On the Lord’s Resurrection, First Sermon, at the Easter Vigil

In my last sermon, dearly beloved, we explained to you, not unfittingly I think, our sharing in the cross of Christ, by which the life of believers holds within itself the mystery of Easter, so that what is honored at the feast is celebrated in our conduct. And you yourselves have proved how useful this is. By your devotion you have learned how greatly souls and bodies benefit from longer fasts, more frequent prayers, and more generous almsgiving. For there can hardly be anyone who has not profited by this exercise, and who has not stored up in the depths of his conscience something over which he may rightly rejoice. But these gains must be kept with persistent care, so that our efforts do not slide away into idleness and the devil’s malice does not steal what God’s grace gave. Since, then, by our forty days’ observance we have wished to bring about this effect, that we should feel something of the cross at the time of the Lord’s passion, we must strive to be found sharers also in Christ’s resurrection, and to “pass from death to life” while we are in this body. For when a man is changed by some process from one thing into another, to cease being what he was is an ending for him, and to be what he was not is a beginning. But the question is what a man dies to and what he lives to, because there is a death that is the cause of living, and there is a life that is the cause of dying. And nowhere but in this passing world are both sought, so that the differences in eternal recompense depend on the character of our actions in time. We must die, therefore, to the devil and live to God; we must perish to wickedness so that we may rise to righteousness. Let the old sink, so that the new may rise. And since, as the Truth says, “no one can serve two masters,” let him not be lord who brought about the fall of those who stood, but he who has raised the fallen to victory. [a]

So, since the apostle says, “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven, heavenly. As is the earthy, so are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so are those who are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, let us also bear the image of him who is from heaven,” we must greatly rejoice over this change, by which we are carried over from earthly lowliness to heavenly dignity through his unspeakable mercy. For he came down into our condition so that he might raise us to his, taking on not only the substance but also the conditions of sinful nature, and allowing the Godhead, which cannot suffer, to be touched by all the miseries that are the lot of mortal humanity. And so, so that the troubled minds of the disciples would not be tormented by long grief, he shortened the three days’ delay he had announced with such wonderful speed that, by joining the last part of the first day and the first part of the third to the whole of the second, he cut off a good part of the time and yet did not lessen the number of days. So the Savior’s resurrection did not keep his soul long in Hades, nor his flesh in the tomb. And his uncorrupted flesh was brought to life so swiftly that it was more like sleep than death, since the Godhead, which never left either part of the human nature he had taken on, joined again by its power what its power had separated. [d]

Then there followed many proofs, on which the authority of the faith that was to be preached through the whole world might rest. The rolling away of the stone, the empty tomb, the arrangement of the linen cloths, and the angels who told the whole event fully established the truth of the Lord’s resurrection by themselves. Yet he often appeared plainly to the eyes both of the women and of the apostles, not only talking with them but also staying and eating with them, and letting himself be handled by the eager and curious hands of those whom doubt assailed. For this purpose he came in to the disciples when the doors were shut, gave them the Holy Spirit by breathing on them, and, after giving them the light of understanding, opened to them the secrets of Holy Scripture. And again he himself showed them the wound in his side, the prints of the nails, and all the marks of his very recent passion. By this it might be acknowledged that in him the properties of the divine and the human nature remained undivided, and we might know that the Word is not what the flesh is, in such a way as to confess that God’s only Son is both Word and flesh. [f]

Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, does not disagree with this belief, dearly beloved, when he says, “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, now we know him so no longer.” For the Lord’s resurrection was not the end of the flesh but its change, and his substance was not destroyed by his increase in power. The quality changed, but the nature did not cease to be. The body that could be crucified was made unable to suffer; the body that could be wounded was made incorruptible. And Christ’s flesh is rightly said not to be known in the state in which it had been known, because nothing in it remained able to suffer, nothing weak, so that it was the same in essence and not the same in glory. But what wonder is it if Saint Paul holds this about Christ’s body, when he says of all spiritual Christians, “So from now on we know no one according to the flesh”? From now on, he says, we begin to experience the resurrection in Christ, ever since all our hopes were made sure to us in him who died for all. We do not hold back in timidity; we are not kept in the suspense of uncertainty. Having received a pledge of the promise, we now see with the eye of faith the things that will be, and rejoicing in the lifting up of our nature, we already possess what we believe. [g]

So let us not be taken up with the appearances of things in time, and let our thoughts not be turned aside from heavenly things to earthly ones. Things that for the most part have not yet come to pass must be reckoned as done, and the mind intent on what lasts must fix its desires where what is offered is eternal. For although “we were saved in hope,” and still carry about a flesh that is corruptible and mortal, we are rightly said not to be in the flesh if fleshly passions do not rule us, and we rightly cease to be named after that whose will we do not follow. And so, when the apostle says, “Make no provision for the flesh in its desires,” we understand that we are not forbidden the things that serve health and that human weakness demands. But because we may not satisfy all our desires, nor indulge everything the flesh craves, we recognize that we are warned to practice such self-restraint as neither to allow what is excessive nor to refuse what is necessary to the flesh, which is placed under the mind’s control. That is why the same apostle says in another place, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it”: as far, of course, as it must be nourished and cherished, not in vices and luxury but for its proper work, so that nature may recover herself and keep due order. Then the lower parts do not wrongly and shamefully prevail over the higher, nor do the higher yield to the lower, lest, if vices overpower the mind, there be slavery where there should be rule. [h]

So let God’s people recognize that they are a new creation in Christ, and let them understand with all watchfulness by whom they have been adopted and whom they have adopted. Let the things that have been made new not return to their old instability. Let him who has “put his hand to the plow” not abandon his work, but pay attention to what he is sowing rather than look back at what he has left behind. Let no one fall back into what he has risen from. Even if, through bodily weakness, he still lies sick with certain ailments, let him earnestly desire to be healed and raised up. For this is the path of health, through imitation of the resurrection begun in Christ. By it, despite the many mishaps and falls a traveler meets in this slippery life, his feet may be guided out of the mire onto solid ground. For, as it is written, “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord, and he will delight in his way. When the righteous man falls, he will not be overthrown, because the Lord will stretch out his hand.” These thoughts, dearly beloved, must be kept in mind not only for the Easter festival but also for the hallowing of our whole life. Our present exercise ought to aim at this: that what has delighted the souls of the faithful through the experience of a short observance may become a habit and remain unchanged, and that if any fault creeps in, it may be destroyed by swift repentance. And because the cure of long-standing diseases is slow and difficult, remedies should be applied early, while the wounds are fresh, so that, rising ever anew from every fall, we may deserve to attain the incorruptible resurrection of our glorified flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. [i]