Eastern Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God, BRISTOL

Sermon for the Sunday of the Ointment-Bearers

Archimandrite Kyril Jenner

Mark 15:43 – 16:8

Christ is risen!

The first parts of each of the four Gospels focus on our Lord’s mission, on his teaching and healing and so on.   Around Christ we see various groups of people, and as we move outwards these are described in progressively less detail.   We see an inner group of three, Peter, James, and John, who were very close to Christ.   They formed part of the larger group of Twelve disciples, who are all named.   Beyond them there is a larger group still, who followed Christ in his life on earth.   This group included women as well as men.

If we read the texts carefully we see that the women in this group were doing work that was essential to our Lord’s mission.   Some provided money.   Others provided practical support.   The implication is that they did what was regarded as “women’s work” – cooking, washing, mending clothes, and so on.   These were tasks that would normally be undertaken within a family situation.   Our Lord seems to have created a new sort of spiritual family to replace the more normal human family, based on blood relations, and living together in a single household.

At one stage our Lord seems to have become very distant from his human family.   On one occasion Christ was told that his mother and his brothers wanted to speak with him.   His reply was that “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”  (Mark 3:31-35)  The history of the early Church shows that his human family later became part of this larger family.

One of the tasks of a family was to take care of the body when one of its members died.   In the case of our Lord this task was undertaken by members of his spiritual family.   This is what is described in today’s Gospel reading.  

Our Lord died on a Friday, and so his body had to be buried quickly, before the start of the Sabbath.   This work was undertaken by Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the spices for embalming the body, and also the winding sheet to wrap around the body.   He also found or provided a tomb near to where Christ had died.   The women came after the Sabbath, as soon as they could, to complete the rituals associated with burial.

These people did not regard what they were doing as something special.   It was simply part of the normal routine for dealing with someone who had died.   They took on the task out of love for our Lord.   We too need to perform the essential tasks out of love for Christ.   For the men and the women who took care of what needed to be done after Christ’s death there was no distinction between routine earthly activity and the service of God.   It was all one integrated life, lived for and with Christ.

Many organisations use buildings for their primary task.   This may be an office block, or a factory, or a school.   But the primary task cannot be accomplished efficiently unless the necessary secondary tasks are also performed.   Buildings and machines need to be cleaned and maintained.   If this secondary work is done well, then the primary work can be done more easily.   If the secondary work is not done, the primary work becomes much harder.

In our Church community we use buildings.   We need to meet together to worship God and to support one another in the faith.   These primary tasks can only be done when the secondary tasks have also been completed.   The buildings need to be cleaned and maintained.   We need specific preparation of the building for each service that we hold.   Music and texts for services must be prepared.   Performing these tasks is as essential to the work of the Church as the more visible activities that go on during and outside the services.

The women who went to the tomb went to perform a normal earthly activity.   But in the context of that normal activity they were granted the privilege of being the first to know of the Resurrection of Christ.   That encounter with the divine in the middle of the mundane caused them initially amazement and terror.   Later they were filled with joy.   Coming to know the risen Christ changed their lives completely.

Our lives too should be transformed by our encounter with the risen Christ.   This encounter should permeate the whole of our life.   Saint Gregory the Great says this of the women:  “holy women who had followed the Lord came to the sepulchre with spices.   They had loved him when he was alive, and they showed him their eager tenderheartedness even when he was dead.   Their deed points to something that must be done in our holy Church.   Thus as we hear of what they did, we must also think of our responsibility to imitate them.   We, too, who believe in him who died, approach his sepulchre with spices if we are strengthened with the sweet smell of the virtues, and if we seek the Lord with a reputation for good works.   And the women who came with spices saw angels, since those who advance toward God through their holy desires, accompanied by the sweet smell of the virtues, behold the citizens from on high.”  (Forty Gospel Homilies, 21)

Performing our routine chores with love for Christ in our hearts opens the way for us to God, just as much as the most elevated prayer and meditation.   Opening our hearts to God is the key.   Let us pray that as we go about our daily life we, like the Myrrhbearers, may encounter the risen Christ, and that our hearts may be filled with the joy of the Resurrection.