The Death of God

This is a Paschal Sermon by John Paul II based on the Octave (Eight Days) of Oyster
Edited for a General Audience by Jackson Snyder, April 2, 2005

Dedicated to Jeremy H. Snyder, 25 today

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A PUBLIC DYING

A public dying for Pope John Paul II, Sify News www.sify.com, Saturday, 02 April, 2005, 19:03 Vatican City: As Pope John Paul II lay near death on Saturday in his Vatican apartment, his very public way of dying carries a powerful and universal message of serenity in the face of suffering and mortality. The Vatican has spared little detail in describing the pontiff’s condition, medical treatment and suffering while senior cardinals are clearly preparing the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics for his imminent demise. Suffering -- but finding relief through faith -- has been a constant theme of the latter years of John Paul II’s 26-year pontificate. Afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, with severe lung and throat problems and confined to a wheelchair, the Pope has used his own frailty as a message. It is “a public death, like that of Christ on the cross,” commented Gaspare Barbiellini Amidei in a front-page editorial in the Corriere della Sera. “These past 24 hours, as valuable as a long reign, have forced the public opinion of this world, glued to its television sets, to accept the visibility of the invisible, to understand that there is something more than success in the story of this man.” On his foreign trips -- last year in Lourdes, southwest France, for example -- the Pope’s obvious frailty kneeling at a shrine, his mumbled words, haggard expression and difficulty breathing have often moved pilgrims to tears. His pronouncements, too, have focused on overcoming suffering, including a comparison he made with the agony of the crucified Jesus.

   John 20:11. Mary was standing outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, as she wept, she stooped to look inside, 12. and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. 13. They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” “They have taken my Master away,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14. As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not realise that it was Jesus. 15. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.” 16. Jesus said, “Mary!” She turned round then and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbuni!” which means Master. 17. Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” 18. So Mary of Magdala told the disciples, “I have seen the Master,” and that he had said these things to her.
   19. In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “Peace be with you,” 20. and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Master, 21. and he said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.” 22. After saying this he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.”
   24. Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Master,” but he answered, “Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.”
   26. Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27. Then he spoke to Thomas, “Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving any more but believe.”   28. Thomas replied, “My Master and my Elohim!” 29. Jesus said to him: “You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

   1 Peter 1:1. Peter, apostle of Jesus the Messiah, to all those living as aliens in the Dispersion of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen, 2. in the foresight of Yahweh the Father, to be made holy by the Spirit, obedient to Jesus the Messiah and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 3. Blessed be Yahweh the Father of our Master Jesus the Messiah, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead 4. and into a heritage that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away. It is reserved in heaven for you 5. who are being kept safe by Yahweh’s power through faith until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the final point of time.
   6. This is a great joy to you, even though for a short time yet you must bear all sorts of trials; 7. so that the worth of your faith, more valuable than gold, which is perishable even if it has been tested by fire, may be proved, to your praise and honor when Jesus the Messiah is revealed. 8. You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; 9. and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls.
   10. This salvation was the subject of the search and investigation of the prophets who spoke of the grace you were to receive, 11. searching out the time and circumstances for which the Spirit of the Messiah, bearing witness in them, was revealing the sufferings of The Messiah and the glories to follow them. 12. It was revealed to them that it was for your sake and not their own that they were acting as servants delivering the message which has now been announced to you by those who preached to you the gospel through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.
   13. Your minds, then, must be sober and ready for action; put all your hope in the grace brought to you by the revelation of Jesus the Messiah. 14. Do not allow yourselves to be shaped by the passions of your old ignorance, 15. but as obedient children, be yourselves holy in all your activity, after the model of the Holy One who calls us, 16. since scripture says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 17. And if you address as Father him who judges without favoritism according to each individual’s deeds, live out the time of your exile here in reverent awe. 18. For you know that the price of your ransom from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors was paid, not in anything perishable like silver or gold, 19. but in precious blood as of a blameless and spotless lamb, the Messiah. 20. He was marked out before the world was made, and was revealed at the final point of time for your sake. 21. Through him you now have faith in Yahweh, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory for this very purpose, that your faith and hope should be in Yahweh.
   22. Since by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves so that you can experience the genuine love of brothers, love each other intensely from the heart; 23. for your new birth was not from any perishable seed but from imperishable seed, the living and enduring Word of Yahweh. 24. For all humanity is grass, and all its beauty like the wild flower’s. As grass withers, the flower fades, 25. but the Word of Yahweh remains for ever. And this Word is the Good News that has been brought to you. (NJB)

Preface (Jackson Snyder)

This week after Resurrection Sunday we’ve seen three significant occurrences that have to do with death and resurrection. On the local level, we’re in continual prayer for one of our own who fights for her mortal life in the hospital. Yes, she is ours, and we’ve been lifting her up to the throne room for over two years, maybe more. But now, she’ll need redoubled effort in prayer and a bona fide miracle of the grace for her to continue in temporal life. We are believing for that miracle, because she’s being stolen by disease long before her time, and we know that the Great Physician is merciful.

