THE GENERAL RESURRECTION

THE GENERAL RESURRECTION

 “The general resurrection, you confirmed before your Passion, by raising Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God.  Therefore as did the children, carrying symbols of victory, we cry out to you, the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

Apolytikion of Lazarus Saturday and Sunday of the Palms

LAZARUS SATURDAY

   The day of the general resurrection, confirmed before His Passion, is the day anticipated by the faithful with great hope for the object of their faith and love– Jesus Christ the Savior, who will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and fulfill His promise of  everlasting life in the  joy of His Kingdom. “Come blessed of my Father, enter into the Kingdom prepared for you.”  On the day of the general resurrection the faithful will be rewarded according to  their deeds accomplished through faith in Christ and their love for Him expressed by keeping His commandments. 

     For unrepentant sinners will be filled with fear on this dreaded day, not because God is going to punish them and send them into eternal fire.  The fear that will arise in their miserable souls when their sin filled life is displayed before them, and the punishment sure to come, for they never believed and repented to wash away those sins. God is good and the lover of  mankind, nor does His love change into hatred and bitterness, causing Him to exact revenge.  No one is excluded from God’s love which extends to the just and unjust, saints and sinners, for God is love and rejoices in His created works. He loves the unrepentant sinner and He loves the holy martyrs who surrendered their lives out of love for Him, for God cannot change. 

     Our Lord says that there will “weeping and gnashing of teeth and their worm never dies.” However, God is not a tormentor, nor does He inflict pain and suffering. The pain and suffering comes from within the souls of each person.  Their worm that does not die, can be the constant bitter remorse for their sins and wicked deeds will be a great torment. They will see that their condition is permanent and irreversible and that they are unable to repent, nor can they hope for death and relief, for they will find that they have entered the second death. The terrible torments increase in sinful and wicked souls who rejected His love, made bad use of their  freedom or wasted their life in slothfulness.. Their suffering is self inflicted, and their torment is extreme for they realize their foolishness, having  rejected the mercy and love offered by God. For as Christ said: “The kingdom of God is within you,” so condemned souls suffer from the opposite foul evil spirit that they accepted to live in them.

     What else will unrepentant sinners dread?  Shamed of and their many sins and suffering from the exposure, they will be blinded in trembling before dazzling brilliance of the glory of God, and His goodness and inexpressible beauty of which they are strangers, In a moment they will realize that they have wasted their lives, and excluded themselves forever from goodness, mercy, peace and love. It will be impossible to change for after death, and separation from the body, the soul enters eternity and timelessness, there is no repentance or change possible

     Western Christianity has  painted a false picture of God and the and the judgment. They assumed an angry God who made His Son suffer and die;  a God who angrily sends sinners to eternal torment in flames of Gehenna.  Let us Orthodox Christians not follow their dangerous and devious paths, but let us, like Lazarus arise and with the children enter now into the eternal life which Christ offers to those who so desire. “I came not to judge the world but to save it.”  A slave fears his master; a servant desires his wages, but God has made us His sons and is offering us a Kingdom!

   If the body is cut off from food, water, sleep, temperate climate, or any other necessity or consolation, it will suffer until it acquires what is needed. We suffer if we cannot find warmth in bitter cold, or eating a good meal and drinking cold water, these are not only necessities but are a source of comfort and consolation, repeatedly experienced by the body. But those who are condemned will lose every consolation, and be without hope for relief forever.

   The soul has a great need of wisdom, and prayer, contemplation of God, His saving words, hymns of praise, saints and  martyrs, liturgical services and the food of immortality.  Failing to acquire these consolations, will cause the soul to be feeble and subject to many ills. Lacking protection from the Lord, material desires will continually increase, and  pleasures of the flesh will strengthen, and corrupt the soul. This will result in the insatiable desire for more material things and pleasures, instead of the soul’s real food.  Harmful desires will be aroused for love of money and power, love of pleasure and food, increased sensuality, pride and indulgence in drunkenness, gluttony,  fornication, adultery, and every evil, pushing the soul toward perdition.

"The general resurrection, you confirmed before your Passion, by raising Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God.  Therefore as did the children, carrying symbols of victory, we cry out to you, the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

     It is our decision, to  go through the door of inevitable death, with fear of God faith, hope and love, seeking His great mercy, or we can remain in our sins and go through that door lacking faith and   bearing our sins, trembling in fear of the judgment. To accomplish the first, we must become like children before God, by throwing off the yoke of sin with its heavy burden of guilt. Then taking on Christ’s yoke, we can acquire fath and hope, and approach like a child  our Father in heaven, whose arms are outstretched to receive us. We can approach Him as did the children, crying  Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. O, Forgive our sins, and wipe away our iniquities. 

    Let us be determined to  change ourselves and assist others to walk with us in the same newness of life,  by heeding to the kind teaching of our Lord, who urges “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble in my heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mat 11:2930).  These gracious words should stir up our souls awakening us to rise and go into action, for they are words of life – eternal life. Those who have not must seek and those who have must seek even more than they have, for this struggle lasts a lifetime.  With faith and hope we can acquire and feel eternal life within us. Then when we leave this world, we will not fear death, on the contrary we look forward to it.

PALM SUNDAY THE  ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

 “The general resurrection, you confirmed before your Passion, by raising Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God.  Therefore as did the children, carrying symbols of victory, we cry out to you, the Conqueror of death: Hosanna in the highest, blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”

   Holy Week which begins at vespers on Lazarus Saturday, is a time for great sobriety and we will sing the same hymn for Palm Sunday as we do on Lazarus Saturday. The entrance into Jerusalem, being greeted by the small children He ascend to glory, not the glory of a king, but the glory of His Passion and the Cross. For this is a voluntary Passion and submission to evil in order to destroy its power and authority.

 Let us forget this world entirely during these hours and remember how great a God is our God, who suffers the purple robe of mockery, spitting, harassing and whipping, a crown of thorns, and being nailed to the Cross, out of his infinite love for each of us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but have everlasting life.”