 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
 |
2009 EASTER MESSAGE OF ARCHBISHOP KHAJAG BARSAMIAN
Primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America
YOU ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS
He said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (St. Luke 24:44-48)
After the bitterness of winter, after the self-restraint of Lent, after the intense emotions of Holy Week, one encounters Easter with a sense of relief. Resurrection Sunday is, after all, the soaring finale to a harrowing story—the happy ending we’ve been waiting for. Ahead of us, we might feel, lies a bright horizon, free of troubles, where everything will be set right.
This is not just a matter of our own perception: the gospels affirm that something profound and final occurred in the drama of Christ’s death and return to life. “The earth did quake, the rocks rent, the graves were opened,” we read; “the saints which slept arose, and coming out of their graves after his resurrection, went into the holy city, and appeared to many” (Mt 27:51-53). Even the righteous dead arise, to testify to the magnitude of what has occurred. One can hardly imagine a more “final” statement. Where could the story possibly go from there?
Yet, as we know, the story did go on—and not just as a continuation of Scripture. The story continued in history. We inhabit its latest page, and from our vantage we can see that the resurrection of Jesus Christ—assuredly the most important and wondrous turningpoint in history—was not history’s end. In a scene of piercing sadness, Jesus warned his followers not to make the mistake of thinking that his sufferings would spell an end to troubles for mankind. Staggering to the cross, trailed by a company of wailing women, Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children…. For if they do these things to a green tree, what shall be done to the dry?” (Lk 23:29-31).
In such words, one sees that Christ’s life and passion, while serving redemptive purposes all their own, were at the same time encapsulations, concentrations, of the human condition overall. What was once the lonely burden of mortal man—the misery of every person who has suffered injustice, who has seen his friends desert him, his loved ones endangered on his account, his world reduced to ashes—all of these troubles, were shared, embraced even, by our Lord in his journey to the cross. In Jesus, the blessings of life surely take on greater meaning for us, as glimpses of a kingdom yet to come; but his words leave no doubt that the sorrows of human living will never cease to be ours, as well.
As Armenians, we instinctively know this—and we have certainly lived it. We saw the blessed evangelization of Armenia; but also a costly defense of the first Christian nation at Avarayr. We saw the flowering of a distinctive Armenian culture and identity; but also knew exile and subjection to alien powers. We welcomed a new political reality which would allow us to advance in society; but we also endured the Genocide.
Yet if our experience and theology comprehend this aspect of Christ’s sacrifice, they comprehend a larger meaning, as well. To be sure, the resurrection does not promise us an easy life, free of troubles. But it does promise that the monotonous cycles of security and suffering, of prosperity and poverty, are not in the end meaningless. The world will remain a mix of blessings and afflictions, as it always has; but in Christ, there really will be a final state of peace, where “God will wipe away every tear,” and all things will be made new again (Rev 21:4-5).
Even for the disciples who lived alongside Jesus, these things were difficult to understand. We are told that Christ had to “open their minds” to help them grasp what they had seen. But having done so he also charged them with the duty of remembering, and of acting on that memory. “You are witnesses of these things,” he told them.
He tells it to us, too. Every year, in our Easter celebration, we see the miracle of Christ’s resurrection re-enacted, re-lived, before our eyes. We see life emerge from the grave, hope emerge from despair. We are reminded of that final, peaceable kingdom, where our hearts will find rest; and of the painful sacrifice that purchased it for us.
We are reminded, too, that a foretaste of God’s kingdom exists here on earth, in the Church our Lord established. Especially in an anxious, uncertain time, the church needs to be The Church: it needs to nourish its mission as a witness—it needs to act as a witness to Christ’s resurrection. We will have a chance to do so again, when we sing our Easter greeting:
Krisdos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnyal eh harootiunun Krisdosee!
Christ is risen from the dead! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!
This year, let us sing these words with the conviction of those who first saw our risen Lord, who touched his wounds, and responded to the miracle of his resurrection. For in the deepest sense, we, too, are witnesses of these things.
With prayers,
Archbishop Khajag Barsamian
Primate
Click here to read Archbishop Barsamian's Easter Message in Armenian.