O Christ, before Your precious Cross, death was fearsome to men.
But after Your glorious Passion, man became fearsome to death.
(Doxastikon for Vespers, Feast of the Holy Martyr Callistratus)
The Gospel readings which the Church appoints for the Paschal season share a singular purpose. They call out to us, that our certainty may grow: that Christ, Who rose from the dead, has indeed raised us with Him, so that we might bear witness to His Resurrection and rejoice. For Pascha, the Feast of the Lord's Resurrection, is also the feast of our own resurrection from every form of death. This is the one, indivisible goal.
In these lines, we will endeavor to draw illumination from these Paschal readings. What ought to capture our attention, Sunday after Sunday, is the historical fact that the Feast of Pascha was the occasion when, within its services (specifically, the service of Holy Saturday), the baptism of catechumens took place. These were Jews and pagans who had come to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior, whom the Church prepared to enter, through the new birth, into the membership of the triumphant Church. It is upon this foundation that the themes of this season were established, along with the requirements that ensure Baptism remains ever alive within us.
Following Pascha Sunday, five Sundays unfold, each with its own compelling significance: Thomas Sunday (John 20:19-31), the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women (Mark 15:43-16:8), the Sunday of the Paralytic (John 5:1-15), the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman (John 4:5-42), and the Sunday of the Blind Man (John 9:1-38). Contemplating these texts collectively, we first note that, with the exception of the Myrrh-bearers’ Sunday, they are all drawn from the Gospel of John. This has a historical basis: the Church would instruct the catechumens (and indeed all her members) to read the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) during the first three days of Holy Week. Then, after their baptism, they were to lean upon the Gospel of John, which, as Metropolitan Georges (Khodr) notes, "focuses more than the three [Synoptic] Gospels on the Lord’s divinity and His victory over death in the flesh" (My Parish, April 30, 2006). Through this, the Church desires, for them and for us, that we approach Church membership from the mind of the Lord, and that we walk always according to it, so that we remain "alive, having risen from the dead." We further observe that these same readings, again excepting the Gospel of the Myrrh-bearers, largely revolve around a single individual: Thomas, the paralytic, the Samaritan woman, the blind man. The direct reason for this choice by the Church is to emphasize that Christ, the Savior of the world, desires each one of us to bear witness to His glorious Resurrection.
A common thread among these Gospel texts is that they present us with ordinary individuals upon whom the light of Pascha shone, though they were undeserving. Thomas doubted the Lord’s Resurrection, then believed. The paralytic and the blind man were considered by their society to be sinners, divinely rejected. The Samaritan woman, in the view of official Jewish thought, was an outsider whose ancestors had defiled themselves through mixed marriages. These commonalities hold a meaning that must dwell in our hearts throughout this extended celebration. For it is the Lord’s Resurrection that makes us new persons; that is, no longer ordinary, but "members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). Indeed, we can observe that the Lord chooses "what was of no account and despised" (1 Corinthians 1:28), to transform them into figures of light and establish them as witnesses to His Kingdom. This should signify to us that the Paschal Christian is one who lives by the grace of God, received freely and without merit, and that the work of evangelism belongs to everyone, without distinction.
We can also note that the latter three texts make conspicuous mention of water (the Pool of Bethesda, Jacob’s Well, the Pool of Siloam), and water, of course, is a symbol of Baptism. The first two texts, however, do not mention water. Yet, they are not devoid of baptismal significance. On Thomas Sunday, Baptism is evident in the Apostle’s confession, which is the confession of every baptized person (Thomas says to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!"). And the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women depicts the angel at the tomb "clothed in a white robe." The tomb symbolizes the baptismal font, which signifies participation in the Lord’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-11), and the white robe represents the garments of the newly baptized. This illustrates what we alluded to earlier: this season is a time for emphasizing the witnessing role of the baptized.
