Pascha: Our Glorious Liberation

“On that last, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let Him come to Me and drink’” (John 7:37

The feast that our Lord Jesus attended was Pentecost. In the Old Testament it marks the conclusion of Pascha [Pesach in Hebrew] or as it’s better known, Passover. We Orthodox Christians prefer to call it by the Greek term, Pascha, because it reminds us of the freedom won for us by our Lord and God Jesus Christ. Not from Mt. Sinai but from the right hand of the Father He came to lead us out of enslavement to sin and the limits of our human nature. Not like Moses crossing over the Red Sea, but passing from the tomb of death to the mystical Kingdom of heaven Christ God broke through the barriers of separation to grant us eternal life, and to begin to enjoy it even in this lifetime.

Our choirs sing of “A new and glorious Pascha, opening the gates of Paradise” until the Holy Ascension; yet the life and joy of that mystical Pascha resounds in our hearts throughout the year. Pentecost completes the paschal cycle, but the grace that it inaugurates goes on illumining our souls. We say, “Christ is risen!” And we mean that He has set free those in the grave. And to those of us dying in our sins He offers forgiveness.

The opening day of our salvation and the closing day are both on Sunday, or as some nations term it, Resurrection Day. St. John Chrysostom insists that we notice Sunday is not just the first day of the week, as though the following days were all equal. Rather, Sunday—Resurrection Day—is “Day one.” If September 11, 2001, is and forevermore will be “Day one” of a new self-understanding for the United States, all the more is Pascha Day 33 A.D. the true and unique Day One for planet earth.

The effects of our living as Pascha people include first of all realizing the gift of everlasting life won for us by our Lord Jesus. Imagine being washed ashore in a flood, standing safely on the firm bank and then caring for those helpless and floundering in the water. Such is our missionary responsibility. If we have identified with the blessed myrrh-bearing women setting out at sunrise to cleanse and embalm the Lord, having little joy in their hearts but much faith in God’s will, discovering the empty tomb, then on the same afternoon walking with Luke and Clopas from the gloom of depression in Jerusalem to the enlightenment by the Lord in the Emmaus inn, returning in spirit with them to greet the apostles with the news that “Christ is risen,” we are commissioned by the Lord to share that awesome news with our world. Second, it makes all pessimism and doubts not just contradictory, but meaningless. Third, it sets out a goal to live by. If we are indeed aware that this life is temporary, rather then regret it will come to an end, let that end be a conclusion and death a welcome beginning of the next and last state of living.

To do all the above will require spiritual equipment. When ordered by the Almighty God to return to Egypt and announce to pharaoh that the Hebrew children must be set free, Moses said that he had a speech impediment. The Lord God told him to take his brother Aaron to be his spokes-person. When you and I set out to proclaim the joyous news that Christ is risen and salvation is offered to all human beings, we are given the Holy Spirit as our internal prompter and guide. The Pascha event begins with the resurrection of Christ and it concludes with the coming of the Holy Spirit in a special way, different from the many workings of the Spirit from the creation of the universe. Each of us had been anointed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit that came with our being sealed with the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. To our chagrin, many of those precious gifts lie dormant. Is it not time to discover what spiritual potential rests in your heart?