VI. Christ is Risen!

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Sermon VI 

Christ is Risen!

St. Philaret of Moscow

“Then openeth He their understanding.” (St. Luke 24:45) 

How many chambers are unlocked, how many doors are opened this day, by the Key of David alone, and with but one turn of it! 

The doors of a house are strengthened and fastened to keep out thieves, or to restrain a turbulent inmate.  So is it in the House of GOD. When the tiller and keeper of the paradise of GOD plucked the fruit of the tree of knowledge, then was he driven out, paradise was closed against him, and a guard mightier than he, armed with a flaming sword, was placed at the entrance. Moreover, since it behoved the transgressor to be also punished – since, even after his banishment, a turbulent, criminal spirit still continued to live in his seed, therefore both he and his posterity were one after the other conveyed through the gate of death to prison, there to be held captive, not for days only, but for ages.  Hence is it also self-evident how the very house of the LORD, that is, heaven, to which the way lay through the garden of Eden, was barred and closed against the unworthy inmate. 

At length, the only-begotten SON of the LORD of heaven, according to His mercy, and His love toward man, comes to free the captives, and to bring back the banished.  The Key of David, unlocking all doors, is the Incarnation of JESUS CHRIST, whereby as the Divinity shares all the conditions of humanity, so also does humanity partake of the nature of Divinity.  The revealing action of this key is the Resurrection of CHRIST.  By it the prison doors are opened, and its captives released; paradise is opened and receives the banished; Heaven is opened and awaits the Elect.  What I now say in your hearing, the same does the Church speak unto your eyes1 by keeping open, throughout the whole of the present feast, the doors leading to the altar of the Divine sacraments. 

1 "The king's doors," as the chief entrance into the sanctuary is called, in general remain shut, except during certain parts of the Divine Service; but throughout the whole of Bright week they are left open.

Let us also take notice of another door which this same Key of David, and at the very same time, openeth; a door not very large, perhaps, but one which leads to the great treasury of GOD: “Then opened He their understanding,” writes the holy Evangelist.  Then opened the LORD the understanding of His Apostles.  When was this? when He had risen from the dead, appeared unto them, showed them His wounds, broken bread in their presence, when He had fully confirmed their faith in His Resurrection: “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved CHRIST to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (St. Luke 24:45-47). 

May, then, the understanding of all who now hear this, be opened to receive the important truth now being revealed unto us, that the resurrection of CHRIST, and faith in that resurrection, opens the locked up human intellect unto the true understanding of sublime and saving truths.

And truly, how long it is since “JESUS began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (St. Matt. 4:17).  And earlier than others did the Apostles begin to listen to that preaching.  How long it is since they themselves were sent out on the same mission of preaching: “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (St. Matt 10:7).  Thus for a long time did they both listen to the preaching of repentance and the kingdom of GOD, and preach it themselves.  But still their understanding was yet locked up.  This is hardly credible; and yet, according to the word of the Lord, it is true.  It was not till after His Resurrection that “He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures;” and it was as to persons already understanding that He said unto them, “Thus it is that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name.”

Till then they knew of repentance as of a deed of faith; now do they more fully understand repentance in the name of Jesus to be the spirit and power of it.  They had known repentance more in the sense of a necessity and a duty: now do they more perfectly understand its fruit and reward -- the remission of sins.  Then they were able to preach that the kingdom of heaven was at hand.  Now they can bear witness of its actual manifestation unto themselves and in themselves.  At how early a period also, how frequently, and how minutely did the LORD foretell His Passion and His Resurrection to His Apostles!  At times He veiled this prophecy in parables -- as, for instance, when He said to the Jews: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (St. John 2:19). At these words they thought of the temple of Jerusalem: "but He spake of the temple of His Body (St. John 2:21).  But even His parable on this subject was at times as intelligible as a plain statement, as when He said: “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (St. Matt 12:40). 

But this is not all.  It was thus that He spoke to strangers in the presence of the Apostles, but to the Apostles themselves He more than once spoke of this not in parables, but plainly, precisely, in detail, as -- “Behold, we go to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the Prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.  For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again” (St. Luke 28:31-33). 

Could any one speak more plainly?  Does it seem possible not to understand this?  And you will probably say, did they really not understand it?  The holy Evangelist foresaw this doubt, and assures us with particular emphasis, that they really did not understand it. 

“They,” that is to say the Apostles, “understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.” 

Another Evangelist relates, that on one occasion the Apostles hearing from the LORD of His resurrection, were so perplexed at His words, that they stopped at them as before an inexplicable parable, and disputed among themselves as to their meaning.  “And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean” (St. Mark 9:10). 

