The event of Christ’s Descent
from the Cross and Burial is odd and praiseworthy, because it was not
looked after by His Disciples, but by two counselors of the High Court
of the Jewish nation, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus. The Apostle
Saint Peter was still in tears for his denial and the rest of the
Apostles were scattered, as was foretold by their Teacher,
"I
will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be
scattered abroad" (Matthew 26:31).
According to the Jewish law,
"cursed is every one who is hanged on a tree" "(Gal. 3: 13).
The two counselors of the High Court, moved by their philanthropic
feelings for the crucified and abandoned - by - all Teacher of Nazareth,
and because of their personal characters, showed readiness and courage
to carry out the task. Great courage and boldness, was required, to ask
to bury the body of a person who just died and who was condemned
officially by the Roman Government.
The name Jesus itself, the
reason of His condemnation and the way it was carried out, justify Saint
Mark, the Evangelist, using the term "courage", to
describe the courage of Saint Joseph of Arimathaea. Jesus was a deadly
enemy of the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees.
He was condemned by the High
Court of the Temple, as a blasphemer of God and an enemy of the Mosaic
Law and the Jewish nation. He was sentenced to death as a traitor, as a
revolutionary who attempted to stir up a revolution against the Roman
suzerainty. Finally, He was condemned, because He was accused of being
ambitious of kingship, an act which made Him an enemy of the Roman
Emperor.
Great courage was required in
order to appear before the local Governor and ask to bury, with honor,
the body of such a man. The fierce crowd, the fanatic archpriests, the
members of the High Court, Sadducees, Pharisees, Scribes and Pilate’s
attitude, who in public officially condemned Jesus, were the great
obstacles which Joseph of Arimathaea had to surpass.
Joseph, "being a disciple
of Jesus", as many other counselors, "for the fear of the
Jews" (John 19: 37) remained in hiding. Because of the fear not
to be cast out of the Synagogue, Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus
with whom Christ spoke about the spiritual renewal and salvation which
men will achieve, through the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, the basis and
assumption to inherit God’s Kingdom.
Two counselors, who opposed the
unjust and inhuman decision of the High Court of the Temple, by which
Jesus was condemned, now co-operate ( ? co-operate over what ? ) for the
descending from the Cross and the burial of the Just Teacher of
Nazareth, Whom the centurion, Saint Longinus proclaimed as "the
Son of God" (Matthew 27:54). Their spiritual pain led them to
express their love and respect, which they had for Jesus.
Joseph of Arimathea took the
body of Jesus down from the Cross, and wrapped it in a clean linen
cloth, as was the custom amongst the Jews.
"And he
laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and
he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed"
(Matthew 27:60).
Today, in the twenty-first
century we, the Orthodox Christians are called to confess our faith
before a society which denies religion; before the indifferent
politicians, the atheists idealist and philosophers, who in one way or
the other turn against Jesus Christ and His Church. We are called to
spread the precious myrrh of love and alms on man’s sufferings. We are
called to spread the myrrh of good works on our souls, in order that the
whole man, his whole hypostasis and existence, has the fragrance of the
Resurrected Christ.
The
Orthodox Church reminds us today about the heroic and courageous deed of
St. Joseph of Arimathaia and Nicodemus. Let us imitate their faith and
life. Today, we who live in a society with few Orthodox, ought to
confess our Orthodox Faith with courage, without any hesitation and
fears. We must always have in our minds the words of our Lord, who says:
"Whosoever
shall confess me before men, I will confess him also before my
Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, I
will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 10:
32-33).
As Joseph provides for Christ’s
burial and the Myrrh-Bearing women come to anoint Christ’s body with
spices and oils, only to discover that the tomb is empty. They run from
the garden, the Bible tells us, “amazed and bewildered.” Now, we’ve
walked through the repentance and preparation of fifty days of Lent. We
prayed and worshipped through the intensity of Holy Week that erupted
into the Joy and triumph of Pascha, proclaiming that Christ through His
death has trampled down death, and we’ve experienced the celebration and
lightness of Bright Week. Why now, then, does the Church return to the
tomb? Let’s take a closer look.
