Agape Vespers 2022

Dear brothers and sisters, we say those words.

We affirm our belief. in something, not a religious

principle, not a philosophical idea, not a social

movement, but about a person that we confess

based on the eyewitnesses that rose from the

dead. I can remember reading stories from Soviet

times when government officials would come to

a small town to re -educate the population about

Marxist philosophy and the workers and the glorious

future ahead if everybody just gives up enough

now. And they would go on and on and on about

the foolishness of belief in God. The foolishness

of a belief in a Savior who was crucified with

criminals. Who say, and it's just a myth, we

all know this. They would say, that rose from

the dead. And they'd go on and on. And then some

old lady would stand up and say, Christos vizcrese,

and the entire crowd would answer back, Vizcrese!

And the government officials would bow their

heads like these people are just fools. But the

foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of

man. So if it means we're fools, then let's say

we're fools for Christ's sake. But it's an incredible

message. And if the heart has hardened, if there

is fear about what it could mean to believe in

Christ, and I'll say once again, as I did a few

weeks ago in a sermon, Christ is a troublemaker

in your life. If there's a hesitation, if you

are holding something back, you don't want to

confess Christ is risen. You want to have hope

in this world. Isn't it interesting that the

gospel today ends with these words? Not, indeed

he is risen, and Jesus is king and Lord over

all. No, that's later in the book of Revelation.

The Alpha. and the omega, and that the light

of the sun won't be needed, nor will the light

of the moon, because God will be their light.

No, the reading today ends with this sentence.

I will not believe. And that's important. We

hear that today on Pascha. Not to talk ourselves

into some kind of faith, but so we make sense

of... this incredible historical event that has

changed the course of history. Now you may say,

well, lots of things changed the course of history.

But not one heart at a time. Not for peace in

the heart that surpasses all understanding. And

it makes no sense otherwise. We hear these words,

you hear this phrase last night. Let no one fear

death, for the Savior's death has set us free.

He that was taken by death annihilated it. He

descended into Hades, and he took Hades, the

grave, death, captive. We hear those words, and

maybe they go right by us. They sound pious and

religious, but we have to remember death is more

than the death of the body. Yes, Christ rose

bodily from the grave, but our salvation begins

here, now, with life of the soul, with renewal,

with restoration, with glorification, and with

deification in our baptism, in the gift of the

Holy Spirit, and the soul comes alive. The spiritual

meaning and content of death, writes Father Alexander.

Of death as above all a spiritual and not only

a biological reality. This is what the overwhelming

number of Christians, death means exclusively

physical death, the end of this life. And that

Christ rose from the dead has changed nothing.

We still die. St. John Chrysostom says, yes,

but since Christ's resurrection, to die is not

to be cut off. from God. Because the body is

laid to rest and it will rise again. The destruction

of death by Christ, we say trampling down death

by death, is a unique, incredible Christian joy

in the midst of suffering, in the midst of death

even. Because we know that our own death means

that we will come to Christ and that we will

rise again. Otherwise, what's it mean there's

no dead in the tombs? They're with Christ. Christ

said, yes, come to me. Come to me, all ye that

are heavy laden. He didn't say, come to me, all

ye that are heavy laden, and I'll take care of

all your problems and all the suffering. No,

he said, come to me, you that are heavy laden,

and I will give you a rest. Rest for your souls.

Let us rest in God, brothers and sisters. If

Christ is truly risen, then there are no dead

in the grave, but they are with God. Father Alexander

goes on to say this. A modern man, even a Christian,

whose understanding of death is entirely biological,

does not hear the Christian gospel about the

destruction and abolition of death. Because on

the biological level, nothing has happened. Indeed,

nothing has happened after Christ's death. Death

has neither been destroyed nor abolished. It

remains the same inescapable and natural law

for saints and sinners, for believers and unbelievers

alike. The same principle of the world's very

existence. But the Christian gospel... doesn't

just mean the mortality of the body and the immortality

of the soul. You can be dead and spiritually

alive. You can be physically alive and spiritually

dead, cut off from God. So we have to live the

life of the age to come. Thomas could not see

yet in the other apostles the reality of Christ's

resurrection. Bishop Anthony Bloom says because

they were still like statues. They were not animated

by the life of the age to come. They were not

yet imbued with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

They could not yet rejoice fully in what it meant

that their Lord had just walked through those

locked doors. And they were fearful. But when

Christ says, peace be unto you, the first words

he says to the apostles, he says it unto you

and to me. And so we live the life of the resurrection

now, which means the Beatitudes. And this wonderful

verse, now have I made a beginning. This change

has been wrought by the hand of the Most High.

We are to live as peacemakers, as those... Blessed

who mourn for those around us. As humble, as

persecuted, but not struck down. Always hoping

our hope is based on Christ, not on something

else. Not on something else. Not even our own

application and understanding, which can never...

pierce through the holy and incredible reality

of the mystery of the resurrection of God become

man, his death and resurrection. This is a day

of joy. I greet you with the joy of the resurrection.

I pray that the Lord pierces each of our hearts

with his peace and his love and his brightness

so that you will feel The joy that Thomas felt

when you hear this gospel on Sunday. After eight

days, again the disciples were within. And Thomas

this time was with them. The doors being shut,

Christ stood in the midst and said, Peace be

to you. Then he said to Thomas, Reach hither

thy finger and behold my hands. Jesus was not

a ghost. Reach hither thy hand, thrust it into

my side. Be not faithless, but believing. And

Thomas answered and said unto him, The words

that we were dying to hear the entire gospel

of John. From the time we heard, the word became

flesh. My Lord and my God. Amen. Christ is risen.