On the national level, few haven’t discussed the moral dimension of Terri Shindler Schiavo’s death. Here was a young lady of twenty-six, who, through a potassium imbalance, suffered a heart attack that would render her comatose for fifteen years. The court battle has been fought between her husband, who, by law, should make the decision that her decimated body be relieved of suffering, and her parents, who, despite the expert advice of physicians, held out hope that she would awaken and recover. The battles were played out frame by frame in the news media. The courtroom struggle was indicative of the religious struggle that pitted those who believe in life at any cost against those who envision resurrection.

One of our members called this week very concerned about the Schiavo case; he asked me a question: “What’s the difference between removing her feeding tube and executing her with a pistol.” I’m sure you’ve been in a similar quandary. How do you answer that?

On the international level, Pope John Paul II has passed from death to life, but the transformation didn’t happen in a hospital. He refused that, knowing his condition, yet preferring to pass on publicly just inside a window separating him from hundreds of thousands encamped outside. This figurehead of the one billion-member Roman Catholic Church has reigned as “Vicar of Christ” for almost twenty-seven years. Many Catholics have known only him as their Vicar.

Karol Wotyla (Carl Voi-TEE-wah) was a young Polish coal miner in World War II, so outspoken that he was condemned by Naziism. Later, as a parish priest, he was marked out by Communism. Both insidious factions closely watched him. Years later, as Pope, he became the most powerful and influential man of religion in the world – the representative of Christ on earth. And during his reign he was instrumental in toppling not only Communism, but many other dictatorships, starting with his own homeland - Poland.

He took three bullets from the gun of a Russian assassin for that in 1981. In Central and South America, he sided against his own priests to bring down dictators, and he often suffered because of his allegiance to the common man over powerful potentates and religious rulers. It was his advice to George W. Bush that fashioned his policy against the kind of stem cell research proposed by profiteers. Yet the Pope stood against the United States in the matters of war and materialism.

I’m a great admirer of Karol Wotyla, the given name of John Paul II. His books of prayers and devotions have seldom been far from my hand for the last 20 years. The Discovery and History channels will certainly offer stories of his life soon. I urge you to tune in: you’ll meet the man that’s been a force for holiness, righteousness, love and peace through every manner of danger, toil and snare for sixty-plus years. Indeed, no man has been more a man of Jesus than he.

Unfortunately, speakers of English have never heard his sermons –few have read them. So today, in light of the lives of the DM, for whom we pray, and Terri Schiavo, over whom we’ve puzzled, I want to present one of John Paul’s sermons so as to give you an idea of the depth of his preaching, and help remind you through his words of hope, to stand tall in our common belief in the resurrection of the dead and eternal life in Jesus for all who believe.

The First of the Octave of Oyster – Monday – Alleluia!

Alleluia! {And together!} Our cry expresses the joy of the Resurrection! It is the exclamation that still resounds in expectation at night and brings with it the joy of morning. It bestows the certainty of human resurrection. What the mouths of the apostles hadn’t courage to utter is now heralded by the Assembly. Thanks to the testimony of women then, the Assembly now shouts its alleluia.

In some Slav nations, this song of joy, Alleluia, sung near midnight, announces the great day to us. What some call Easter is known as “The Great Night,” and after the Great Night passes, the Great Day arrives, “The Day that the Lord Has Made.” {“Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Alleluia!”} That moment doesn’t permit us to remain outside ourselves. It forces us to enter into our own humanity. Messiah not only revealed the victory of life over death, but, with his Resurrection, he also brought us to the New Life. He gives us such fresh life.

This is how St. Paul puts it:

“Are you not aware that we who are baptized into Messiah Jesus were baptized into his death? Through baptism into his death we were buried with him, so that, just as Messiah was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).

The words, “we were baptized into his death,” tell us a lot. Death is the water in which Life regenerates: Life is the water that leaps “up to provide eternal life” (John 4:14). We must be immersed in this water; in this Death, so as to come out of it as the New Human, the New Creature: to become fresh, that is, enlivened by the Power of the Resurrection of Messiah!

