Executing Death

 

Father Paul is the sort of priest people gather around when he speaks.  Part of this may be his British accent, hearkening back to his place of birth.  This means he sounds smarter than everyone else in the room every time he speaks.  Part of it is he is a seasoned homilist, able to distill complex theological thoughts into easily understandable statements.  And part of it is, well, we love him and enjoy listening to him speak.

I think most of it, though, is that he tends to see the obvious things about Orthodox theology that are easy for most of us to miss.  Such was the case this past Sunday, Palm Sunday for us in the Eastern Church.  

The homily was really amazing from top to bottom. The topic, of course, was our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem, where He will, this coming Friday (liturgically speaking), meet His death.  Father Paul dealt with the abandonment of Christ on the cross, by the same followers that were cheering Him as He entered the city.  He dealt with the palm branches as symbols of victory, and how those waving them had no idea what sort of victory that entailed.  But there was one thing he said that really struck me.  He said that Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem would not end in the execution of some barbarian king, as was common in ancient Rome, but "in the execution of death itself."

The Christian life is so easy to distill into the wrong sorts of quips and pithy sayings.  "Jesus loves me."  Well, sure.  He loves those who are not united to Him as well.  Or "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."  That one is a bit more dangerous.  He loved the martyrs too.  He loves those stricken with illness or injury too.  He loves the poor, certainly as much as any.  He loves the imprisoned.  God is not a self-help director.  God loving you is no guarantee that you will not suffer.  In fact, for the Christian, quite the opposite.  It is often in our suffering that we most vividly meet Christ, as He warned us would be the case.

Which brings us to this beautiful statement: Christ entered Jerusalem to "execute death itself"  

That one says a mouthful.  And in so few words.  Christ did not come to end our suffering, but to enter it, and by so doing, end the hold that death and suffering would otherwise have over us.  It isn't that it is such an original thought.  The Church, as you will see below, sings about it quite a lot.  But I certainly have never articulated it in word or thought as neatly as that.  The Christian suffers.  The Christian mourns.  The Christian doubts.  But the Christian has hope.  Because Christ has gone to the tomb before us to pave the way to eternity.  Death to the Orthodox Christian is not the end.  It is not even a new beginning.  It is a transformation, for Christ has transformed death.  Death cannot hold the author of life.  And so He entered it, and as the Resurrectional Troparion in Tone 7 reminds us, "shattered" it.  

Thou didst shatter death by Thy cross, Thou hast opened paradise to the thief!  Thou didst turn the sadness of the myrhhbearing women into joy!

Death is no longer what it was.  It is now something new, a passage into eternity that is welcomed by the Christian.  Not something to be sought after in a nihilistic or suicidal fashion, but neither something to fear and avoid at all costs.  Death is our eternal rest.  And we rest in the arms of a God Who, as Father Paul reminded us at the close of his homily, and as the Church reminds us at every dismissal "is good and loves mankind."  It is that statement, obviously, that inspired the title of this blog way back in 2010.

Similarly, in the Paschal Canon, we sing:

Thou didst descend into the deepest parts of the earth, 

and didst shatter the ever-lasting bars that held fast those that were fettered, O Christ. 

And on the third day, like Jonah from the sea monster, Thou didst arise from the grave.

Death is shattered.  It could not hold the author of life, and it can no longer hold us.  And in a few short days, the Church will sing "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!"  This is the Gospel, distilled into the shortest of sentences.  In a few short days, Christ will take up His cross, and execute death itself.  Glory to God.