It was indeed then only after the resurrection that the LORD "opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures; that thus it behoves CHRIST to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day" (St. Luke 24:45-46).

I fear however that notwithstanding the clear testimony of the Gospel, this darkened condition of the Apostles' minds previous to the resurrection, and this sudden enlightenment of the whole sphere of their understanding at the mere sight of the risen CHRIST, will still be to some of us a hidden saying.

Oh that the Lord would open our understanding also to utter something convincing, and to hear something instructive as to how the understanding is opened by the light of the risen CHRIST, and by faith in Him.

The word of God calls the mind, the eye; the understanding, vision; ignorance, blindness.  As for instance, when the Lord says, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind (St. John 9:39).  We know that the Advent of CHRIST into the world did not blind the eyes of any, but that many at the time were found to be blind in their minds.

Let us then follow out the conditions and functions of the mind, as shown to us in the Word of God, by contrasting them with the conditions and functions of the eye.  The eye sees objects, partly in consequence of the property of those objects themselves, as for instance, it perceives light to be luminous, partly by reason of its own construction and peculiar condition, as for instance, the eye of the blind man being gradually opened, at first "sees men as trees walking," but when completely cured, "sees every man clearly," partly according to the common action or mediation of light between the spectator and the object viewed; as for instance, it is one thing to see objects by moonlight or starlight, and another thing to see them by sunlight.  In like manner does the spiritual eye see spiritual objects; in other words, the mind comprehends them, partly in consequence of the property of those objects themselves, thus, "The invisible things of GOD from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Rom. 1:20); partly according to the manner of its own inward construction and particular condition, as for example, the infant mind sees objects more sensuously, more superficially, and for the most part without any order or connection in its ideas, whereas a cultivated mind sees less sensuously, penetrates objects more deeply, and discovers in them connection and order; partly according to the action of the light mediating between the mind and the objects viewed, which light may be either natural or supernatural, either peculiar to the world in which we live, a compound of the sensual and the spiritual, or else, purely and even Divine, as it is said, “In Thy light, O LORD, shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9 or 35:10). 

The structure of the bodily eye is not adapted to many kinds or degrees of light, for a certain diminution of light deprives it of the power of vision, and in like manner a certain increase of light blinds it.  The structure of the mind, as a spiritual organ, is incomparably more extensive and varied.  One and the same human mind may become either a kind of night bird, to which darkness alone gives a power of vision, and of which light deprives it; or a beast, which by the light of the moon and stars prowls about in search of its prey; or else, as is natural to man, it can do its work in the light of day, and contemplate the manifold beauties of the universe.  It sinks, and is then imprisoned in the sphere of sensuality; it rises, and becomes itself capable of spiritual light, it becomes purified and then open to the reception of the divine light. 

For those who would see spiritual objects, it surely is not enough to open their fleshly eyes, or to light a lamp of material light.  The more elevated the objects to be contemplated, the more sublime should be the condition of the eye, and of the light which serves as the medium of vision. Consequently to contemplate divine objects, we need a divine light, and a condition of the mind in harmony therewith.  “In Thy light, O LORD, shall we see light.” 

The Word of GOD, the mysteries of the kingdom of GOD, the saving doctrine and the saving works of CHRIST are surely divine objects, therefore to contemplate them clearly and purely, man is in need of a divine light, the light of CHRIST, the light of the HOLY SPIRIT, and the opening of his understanding by the power of that light.  So long as this has not been accomplished in man, so long is he unable to comprehend the compass, height, and depth of the Word of GOD, though he may hear it, and even see its effect; for his spiritual eye still abides in the lower region of natural light, and is adapted to it alone.  For this reason the Apostles even after seeing with their bodily eyes the resurrection of the widow of Nain’s son, could not yet rise to the contemplation and solution of the question, “What the rising of the dead should mean” (St. Mark 9:10).  For this reason did the LORD say to the Apostles, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now” (St. John 16:12).  When then, O LORD, will they be able to bear Thy word and to understand Thy works?  His answer is, “Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (St. John 16:13).  But what prevents the Spirit of Truth from coming sooner?  Again the Gospel tells us, “The HOLY GHOST was not yet given, because that JESUS was not yet Glorified” (St. John 7:39).  At length He rises from the dead.  And now instead of Divinity in Him sinking into humanity, as it did till now, humanity in Him rises unto Divinity.  In this way His humanity is manifested, and superabundantly filled no longer with a hidden, but rather with the manifest light of the Godhead which it diffuses around itself; the God-Man appears as the Sun of mankind, and begins to part the clouds and darkness which encompassed humanity; His divine light strikes those eyes, which faith in His resurrection had already opened and directed to contemplation, opens them still more and raises them to a new, heavenly, divine perception or understanding of the Word of GOD and the works of GOD.  “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand.” 