Tuesday – The Stone Removed

The Scripture tells us that, “Mary saw that the stone had been moved away” (John 20:1). That stone placed over the entrance to the tomb had become a mute witness to the death of the Son of Man. The lives of many in those days were ended with such a rock, in some Jerusalem cemetery. So are concluded the lives of all men and women of all times, in graveyards full of rocks.

Under the weight of the tombstone, beneath its massive barrier, the work of death is accomplished in the silence of the tomb. That is, humankind, drawn out of dirt, returns slowly to dirt (Genesis 3:19). The stone was set over Jesus’ tomb on the evening of Good Friday (sic). Like all tombstones, it became the silent witness of the death of the Man, of the Son of Man. But what testimony did this stone give on the day after the Sabbath, in the dawn hours? What does it tell us? What does the stone rolled away from the sepulcher declare? You’d better believe that stone says,

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of Yahweh. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By Yahweh has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes” (Psalms 117:17, 22-23).

Those who worked the Son of Man’s death “kept [that stone] under surveillance of the guard after fixing a seal to it” (Matthew 27:66). Often builders of the world have tried to set a final stone upon his tomb. But the stone has always been rolled away; the stone, the witness to death, has become the witness to the resurrection:

“The right hand of Yahweh has struck with power,” cries the Psalm-singer (Psalms 117:16).

Te Assembly is always announcing Messiah’s Resurrection anew. The Assembly of the Faithful joyfully repeat to all humankind the words of the angels and of the women, uttered on that radiant morning of death’s defeat: “He who has become our Passover sacrifice is alive. He who died on the stake reveals the fullness of life.”

“Alleluia! He lives! Therefore, so shall I, regardless of the weight of the sepulcher stone!”

Wednesday - The Death of G-d

Unfortunately, this world wills “the death of G-d.” But let it hear the Word of the Resurrection. You who announce “the death of G-d,” who try to expel G-d from the human world, cease immediately! Realize that “the death of G-d” carries with it “the death of humanity.” G-d and man are wrapped in the same shroud! But Messiah rose again so that we may retrieve the authentic meaning of existence, so that we may live life fully: that we, who come from G-d, may live in G-d.

“Messiah you kill, but he rises. He’s the cornerstone of the new life. The attempt to kill him with the sepulcher stone’s already been made, sealed and guarded. But that megalithic stone was rolled away. Do not reject Messiah, you who construct the human world. Do not reject Messiah, you who construct the world of today and of tomorrow, in whatever way and in whatever sector: the world of culture and of civilization, the world of the economy and of politics, the world of science and of information. You who construct the world of peace ... or of war! You who construct the world of order ... or of terror! Do not refuse Messiah: He is the cornerstone, not you!”

Let no one refuse him, for all are responsible for their own destiny, constructor or destroyer of their own existence. Let no one refuse him! Messiah rose even before his angel had rolled back that tombstone. He revealed himself as cornerstone, upon which is built the history of each one of us. Messiah, “our Passover Sacrifice,” never ceases from being a pilgrim upon the road of history with us; and each of us may meet him, for he doesn’t cease from being a brother to humankind in every epoch – and at every moment.

Thursday – “Our Passover Sacrifice”

Now again we find ourselves in the solemn atmosphere of the Passover Sacrifice. {We have friends and family, people we love and admire, who’re even now either passing through the valley of the shadow of death or have recently made the passage.} In the solemnity and grief, we may even now be undergoing the indescribable spiritual experience that allows us to taste the profound truth of our faith in the Risen Messiah, “our Paschal Lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). He sacrificed himself for us but did not exhaust his mystery and his mission even when, hanging upon the stake, he uttered the words, “Now it is finished” (John 19:30).

At that very moment, the accomplishment of Yahweh’s saving design actually opened a fresh stage in human history that Messiah himself consecrated with his resurrection from death. It’s the new kind of time (i.e. kairos), and the new certainly of new life founded on that demonstration of divine omnipotence. For HE rose again, as he’d promised, because his profound I AM identity (i.e. Ego) distinguishes his as the eternal principle of life, the Almighty G-d, so much so that he was able to say of himself, “I am ... the life” (John 14:6), and, on another occasion, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

With him, then, the omnipotent life force entered into the world; it exploded in his humanity and, through his humanity, blasted the human race and the entire universe. From that moment on, creation boasted of an ever-new youthfulness: we’re no longer slaves of the “fear of death” (cf. Hebrews 2:15). Messiah has liberated us from death forever!

