Sometimes you must simply rely on what others have said, not because you are lazy or wanting, but because they have said it so well.
Besides this, you bring with it a sense of appreciation for eras long since passed.
The Easter sermon of John Chrysostom (circa 400 AD:) This sermon was actually preached over 1618 years ago – this Easter.
Are there any who are “devout lovers of God?”
Let them enjoy this “beautiful bright festival!”
Are there any who are “grateful servants?” Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!
Are there any “weary with fasting?”
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from “the first hour,”
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the “third hour,”
let him “with gratitude” join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after “the sixth hour,” let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until “the ninth hour,”
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only “at the eleventh hour,”
let him not be afraid “by reason of his delay.”
For the Lord is “gracious” and receives the last even as the first.
He gives “rest” to him that comes at the “eleventh hour,” as well as to him that toiled from “the first.”
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts “the works” as He greets the “endeavor.”
The deed “He honors” and “the intention” He commends.
Let us “all” enter into “the joy” of the Lord!
“First and last alike” receive your reward; “rich and poor,” rejoice together!
“Sober and slothful,” celebrate the day!
You that have “kept the fast,” and “you that have not,” rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally “on it,” the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one “go away hungry.” Partake, all, of “the cup of faith.”
Enjoy all the riches of “His goodness!”
Let no one grieve “at his poverty,”
for the “universal kingdom has been revealed.”
Let no one “mourn” that he has fallen again and again; for “forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
Let no one “fear death,” for the Death of our Savior “has set us free.”
He has “destroyed it” by “enduring it.”
He “destroyed Hell” when He “descended into it.”
He put “it” into an uproar even as “it” tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
“You, O Hell, have been “troubled” by “encountering Him below.”
Hell was “in an uproar” because it was “done away with.”
It was in an “uproar” because it is “mocked.”
It was in an “uproar,” for “it is destroyed.”
It is in an “uproar,” for it is “annihilated.”
It is in an “uproar,” for it is now made “captive.”
Hell took “a body, and discovered God.”
It took “earth, and encountered Heaven.”
It took “what it saw,” and was “overcome” by what it “did not see.”
O death, where is “thy sting?”
O Hell, where is “thy victory?”
Christ is Risen, and you, o death, “are annihilated!”
Christ is Risen, and “the evil ones” are “cast down!”
Christ is Risen, and “the angels rejoice!”
Christ is Risen, and “life is liberated!”
Christ is Risen, and “the tomb is emptied of its dead;”
for Christ having “risen from the dead,”
is become the “first-fruits” of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen! And here St. John’s sermon was ended.
To which I want to add, may we believe as St John Chrysostom believed.
Happy Easter, everybody! May the resurrection of Christ be planted in our minds and on our hearts forever more.
Amen.