Bishop Jack’s sermon is below the propers and can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/aZmK8kjCpPc
This really is one of Bishop Jack’s very best sermons. It looks at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we celebrate Jesus’ delivery of the promise of life eternal with Him in our life to come. This Day of the Resurrection is when the promise of eternal life is delivered. Those who condemned him on the Friday morning now left on the ash heap of history. There was a reason God set Easter, as well as the Passover, in the springtime. It is important to think about Jesus’ example before we do what we want to do. We must remember His Example when times get harder and more difficult as it becomes closer to the end of this world and the beginning of our eternity with God. Action, not diction is what counts. It all comes together.
The Propers for today are found on Page 163-164, with the Collect first:
Easter Sunday.
The Collect.
A |
LMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout Easter Week.
The Epistle came from Saint Paul’s letter to the Colossians, the Third Chapter, beginning at the First Verse:
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F ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
As usual, Paul is exhorting us to be the New Man, to put away the trappings of the old and go forward. He asks us to do what anyone who is successful does, hang around with those you want to be like in the end and to emulate their actions. In this case rather that earthly success, Paul is helping prepare us for eternal success through salvation.
The Holy Gospel came from the Gospel of Saint John, Twentieth Chapter, beginning at the First Verse. It is the straightforward accounting of the discovery by Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and John that the Lord was risen indeed.
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HE first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in. Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
Jack Arnold
Bishop of the Diocese of the West – AOC USA
Education and Training
Anglican Orthodox Church Worldwide
Bp Jack brings the Collect, Epistle and Gospel together because as is always the case there is a unifying message in the Scripture for this Sunday. Bp Jack’s sermon can be viewed on video HERE ->https://youtu.be/ioLPSMynTsA
Good morning! I hope you are all doing well. In today’s sermon we will be looking at the unifying message of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel and examine how they share a common message of action as we celebrate Jesus’ delivery of the promise of life eternal with Him in our life to come. This Day of the Resurrection is when the promise of eternal life is delivered. Those who condemned him on the Friday morning now left on the ash heap of history.
Today is Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The central event of not only the Christian Year; but of Christianity and the entire world. Witness the terms AD and BC. Anno Domini (the year of our Lord) and Before Christ. Even the politically correct BCE - CE (that is to say, Before Common Era and Common Era) divides time at the birth of our Lord. Even those who fall in that trap must recognize Him!
When you google images for the term Easter, you find 95 percent of the images, eggs, bunnies and chocolates. That is NOT our celebration. That is NOT what Easter is about. Easter is not about finding goodies inside plastic shells. It is not about the end of Winter and the coming of Spring. What it is about is the beginning of a new life for those who will accept it.
The Christian Year has four main celebrations:
1. Christmas celebrates the incarnation or human birth of Jesus, the Christ of God.
2. Epiphany celebrates His revealing to the Gentiles, that would be us!
3. Good Friday observes or remembers, the word celebrate hardly fits here, the one time sacrifice for all mankind for all time by our Lord and Savior (that is where the word savior comes in) that we might be accounted as perfect when we stand before Him at the final judgment day.
4. Today, Easter is, in Spanish La Resurreccion, in English The Resurrection, The Return to Life of Jesus, Christ of God, who returned from death, from Hell, to deliver His promise of eternal life in person!
Let us start by reading today’s Collect:
Easter Sunday.
The Collect.
A |
LMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
¶ This Collect is to be said daily throughout Easter Week.
Consider these words from the Collect:
… who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect…
In the Collect, we acknowledge by the sacrifice made on Good Friday by the One and Only Perfect Man, a single sacrifice, made one time, for all mankind, for all time by our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Christ of God, we have eternal life. We no longer our bound to the rules of the Old Covenant whereby animal sacrifices were required. These sacrifices have never worked, as they could not provide what Christ provided in His Sacrifice. He provided a body free and unblemished from the tarnishes of sin. He was truly the perfect Lamb without blemish or spot. This would allow Him to stand in our place. He truly took our place upon the cross of sin literally and figuratively. By Jesus Christ overcoming death, we through Him, are no longer under the threat of death of our eternal soul in the Pit. No longer can anyone condemn us to death, they may destroy our bodies, but we live on in Him and through Him in Heaven. This is truly worth celebrating, With an acknowledgement of the fact God sent His Son to be our Savior giving us eternal life, we go on to ask His Help so our hearts might desire good and with that Help put those desires into action so that we might accept that eternal life offered us by that same Jesus Christ. That is what that preventing is all about. Today we think of the word as meaning stopping something, but it also means going before one, as in this case God’s special or particular grace preparing the way for us by changing our hearts to desire what is good for us rather than things we often want that are bad for us in the end. Because if we are to follow that narrow uphill path towards heaven, we need God’s grace to go before us and prepare the way if we are to make it.