Beyond Thomas’s testimony, the overarching theme of these Gospel narratives is the confession of Christ as the sole Lord of one’s heart. Joseph of Arimathea boldly requested the body of Jesus from Pilate. The women accepted the heavenly commission to inform the disciples that the Lord had risen. The paralytic testified before the Jews that Jesus was the one who healed him. The Samaritan woman left her water jar at the well and went to her people, saying, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did." The man born blind contended with the authorities of his people that Jesus is the Christ. This is the mandate of Baptism. For the task of every baptized person is to know the Lord personally, so as to witness to Him before all people. Each of these Paschal figures was granted to see Jesus, to speak with Him, and then to speak about Him. They all had their own concerns and preoccupations. But after their encounter with Him, He became their preoccupation. Their chief concern became to share their new experience with everyone placed on their path.
For to witness is, first and foremost, to express your love for God to those who live with you and near you. It is commendable to think of those far away, living in remote parts of the earth. It is good to desire that everyone who breathes on this planet should know your God. But the Lord wants you first to contribute to the spiritual quickening of those who are your partners in this earthly life: your family, relatives, friends, brothers and sisters in the parish, colleagues at work, and fellow citizens. Every sound Christian ambition is founded on this. This leaves no room for any sense of "unemployment." For the baptized Christian, no matter how harsh the days may become, does not consider himself idle. There is a perpetual work to be undertaken, a work more sublime than any other on earth: to declare his love for Him Who first loved him. To declare it in season and out of season. To be troubled by the death prevalent in his surroundings. And to say, in that place of death, to everyone he meets: "Christ is Risen! Come, let us go before Him into Galilee, that we may see Him."
What is the meaning of the angel’s words to the women: "Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you" (from the Gospel of the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women)? The general meaning is that the Lord promised His disciples He would meet them in Galilee after His Resurrection (Mark 14:28), and this confirms that His promise of resurrection was true and has been fulfilled. However, this presupposes another meaning: the Lord first met His disciples in "Galilee of the Gentiles." It was from there He chose them, and they walked with Him. This implies that the program of evangelism for the baptized is to bring all people, even those who, like Peter, denied the Lord, to that very place where the first disciples bound their destiny to that of their Teacher, meaning, to "leave everything and follow him" (Luke 5:11). Here, the phrase "as he said to you" must also signify that for those whom we invite to meet the living and life-giving Lord, He Himself will undertake to tell them everything. Evangelism, specifically, is to see yourself as a bridge for people to cross to reach the Christ of God; to point to Him, with words or without. Perhaps you do not possess an eloquent tongue. It is enough to contribute, with a look, a whisper, a gesture, an action, so that people may reach Him Who is "the Word of God." This, in fact, is what we read on the first Sundays of Lent, whose purpose was to lead us to Pascha, that is, to Baptism (John 1:44-51). There, the first disciples invited one another to see Jesus. Vision was the language. "Come and see," the phrase the Lord addressed to two of John the Baptist’s disciples, became Philip’s word to his friend Nathanael. And on the Paschal Sundays, it became the Samaritan woman’s word to her people.
Nevertheless, most of the texts from this period concur that some people, perhaps even most, may reject this new testimony. The unfolding events in some accounts indicate that this witness can cost its bearer great persecution (such as being cast out of the synagogue, as in the Gospel of the Sunday of the Blind Man). In reality, this is understood only by one whom the Christ of God has "found" (as in the Gospel of the Sunday of the Paralytic). For it is written that "indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12). Such is the bitterness of this bitter world. For how can one convey God, only to have Him rejected? Here, you recall that "faith is not for everyone" (2 Thessalonians 3:2). You recall this without judging anyone, and without forgetting that these texts do not mention their protagonists being negatively affected by people’s rejection of their testimony. No despair overcame them. They were captivated by what had happened to them. And this captivation was, for them, a complete outcome, an outcome capable, by God’s grace, of triumphing over all defiant hearts. So, as a reader, you must note that the characters in these texts accepted the good news. They stand within it, not outside or above it. They are witnesses to what they received. You must observe their fascination with the Lord and the consolation they received from Him, and strive to be among them. Some of these texts, like many others, present us with two kinds of people: those who are with the Lord, and those who are against Him. The choice is left to you, as reader or celebrant, to choose to be with Him, and to rejoice.
The finest Paschal conclusion is to speak of joy. It is heaven’s gift to those who have believed that the living Christ is Lord over their lives, enabling them to live, like those just emerged from the baptismal font, as His servants, and to abide in lasting joy.
