Coffee With Sister Vassa -- CHRIST GIVES WOMEN A NEW VOICE

 “Women, hear the voice of gladness: ‘Trampling on the tyrant Hell, I have raised the world from corruption. Run, tell my friends the good tidings, for I wish joy to shine on what I fashioned from the source from which came grief’.” (Exapostilarion of Myrrh-Bearers’ Sunday)

In this hymn, which will be chanted this upcoming Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, Christ is addressing these Myrrh-Bearers, and through them all women. He tells us not to walk, but to “run,” and tell His “friends” the good news of the resurrection. Thus He grants women a voice we did not properly have, ever since Adam was banished from paradise, – as God says to Adam, “ Because you listened to the voice of your wife.” (Gen 3: 17) Now, right after His resurrection, Christ chooses to spread joy “ from the source from which came grief,” the female voice, employing women as His witnesses and as the first messengers of the resurrection, – not only or primarily to other women, but to His male disciples.

The “voice” of women was not well-received by the Apostles, who thought their words to be “ nonsense, and they did not believe them” (Lk 24: 11). And throughout Church History even up to our time, the voice of women, on the rare occasion that it is heard at all, is received not un-problematically. Hence from apostolic times, when women first reacted to their new vocation by being afraid “ and did not say a word to anyone” (Mk 16:8), it continues to be difficult, both for women to speak in the Church, and for men to hear them. Nonetheless, it happens, by the grace of the risen Lord, Who continues to call us to the perilous business of being His “witnesses,” that we may overcome the brokenness of our communion with Him and one another. So let’s spread His joy today, as He calls us to do, saying: “ Women, hear the voice of gladness!”

Monday Morning Meditation -- A Shuddering Awe

Source: sttekla.org

 

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

In the Gospel According to St. Mark, we hear of the discovery of the empty tomb by the myrrhbearing women "very early on the first day of the week." (16:1) This would be the day after the Sabbath, or our Sunday - the "Lord's Day." Since that astonishing morning until this day, Sunday is the most prominent day of worship for Christians, for it was on this day that the resurrection of the Lord was made manifest to the world. And that manifestation was first made to the group of women disciples we know collectively as "the myrrhbearers." 

St. Mark specifically mentions "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome" who "bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him." (16:1) These loyal and loving women had come, somewhat counter-intuitively, to anoint the body of the dead Jesus, though they were aware of the large stone that had been rolled "against the door of the tomb." (15:46) Or, perhaps it was a deeper intuition that brought them to the tomb in the hope that they could fulfill their ministry to the Lord. St. Mark narrates: "And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen." (16:2) The "risen sun" is certainly a wonderful anticipation of what the women were soon to discover. Yet, having arrived at the tomb where Jesus had been laid, "looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large." (16:4)

The myrrhbearing women will now enter an empty tomb. Indeed, why was it empty? The empty tomb needed interpretation, or the women would be lost in distressful and fruitless speculation. The interpretation of the empty tomb will simultaneously be the proclamation of the "Good News." The interpreter and proclaimer will be "a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe" (16:5), clearly an angel. And that means that what he proclaims will be a divine revelation. In his presence, the women "were amazed." (16:5). The strength of the Gk. word for "amazed" (used only here in the entire NT by St. Mark) has been further translated as "a strong feeling of awe and agitation in the face of the numinous" (D. E. Nineham), or even a "shuddering awe." (A. E. J. Rawlinson) It is at this point in the dramatic narrative that we hear the "Good News" referred to above: "And he said to them 'Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him'." (16:6) The tomb is empty because Jesus had been raised from the dead! It was the will of God that the women have the privilege of discovering this. In the words of Peter Chrysologus:

He did not roll back the stone to provide a way of escape for the Lord but to show the world that the Lord had already risen. He rolled back the stone to help his fellow servants believe, not to help the Lord rise from the dead. He rolled the stone for the sake of faith, because it had been rolled over the tomb for the sake of unbelief. He rolled back the stone so that he who took death captive might hold the title of Life. SERMON 75.4

This is a bodily resurrection, and not in some vague spiritual or "metaphorical" sense. Jesus of Nazareth, who had been crucified and buried, had been raised. The "Jesus of history" and the "Christ of faith" are one and the same. The resurrection reveals an awesome transformation, but it is Jesus of Nazareth who is transformed, thus assuring the continuity that is essential to reveal the victory over death that occurs in the resurrection.