Rightly then, in the Communion service, we greet that which the Cross symbolizes as “the only hope” and “source” of grace and pardon, not only in the fear and grief of the Passion[1], but also in the glory of the triumph[2]. (As we have sung and shall sing again on the feast of its exaltation[3], echoing the Passover (Paschal) alleluia:) Therefore we sing:

“We adore thee, O Savior, and we praise thee,
because by thy Holy Cross,
from death thou has bought back[4]
the whole world.[5]”

Friday – The Pasch, Guaranty of Life

St. Peter tells us of this glory-mystery pouring out from the cross: what theologians call fulget Crucis mysterium – “the mystery of the cross [that] shines forth.” Peter’s letter contains simple and clearly outlined reflections, thick with meaning for the study of Messiah (Christology). It reflects the Apostles and the early Christian communities, who exclaimed:

“Praised be the G-d and Father of our Master, who in his great mercy gave us new birth; a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of ever fading or being defiled” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

So the risen Messiah dominates history and gives a generating force of hope to Christian life (in this kairos) in the end-time (i.e. eschatological age), already begun with the victory won over death by He who was “chosen before the world’s foundation and revealed for your sake in these last days” (1 Peter 1:20).

This is the certainty the world needs, that which the apostles preached; this is the hope that humanity in our time needs: Messiah is risen, and by rising again he’s broken what still seems to many a relentless vortex of decadence, degradation and corruption.

The risen Messiah gives us the guaranty of a life that doesn’t fade away, an “imperishable inheritance,” “a safeguard” exercised by Yahweh in favor of the just, who, liberated and renewed by the Renewer, now belong to the kingdom of eternal life in faith and hope.

Saturday – The Power Which Regenerates the World

History and cosmic workings continue in their courses and aren’t identified with the development of Messiah’s Kingdom. Pain, evil, sin, death, claim their victims, in spite of the resurrection. Still, the cycle of one thing succeeding another, the cycle of becoming something, isn’t at a standstill. If it were, history would also end! And so facts and events are continually being repeated and give rise to thoughts of eternally unresolved conflict between two kingdoms, that of darkness and that of light (or, as St. Augustine said, between the two cities).

Think of the contrast between the Redemption on the one hand and the offenses against the Almighty and the misdeeds of man against man. Consider the constant challenges to our Savior that are continually being launched. This is the most mysterious dimension of the conversation (dialectic) between good and evil: the fact that obstacles are raised against or indifferences shown to the forces of Messiah’s Resurrection, the principle that should serve as such conflict’s resolution.

The world’s in need of the “new people” to show forth in its midst of all the cosmic conflicts that lead to situations so difficult and dramatic as we have seen in this last week – in this last century. The world has need of those who’ll dedicate themselves to humility, courage and perseverance – to the service of the Redemption – and give concrete form, in good Christian conduct, to the regenerative power of the Resurrection. This is the function of Christians – that they be evangelizers and witnesses to the Resurrection in tier time and space.

Sunday - The Glorious Victory

Yet, having been given these awesome responsibilities – as evangelists and witnesses – can we help but consider that there’re far more unbelievers among us than believers? Some might even believe faith itself is dead, and has been covered with a layer of the soot of foul habits, or even of denial and contempt: that faith itself needs resurrecting.

Do we not recall the history of an obstinate and unbelieving apostle? “I will never believe it,” said he (John 20:25). The Risen Jesus said to the unbeliever: “Examine my hands. Put your hand into my side. Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!” (John 20:27). Can it be that beneath unbelief there’s downright sin, the habitual sin that people refuse to call by name; and since people won’t call it by name, neither will they seek remission?

Jesus said to his disciples, including the doubter: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound” (John 20:22-23). Let all of humanity name sin by its name; we’re not called to falsify it WITHIN, because the Assembly of Believers has received the power to forgive all sin, for the benefit of the human conscience. This, too, is an essential detail of the message of Passover.

The whole Assembly of Yahweh everywhere therefore has great reason to announce joy to all humankind. Within that joy resounds victory over humanity’s fears, for all fear in the human conscience arises from sin, and all sin is game for forgiveness. That was what made for such joy the Apostles experienced gathered there in the upper room at Jerusalem, awaiting the Holy Ghost. It is our church’s joy, having its beginning in that upper room. Joy begins in the empty tomb below Golgotha and grows in the hearts of those simple, scared men who, on “the evening of the Sabbath,” saw the Risen One, and heard the greeting from his holy mouth, “Peace be with you!”

[1] in hoc Passionis tempore.

[2] in hac triumphi Gloria.

[3] The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14^th.

[4] “Brought back,” i.e. “redeemed.”

[5] This is the “adoration” from the first Station or Way of the Cross according to the method of St. Francis, in which “Jesus is Condemned to Death.”