Magyar Egyház, 1996 (75. évfolyam, 1-2. szám)
1996 / 1. szám
MAGYAR EGYHÁZ 9. oldal THE GLORIOUS RECOGNITION Dear Brethren, John 20:11 - 16 It has a deep significance that the resurrection of our Lord had taken place at springtime. The human joy for the ever-awakening nature coincides with the great Easter message: He has risen! On that first wonderful Easter morning, the Holy Women went to the sepulchre of Jesus in order to complete the sacred embalming acts on the body of their Master. Sad thoughts, pain and sorrow darkened their hearts. They could not enjoy really the surrounding beauties of nature. The sight of the empty tomb made their grief even greater. And none was more desolate than Mary Magdalene. Perplexed and frightened, for although she had lost her beloved Master before but at least she knew where that precious body laid, and now all her hopes were gone, the tomb was empty and she stood there aimlessly among the flowers of the jubilant spring in the garden. Suddenly a shining figure stood behind her and his deep voice sounded with the question: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” This is what the risen Lord is asking from all of us after two thousand years, today. Beloved, we have made great advancements in our civilization, culture and technology since that first Easter morning, especially in our twentieth century. We have changed so much even since the past decades, that our ancestors would be completely lost in our environment today. But sadly, one fact has never been changed. The somber shadow of death still hovers over us just as it did millenniums ago. Our medical science can delay the ultimate end and lengthen our earthly existence for a few years, maybe decades, but the outcome is inevitable; The skeleton hand of our destroyer will knock indiscriminately at the door of the pauper’s shack as well as at the gates of palaces. Christ is now telling us: do not weep! By His glorious resurrection he had given eternal proof that death is not an annihilation but a change of residence to the heavenly Father, wherefrom our immortal soul once had started to the earthly planes to experience joy and sadness, success and failure, hope and disillusionment in order for us to finally return as redeemed saints in the company of our Savior, whence we came from. Do not cry, do not weep! Even at the departure of your loved ones, for they have received their salvation by the grace of our forgiving Father and eternal rest from their earthly labors. As the Apostle says: “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” (I Thessalonians 4:13- 14.) Brothers and Sisters, Today, at the threshold of a new millennium, we are standing at the empty tomb of our ideas. At the ruins of an old ideology in the East and a decaying civilization in the West. And we Hungarian- Americans, celebrating the elevenhundredth anniversary of our homeland, Hungary, even more painfully remember the terrible partition of her body seventy five years ago. We are mourning our hopelessness like the great American poet, Edgar Allan Poe, who so eloquently wrote: “I stand amid the roar of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep - while I weep! 0 God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? 0 God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?” (A Dream Within a Dream) And we are also seeking and searching just like Mary: “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they laid him.” But Christ is asking again: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Did not He declare: “ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) If you have lost the peace of your heart; if you have lost the high moral standards of your forefathers, when evil lurks in every corner, when “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith,” (I Peter 5: 8-9) Do not weep anymore; your search has ended. The evil world crucified Him to get rid of Him forever but Christ triumphantly rose again. The victorious Lord declares: “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) You are firmly rooted in your ancestral faith. Keep your Lord and the great Hungarian Calvinist traditions in your heart and your life. Beloved. The great disappointment of the tragic death of her beloved Master on Calvary had deprived Mary
