Home

Christ is Risen, Truly Risen

"Our Savior Jesus Christ … has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
II Timothy 1:10

Dear Faithful
Rejoicing in the Risen Christ, the Source and Fulfillment of our faith and salvation, I sincerely greet you all saying:
ܩܡ ܡܪܢ ܡܢ ܒܝܬ ܡܝ̈ܬܐ܆ ܫܪܝܪܐܝܬ ܩܡ
- Our Lord is risen, He is Risen -

Yes, our Lord to whom is glory, is risen, and appeared to His holy disciples. It is written in the book of Acts that He "Presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by His disciples for forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3), thus, and strengthening their faith. He granted them the authority of the priesthood and responsibility of the pastoral care of His Church and His people. After the Lord spent forty days being with His disciples and faithful, He ascended to heaven and sat at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19).

From that day on to the disciples and faithful, Resurrection day is the divine triumph day; the day of salvation and sacrifice; the day of reconciliation between heaven and earth; the day of the destruction of the fence of enmity between God and men.

The death of our Lord Jesus was not an execution but a sacrifice, not a defeat but a triumph, not an end but a beginning of Life. He truly accepted death in loving obedience to the will of His Heavenly Father as a sacrifice offering Himself for the salvation of the world. His death was not a defeat; instead, it was a great triumph over the enemies of the human race: sin the source of death, and Satan.

It was impossible that death could hold the Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, in His kingdom. Because: 1) Jesus died as the sin-bearer, not sinner. However, because He had no sin in Himself, His body also did not decay in the grave, for death is the wage of sin (Rom 6:23).

2) Perhaps it is also a statement about His power. Jesus at one point said He had the power to lay down His life and the power to take it back up again, by His Godhood power. (John 10:17-18).

Since Jesus is incarnated God, the source of Life, and has no sin, death has no authority on Him (since death is the wages of sin, Rom 6:23). Because where is Life, there is no death. Therefore, His death was not an end, for Jesus made death a passage to a higher and better life to all who believe in Him. He has gone before us in death to show us the way through the dark chambers of Sheol (Hades) to the brilliant light of the resurrection, the beginning of the fullness of Life to which we are all called in the Sacrament of Baptism.

Resurrection is true hope for eternal Life for us as believers, for our resurrected Savior assures us, saying: "Because I live, you shall also live" John 14:19. But, the resurrection of Life is for those who have done good works, as Jesus says: "and they will come out, those who have done good works to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil works to the resurrection of judgment" John 5: 29. Therefore, let our works be good, our hearts pure, our souls chaste, and our minds serene so that we can love each other pleasing the Resurrected triumphant King.

The resurrection of Christ is linked to our salvation. St. Paul says," Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:25). Now we realize that our salvation cannot be separated from the resurrection of the Lord. In other words, St. Paul sees that the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that works inside believers, for the resurrection is a continuous operation of God through His Holy Spirit.

Now that we live with the Lord in the joy of His Resurrection let us enjoy our resurrection with Christ and our new Life with Him. Let us transform our Life into a renewed spiritual life of resurrection. Let us feel the resurrection, which is the powerful presence of Almighty God in our lives. Let the Resurrection of our Lord enrich our personal and communal Life, so that we may put on the new person in Christ and walk with God in a new life. Let the Resurrection of Christ grant us the vision to become the living Church through the reading and practicing the Word of God in our Life.

Let us pray, dear believers, for the peace of the church as well as the world. Let us pray that our children may not be led into the world's temptation especially the faithful of our Western Archdiocese, clergy, and faithful. And we seize this occasion to congratulate our Spiritual father, His Holiness Moran Mor Ignatius Ephrem II, and prelates of our Syriac Orthodox Church. Asking Christ our risen Lord, to bring back to you many more years of blessing, good health, happiness, love, and peace.

Christ is Risen! Truly Risen!