If this opening of the understanding or spiritual enlightenment appear to be sudden and unexpected, it must not seem strange, but rather a property of light, and particularly of spiritual light.  The sun when he rises reveals a whole universe of varied beauties; is it then wonderful that the light of grace, the light of the HOLY GHOST, whose action on the heart the Apostle likens “to a day dawning and the day-star rising” (II Pet. 1:19), should suddenly and unexpectedly reveal the boundless region of spiritual understanding.  Howbeit natural light as well as light divine has for those whom it enlightens its own dawn and its noontide; for the Apostles a bright dawn arose when the LORD “breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the HOLY GHOST” (St. John 20:22); but the fullness of day came upon them in the descent of the HOLY GHOST in the form of "cloven tongues, like as of fire" (Acts 2:3).  But if our eyes be still too weak to enjoy the fullness of light with which the risen Lord opens the understanding, let us for a moment glance upon the opposite darkness, that we may more love the truly marvelous light into which we are called.

See how at the very same time that faith in the risen Lord opens the understanding of the Apostles, unbelief in Him locks up the mind of the Jews in tangible, incredibly gross darkness.  What do they think, and what do they say of the Lord's resurrection?  "This saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day" (St. Matt. 28:15).  What saying? the saying which their high priests and elders had taught the soldiers, the watch of the Lord's sepulchre, "His Disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept. (St. Matt. 28:13).  It was this saying then which was noised abroad among the Jews, and they believed it.  Was this possible?  How could they have stolen Him away when you surrounded His sepulchre with soldiers?  They slept, say the Jews.  The sentinels slept!  Even so, was the opinion of the Jews.  Was every one of them asleep?  Every one.  What, did not one of them awake, when in order to take away the body it was necessary to roll back from the grave a stone which was very great, and to do which would have required the help of several men, and could not have been done without noise?  Not one of them awoke.  But who is it that bears witness that the body was stolen?  The very same sentinels.  Do the very same sentinels who slept, and did not awake, bear witness of that which happened during their sleep, and which they did not hear?  Who can be so daring as to report such a fable?  The unbelieving Jews.  Who can be so senseless as to believe it?  Unbelievers.  One more question, How came it to pass that the Disciples of JESUS, who at the sight of the first danger which threatened Him forsook Him and fled, how came it that they should have resolved upon so daring and so useless an undertaking as to steal away the body of their dead Master from a sepulchre sealed and surrounded by a guard by order of the authorities?

Unbelief does not reason; it scatters abroad throughout the whole world words which please it simply, because they savor unbelief.  But if it was known that a theft had been committed in spite of the watch and the seal of the government, and the very thieves were known, then were not the watch and the thieves delivered up to judgment?  Nothing of the kind.  The military chief of the watch is unconcerned, the watch are untroubled, the pretended thieves abide at least eight days in Jerusalem, and not one of the elders of the Jews, hitherto so severe, cites them before the tribunal for so important a theft.

Is it possible then that after all this, the fable of the stealing away of the body of JESUS by His Disciples could still be circulating among the Jews as something worthy of attention?  Yes, possible indeed, for the mind hardened in unbelief, like a bird of night, sees only in the darkness of unbelief, loves only its own dreams, and flees from the light of truth which scorches its eyes: "And this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day."

O Christians, the risen CHRIST opened the understanding of the Apostles, and illumined them by faith with divine light, not for their sake only, but that they should open our understanding also, and that we also, through faith, might become the sons of light.  He suffered this absurd saying, showing the extreme blindness of the unbelieving Jews, to come down to us that we should dread unbelief.  Say not with Thomas, "Except I shall see, I shall have no faith."  Remember the words of the LORD, "Because thou hast seen thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (St. John 20:29).  "While ye have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light" (St. John 12: 36).  Let faith and love draw down upon you the light of life which hath shone from the grave; may this light open your minds to the understanding of the mysteries of your salvation, and your hearts to the consciousness of the kingdom of GOD, which is in you, and unto your heart thus opened to the kingdom of GOD may Heaven and Paradise be revealed.  Let us not then through sin and unbelief, lock from ourselves that which hath been opened unto us by the Key of David.  Amen.