for preserving their positions overshadowed concern for their eternity.
He was mighty in His Resurrection.
The first thing the Lord did when He gave up His spirit was seize the devil and bind him for a thousand years. Then after that He descended into Hades (Eph. 4:9), preached to those who had fallen asleep in hope, led them all, and entered with them and with the repentant thief into Paradise.
After the Lord’s death He was able to open the gate of Paradise, which had remained closed for thousands of years since the fall of Adam and Eve.
He whom they thought dead in the tomb, upon which they set seals, was able to open the gate of Paradise and bring into it all who had fallen asleep in hope, leading them in the procession of His victory.
And the Lord showed us in His Resurrection that we should never despair, however much our ministry seems to have failed and our work appears fruitless. Rather, with patience and long-suffering everything is corrected. Between the crucifixion of Christ and His Resurrection, faith seemed collapsed and lost, and the believers were hidden in fear and sorrow. But when the Lord rose, He turned their sorrow into joy, and their doubt into faith, and changed the course of events in the opposite direction. And the seeds of doubt returned to life in the joys of the Resurrection of the Lord.
++ Blessed is the Lord who conquered death by His death and Resurrection, and granted us also to rise with Him and to sing with Him, saying:
Where, O death, is your sting?
Where, O Hades, is your victory?
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III published in Watani newspaper on 14-4-1974.
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