The myrrhbearers then hear a further revelation from the angel: "But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." (16:7) This is in fulfillment of Christ's earlier words: "But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." (14:28) The Gospel According St. Matthew will record such an appearance of the Risen Lord to His disciples in Galilee. (MATT. 28:16-20) Then the women, apparently in that same state of amazement "fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid." (16:8) I hope and pray that at some point in the paschal season; or at any time during the year - or during our lifetime! - we too can "tremble" and be filled with "astonishment" that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Is this an enigmatic ending to the initial discovery of the empty tomb and the proclamation of the resurrection? Did the myrrhbearing women fail in their ministry as "apostles to the apostles" because of their (initial) silence? I believe that St. Mark is leaving us with the overwhelming sense of precisely encountering a divine reality that initially did leave the women speechless. As a scholar of this Gospel has written:

The women's profound emotion is described in order to bring out the overwhelming and sheerly supernatural character of that to which it was the response (see also 4:41, 6:30, 9:15), and perhaps to suggest to the reader that if he has even begun to understand the full significance of what had occurred, he too will be bound to respond with amazement and godly fear." (D. E. Nineham, St. Mark, Pelican New Testament Commentaries, p. 447-448).

It is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that the Orthodox Church proclaims to this day with faith, conviction and the certainty that God has acted "in Christ Jesus" within history in a decisive and "eschatological" manner in order to reclaim, restore and renew God's fallen creation. Of course, other Christian churches proclaim the very same victory over death in the Resurrection of Christ. However, the Resurrection understood as the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ has been challenged, "reinterpreted," or rejected by a fair share of biblical scholars and theologians. We need to be fully aware that the bodily resurrection of Christ does not refer to a resuscitated corpse. There is a tremendous element of transformation in the "spiritual body" of the Lord. The mysterious aspect of this transformation is conveyed in many of the scriptural texts that try and describe - perhaps less than adequately, or at least not exhaustively - the risen life of the Lord. Also, a resuscitated Jesus would have died again, as did Lazarus, the daughter of the elder Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain. 

But St. Paul affirms: "For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." (ROM. 6:9) There has "arisen" a sad division amongst Christians over this essential issue. To follow Jesus or to believe in Him apart from His bodily resurrection and all that that implies for Christology, anthropology, and eschatology, is to follow "another Gospel." (GAL. 1:7) Such a Jesus did not "trample down death by death." 

The further words of Peter Chrysologus captures the choice before us when contemplating the empty tomb:

Pray that the angel would descend now and roll away all the hardness of our hearts and open up our closed senses and declare to our minds that Christ has risen, for just as the heart in which Christ lives and reigns is heaven, so also the heart in which Christ remains dead and buried is a grave. May it be believed that just as he died, so was he transformed. Christ the man suffered, died and was buried; as God he lives, reigns, is and will be forever. SERMONS 75.4

CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN!

Coffee with Sister Vassa -- WHY ARE THE RISEN LORD’S WOUNDS FAITH-AFFIRMING?

This week, throughout which the hymns of Thomas Sunday continue to be chanted in church-services, let’s think about why it is specifically the woundsof the risen Lord that convince Thomas that his Lord and his God is. Thomas had been traumatized, as had been the other Apostles, by the triumph of injustice over Jesus, Who was publicly humiliated, crucified, dead and buried. Jesus, Who was innocent of the charges brought against Him, Who had only done good for others, was executed like a criminal, and those who had committed this crime got away with it. How could God, if He is God, if He is at all, have let this happen?

This question, I mean, the question arising from the senseless, entirely-unjust violence suffered by innocent people, is the one that most often makes it hard to believe in God. Hence the disbelief of Thomas. But here’s why the wounds of the risen Lord renew the Apostle’s faith: The Lord, even after His resurrection, continues to carry the wounds inflicted on Him, on His risen Body. The Body of Christ carries the evidenceof the crimes committed. The evidence, my friends, is not erased, not forgotten by God, not swept under the rug, no. The wounds of all those who suffer at the hands of unjust and mindless violence are carried henceforth on the Body of Christ, no longer harmed by the wounds, but testifying to all the injustice that will, in the end, in God’s time, be judged by Him.

