CHRIST IS OUR ONLY HEAD ORTHODOXY IS HIS ONLY BODY

CHRIST IS OUR ONLY HEAD

ORTHODOXY IS HIS ONLY BODY

     “Away with Him! Let Him be crucified!” with these bitter cries of Christ’s enemies, they  branded themselves as Christ-killers, doing everything possible to degrade Jesus Christ, whom God sent first to Israel for salvation, but they greeted Him who loved them with a passionate hatred, evidenced by the way they spat on Him,  cursed Him, and assaulted him with bitter words of mockery. Fools! They did not understand that their actions were taking them  into an unescapable  trap.  For they unjustly killed the Lord and King of glory and no one could give back to Christ, the life which they stole from Him.  They will be judged by the law of justice  not mercy. The terrible injustice which they inflicted will cause their eternal condemnation.

      However Christ’s death was like no other death, for as He testified  He is the Life of the world, and Life cannot die: “I am the way and the truth and the life.”  But the heavenly Father raised His Son according to the law, which prohibits an innocent man from being put to death The divine law calls for the return of four times the value of what was unjustly taken. Therefore Christ’s Resurrection, is infinite and is extended to all who are resurrected in Christ.  This is exactly as the Father had allowed the events to unfold and it is how God makes evil become good. What could be a worse crime that to sentence God to death, to be a murderer of the Godman.? What could be better than Christ being gloriously resurrected and His resurrecting all those who love Him and keep His commandments.  What could be better than being judged not by God’s justice, but by His great gracious mercy in Christ, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

     Life comes only from the Lifegiver, no one is able to produce life because life can only be derived from life.  The death of Christ instead of being an ordinary death was a live-giving death.  The Devil, through seduction acquired rulership over death, by using man as his tool, and  the fear of death was in the hearts of men. To avoid death they would often do the will of the Devil who used this to terrorize men, through every evil imaginable, such as  crimes, wars, murders, jealousy, hatred of good, thirst for revenge, lying, and stealing, etc. There is no evil that he did not maliciously devise. Why? Because he revolted against  God,  and seeing that man was special in God’s creation, he hated and warred against both God and man. Hence we are told to hate all evil and flee from even the thought of it.

Of course, the devil could never affect God power, and there is a deep mystery in these events and we must remember, that God alone knows everything and rules over everything. His plan proceeds exactly as He decides. That is why the Church sings: “Lord, I have heard of the mystery of your plan.”  God announced His plan in the beginning of the Book of Genesis: “Let us create man in our own image and according to our likeness.”  Christ being the first such man, and millions have followed Him, obeyed Him, lived for Him and died for Him, and will certainly be resurrected by Him.

     When any powerful earthly king would visit a certain place in his earthly kingdom, the results of his visit are felt for some time afterward. Jesus Christ the King of heaven and earth visited the race of man, and we will feel the effects of His wonderful visit until the end of time, for it involves salvation of the human race. The results of His visit means so much to those who honor and obey Him. For we see that His visit changed everything. Four-day dead Lazarus; Christ changed his death to life; cleansing the lepers, Christ restored them to their former glory as men; prostitutes, Christ changed them into virginal  like women.  When man follows  Christ he receives glory in place of shame and honor in place of dishonor.  Those who follow Christ achieve  nearness to God in place of estrangement; peace in place of enmity,  Whereas before Christ’s advent, death ruled the world, Christ’s followers see death as desirable to be with Christ, knowing that Christ put death to death and changed death  into a door opening  into eternal life. As death has no dominion over Christ, so it has no dominion over His Church.

    We must always call to mind, that this life is not given to us for our pleasure and enjoyment alone, although innocent pleasure and enjoyment may be part of life.  For we can marry,  rejoice, husband, wife and children, enjoy their company, teaching and playing with them and be thoroughly happy, for Christianity does not take away happiness for it is the only real source of happiness and the outpouring of joy, with the firm promise of great comfort and hope, for without hope man’s life is empty and miserable.  The present life is meant to be a   place of learning, testing, a strengthening and  a  preparation for life without end where there is no darkness but only light, no sadness but only joy, no evil but only goodness and peace, no death for life will be eternal with God, who will eliminate all sorrow.