When God sent His Son to be our Savior, the Creator, Lord and Master of the Universe sent His only Son to not only live amongst us and minister and guide us, but to give His earthly life as a one time sacrifice for our sin that we might be accounted as perfect in our final accounting, the resurrection. Today is the day of His Resurrection, where we celebrate His triumphant return from his descent into Hell after he died on the Cross and battled Satan for our souls. Not a lot of people think about the suffering Christ endured on our behalf after His painful death upon the cross. When HE died His sufferings had only just begun as He descended into darkness itself, Satan’s dominion, to do battle with Satan for our souls. We will never know about the particular details of that battle, but it is good enough for us to know that He triumphed and won our eternal freedom. He freed us from the shackles of Death. God valued His Son exceedingly, but consider then how much He loves us in turn to allow His Precious Only Begotten Son to die a painful death and to do battle with the Devil for our eternity.
Jesus set an example of humility and patience, both exceedingly rare qualities in us. He has set for us the ultimate example to follow in regards to both qualities. That example is extremely difficult for us to follow without God’s help. However it is our duty as Christians to do our best and not just say it to follow Jesus’s example. This is the reason God sent the Holy Ghost to be here with us. With Jesus’ sacrifice and the help of the Holy Ghost to follow Him, turning our backs on this world, we can renew our minds and transform ourselves into the New Man 2.0. The resurrection itself sets a pattern that we should follow. We must first die, that is to stop our sinning, then rise again, that is to live, with humility and patience like the example Jesus set for us. Jesus set the ultimate standard for action and we must do our very best to follow that standard. His whole ministry consisted of actions. He didn’t just speak very kind words, He lived and breathed those words through His Actions. It is clear that we must do likewise if we truly profess to be Christians.
There was a reason God set Easter, as well as the Passover, in the springtime. Not only was the time of His death and rising again, but it came at a time where the flowers bloomed anew, having been dead in winter, as Christ had been dead, and rose again, just as those flowers bloom again. This is truly symbolic of His Death and Resurrection and it is no coincidence Easter happened during this time.
If you think doing our best to following Jesus’s standard is too hard to accomplish, stop and think about what Jesus went through, is it as hard as His Trials and Death and Battling Satan? No matter who you are, the answer is never going to be yes. In the end, the path we must follow will still be easier than if we refuse to follow Him and try and forge our own path. We have to remind ourselves that we will be far happier if we follow His example and lead a righteous and steadfast life, full of grace and humility, as well as patience.
In our lives, it is important to think about Jesus’ example before we do what we want to do. Is what you are wanting in line with Jesus’ message? Think about the answer. Think about what He would do in a given situation. Don’t let your natural inclinations dictate your decisions but stop and let the Holy Ghost into your heart to help decide. If you let the Holy Ghost in to your heart you will know the answer; you will know what you are supposed to do. You may not like it, but you will know it. Which is more comforting than the World’s way, which seems to go off in every which direction, and they are never certain about anything. However, we can be certain about what we know, what believe and we can translate that certainty into our actions. This is because we follow the ultimate unwavering source of truth, God Himself.
Jesus knew what was coming, how much it would hurt both His Body and Soul as He went through with the crucifixion and subsequent descent in to Hell and the battle that awaited Him for our souls. Yet, He also knew this was God’s Will that we might live. If He did this for you, how can you not follow Him wherever His Will takes you? If He was willing to do that for all of us, then how can we not repay Him? His Sacrifice demands that we repay Him to the best of our ability, by the sheer nature of it; his perfection being offered in place of our imperfection. He set the ultimate standard for following God’s Will even if it leads to bodily injury/pain and or death. We must strive to emulate that standard as much as we are able to.
These days people have forgotten how special Jesus’s Death and Resurrection is to us. It is a sign of the times, perhaps maybe even close to the end times that Churches have fallen into apostasy and are even actively denying His Ministry, His Death and His Resurrection. We must not follow those Churches into the Pit, but follow the Holy Ghost on the narrow uphill path towards heaven. Jesus commanded us to always remember His Death and Passion, that we might be partakers of His Heavenly Kingdom. We do not yet know if this is the End Times but we would be wise to treat it as if it is and live as if every day could be our last day here on Earth.
If we do not remember His Death and Passion, can we truly be partakers of His Heavenly Kingdom?
How can we?
He is asking us to act and if we do not choose to act for Him then we cannot be truly on His Side. It is not enough just to ‘have’ faith, we need to back our faith up with actions and choose to act For Him, to remember His Ministry, Death and Resurrection and do our best with the help of the Holy Ghost to follow the standard He set.
Jesus set an example difficult to follow even with the help of the Holy Ghost, but impossible to follow without the help of the Holy Ghost. Our eternal life does not come to us for free. It was paid with the blood of God’s only begotten Son. We have a debt to Him we cannot even close to repaying, but we can start by choosing to follow Him each and every day. Where we fall short, we get back up the next day and do better than the previous day.
We must remember His Example when times get harder and more difficult as it becomes closer to the end of this world and the beginning of our eternity with God. Let us act for Him and make it known that we reject mammon and embrace the example of Jesus Christ. We may lose friends and even family as a result of standing with God; the consequences for not standing with God are far worse than losing shallow people in your life.
By the way, did you notice when John and Simon Peter came to the empty tomb they saw the linen clothes lie, and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself? Why were the linen clothes simply discarded, but the napkin that had been around His head neatly folded? Like a guest getting up from the table for a bit, He folded His napkin because He would return.
When the time comes, how will you ACT?
It is by our actions we are known.
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