Of course, these wounds are an open invitation to repent, for those who have been inflicting such wounds on the Body of Christ; on human beings in this world that God so loved, that He sent His only-begotten Son into it and into all its madness. These wounds are also enabling us, in communion with Him, to be partakers of the risen-yet-wounded, new Life in Him. We are empowered to carry also the wounds, without being harmed or deadened by them. As we continue to witness, in our unjust world, a lot of injustice that seems to hold power, that seems to be triumphing, at times, we are also given to know and to trust that God’s only-begotten Son holds on to the evidence of the crimes, carrying the wounds on His precious Body. Lord, help us co-carry the wounds, by Your grace, in faith and patience and wisdom and love. Our Lord and our God, glory be to You.

Midweek Morning Meditation

Source: prayerrope.co

 "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28)

"Who do people men say that the Son of man?" asks Jesus of his disciples (Matt. 16:13). This is a question that still demands an answer to this day, as the figure of Jesus of Nazareth continues to engage the world, if not "haunt" the imagination. In the immediate context of that question being asked, Peter spoke up, seemingly on behalf of the other disciples, and declared: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16). Today, using a bit of jargon, we would call this a Christological confession of faith. At that moment, and if only momentarily because of his later betrayal of the Master, Peter the fisherman and disciple discerned the true identity of the Son of man, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus makes it clear, though, "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (v. 17). 

Perhaps not quite as well known, but no less powerful in its Christological confession of faith, we hear these words from Mary, the sister of Lazarus: "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world" (Jn. 11:27). Overwhelmed with grief because her beloved brother had just died, Mary had the insight to proclaim these words to Jesus, trusting that he could still do "something" on behalf of her brother. This second confession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God, now comes from a woman who was close to Christ during his ministry. Jesus then demonstrated the truth of her confession by raising her dead brother back to life again.

These two confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God had been made before the Passion and Resurrection. They were deep and incisive confessions of faith that will resonate wherever this Gospel is preached until the end of time. And these confessions of faith shape the way that we see and understand who Jesus is in our personal lives and in our liturgical and theological traditions. 

Yet, following the Death and Resurrection of Christ, there is another confession of faith that reveals the fullness of the identity of the Lord. For Thomas "one of the twelve, called the twin," (Jn. 20:24) will be transformed from unbelief to belief when he encounters the risen Lord in the upper room eight days after the other disciples saw their Lord risen from death. And they "were glad when they saw the Lord." (v. 20) When Thomas encounters Christ and after he is invited to touch the wounds of the Lord, he cries out: "My Lord and my God!" (v. 28). Accepting this confession of faith from Thomas, Jesus utters words that are directed to all of us who throughout the centuries come to faith in him: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe" (v. 29). 

At the beginning of the Gospel, the evangelist John reveals the true nature of Jesus Christ as the Word of God incarnate (Jn. 1:1-18). At the end of the Gospel, a human being - the disciple Thomas - now accepts that revelation and knows if for himself within the depths of his being. When we make that same confusion of faith - openly or inwardly - we join countless believers throughout the ages who believe "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (Jn. 20:31).

Coffee with Sister Vassa -- BELIEVING ONE ANOTHER

 

“… Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” (Jn 20: 26-31)

“ These are written,” – thus St. John explains to us the purpose of his Gospel, – “ that you may believe…, and that believing you may have life…” We do not “see” the risen Lord in the same way that Thomas and the other eye-witnesses saw Him. But we believe their eye-witness accounts, their life-giving testimony to His new life, because God willed it so, that we receive the gift of faith from one another, from other human beings. “ Blessed are those who have not seen,” He says about us, “ and yet believe” because of the testimony of other human beings. In Christ’s one Body that is the Church, His Spirit breathes new life into us, by fostering faith not only in Him, but also in one another, in human testimony to Him. This is a particularly precious gift in our “ post-truth” world of “ fake news,” which threatens to destroy our faith in the human capacity to receive and pass on truth; to bear trustworthy witness to God’s “ good news” that is Truth.

“ That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship/communion (κοινωνίαν) with us,” St. John reminds us elsewhere (1 Jn 1: 3). Thank You, Lord, for uniting us, and teaching us to trust one another, by entrusting Your good news to merely-human beings. Holy Apostles, pray to God for us!