By Marika Hanushevsky Hull, MDiv, BCC
It is a custom in the Eastern Churches to read an excerpt from the Easter Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom (347 AD – 407 AD) before the Paschal Liturgy begins on Easter morning. St. John Chrysostom was by all accounts the best preacher the Christian world has ever known. As he stood or sat in front of the altar and thundered his sermons in the great basilicas of Antioch and Constantinople, the faithful and the catechumens were spellbound.
His sermons touched the core of their dilemmas and concerns. It was a time of great unrest and agitation. The people needed someone to speak to their hopes and fears, to console them in their distress, to give them strength to deal with their difficulties, and to support them as they struggled to change their ways.
“…Come, then! Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward. You rich and you poor, dance together. You with self-control and you who are weak, celebrate this day. You who have kept fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The Table is Richly laden: enjoy its Royal Banquet. The calf is fatted, let no one leave hungry.”
“Let no one mourn their poverty, for the universal Kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep because they have fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
This great preacher and father of the early church, St. John Chrysostom, in choosing to focus on the essential meaning of the Resurrection chose a powerful word to describe Jesus. He called Jesus, “Forgiveness.”
“…forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
In his audience were people from every walk of life, believers, catechumens, and curiosity seekers. In the age before TV, Internet, and smartphones, St. John Chrysostom kept his listeners spellbound. They would not have persevered through his long sermons if they did not find the reasoning compelling. They would not turn from their wayward paths, or convert to this new religion of Christianity if all they heard were weak platitudes, or unconvincing explanations about the centrality of the Resurrection.
St. John Chrysostom gave them the answer: Jesus was Forgiveness. In a world that was unyielding and harsh, this is what his audience hungered for. They did not need abstract theological explanations. They needed tools with which to scale the rocks and crags of life. Forgiveness was the lifeline. That is what the Resurrection meant. This was the Easter moment brought forth to the world.
Hospital ministry is at heart a constant witness to the Easter moment. The reality and power of forgiveness is the sacred covenant that we create in relationship with the patient. Whatever we do, or do not do in our visits, the message of forgiveness rising from the grave is the central, life-giving force to which we witness.
“…forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
Forgiveness, a faculty and a power buried by human weakness. Jesus, Forgiveness, has risen from the grave. In each hospital room, we are called to witness to the Easter moment through the transformational power of forgiveness.
As we go about our daily visits, let this Paschal prayer, echoing from the trials and suffering of the early church be our guide. Christ as Forgiveness transforms physical realities and spiritual distress. In each visit, in each Easter moment we embrace the possibility of transformation through Christ’s Resurrection. For “…forgiveness has risen from the grave.”
Marika Hanushevsky Hull, a member of the NACC’s Editorial Advisory Panel, is a full-time chaplain at Saint Anne’s Hospital and Saint Anne’s Regional Cancer Care, in Fall River, MA, which serves a predominantly Roman Catholic and under-privileged population. She is the first laywoman in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to be certified by the NACC.