We find these women watching as
Joseph takes Christ’s body down from the cross. They have followed Jesus
through his passion, witnessing that he was tried and crucified. They
have watched as Joseph of Arimathea stepped up and gave Jesus a proper
burial in his own tomb. They have seen the stone sealing the tomb. These
women loved Jesus, and now they grieve for the loss of their beloved
leader. All hope is lost. He is gone.
Yet even in the face of
hopelessness, these women act. They buy ointments that will help his
body dry out as it decays, and sweet spices so that even in death, his
body is honored. Their actions show their steadfast love for Christ,
that even after hope is shattered, they go the extra mile to honor
Jesus. Such is their love for this dead man.
In their actions, we see that the
myrrh-bearers came to anoint Christ not out of a desire for any
recognition or reward from Jesus, nothing that they could get out of it.
He is dead. The women probably have no recollection that Christ said he
would rise again, so they probably have no hope of triumph in Jesus’
death. They come not to receive, and probably not consciously to give
either, but they are motivated by their love for Him, that they want His
body to be blessed with sweet smelling fragrance.
Yet these women are honored with
being the first witnesses to Christ’s resurrection. They were the first
to know the joy that Christ had defeated death, that hope was fulfilled,
that despair and grief were not all that was left to them. And, they
were the first commissioned with going and telling others that Christ
had risen from the dead.
These women were not seeking the
excitement of some great commission, but they received this as a result
of their desire to love and serve Christ even after death.
Now, we know the triumph of
Christ. We know the end of the story. We know this even as we walk with
these women to the tomb, as they despair, hopeless. Yet still in our
lives, we also may deal with despair. Why am I stuck in this job? Why
can’t I pay my bills? Why can’t I be patient with my children? Why do I
feel so alone? When we are abandoned, when we try to follow God’s will
but can’t see the way, when we lose someone or something we don’t think
we can live without, when we suffer, perhaps that is when we experience
Christ as dead.
There is a reason why we return
to the tomb after Pascha. The Church has specifically set for us,
through the lectionary, our return to the experience of Joseph and the
Myrrhbearers after they had lost their hope. The Church brings us back
to the worst place of their story. For while we know now of Christ’s
resurrection, and while we have been given the commission as witnesses
to go and tell about the risen Christ, still we, like Frodo and Sam are
also in the middle of our tale, not knowing how it will end.
It is interesting that the
first New Testament reading for today tells of the selection of the
first deacons of the Jerusalem Church. Perhaps the model for these
deacons and the model for all service is the myrrhbearers. As we heard
this morning, the deacons were established to serve the widows who were
being neglected. So the Church reminds us that in the same way that
Joseph took Christ’s body down from the cross, as the myrrhbearers came
to honor Christ’s body and bore witness to Christ’s resurrection, as the
deacons began their service by distributing food to the needy, so all of
us are commissioned to love the body of Christ, the Church.
We know that Christ has
trampled down death by death, yet still we live doing battle against
this present darkness (Eph. 6:12). We struggle for justice and peace, we
fight against ourselves to love our neighbors. But let’s be honest.
Sometimes we believe the triumph of Christ ultimately, but often we
struggle to find the triumph of Christ now in this day. This lesson of
the Myrrhbearers reminds us that even when we question how our stories
will end, whether Christ truly will triumph in us, still we can get up
early and bring spices to the Christ that we love, even when all seems
lost. Sometimes in our work within the Church, in our attempts to love
within our families, within society, it might often feel like we’re
working with a dead corpse. But we may be surprised to find what we
thought was dead is indeed alive. For the love that brought the
myrrhbearers is not unlike God’s love: It cannot be destroyed by death.
Christ died but has risen, trampling down our despair, trampling down
injustice, trampling down persecution, trampling down sickness,
trampling down war, trampling down evil, trampling down death. Christ is
victorious. This is the hope that we have, our hope to go on. Not false
hope, but hope based on the reality of the resurrection, the message of
the angel to the women at the tomb, passed down through the ages,
through time and space
Synaxis of all Saints of Thessalonica.
