I must say a few words on this holy day, not too many, because the hour
is late, and we're not accustomed to praying late at night.

What is it that we celebrate, brothers and sisters, what do we celebrate
today? 

We celebrate two healings: the God-man, with His two natures - a son
twice - healed us of death and sin. And if you read carefully this
gospel, it speaks of this . . . not openly, but in a way that is
mystical and spiritual. 

Now, we all know that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. What His rising
from the dead did was made our flesh able to become pure. And to the
pure all things are pure as it says in the scriptures. If we become
purified with the help of God, because now we're capable of becoming
this, we will know God. Not only will we know God, but we will become
sons of God. 

Now really, death and sin are two sides of the same coin: where there is
death, there is darkness, and sin also darkens the soul. No one can be
happy when their soul is darkened with sin, and inevitably, sin brings
about death. But the lord broke this cycle where man is born, and
inevitably He sins, and inevitably He dies, and is not able to see God,
because our lord lived as God in man, made His flesh able to see God -
now if He was only begotten of the father, He always knew God as God's
son: eternally, but, as a man, He had to make His flesh invigorated, so
that it could see God. 

We can appropriate this great salvation. Now how do we appropriate it?
St. John says as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to
become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were
born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man
but of God. 

Brothers and sisters if you want to truly feel the resurrection, if you
want to have joy that cannot be taken away from you, then you must
receive Christ. And what is this receiving? The Lord gives us
commandments, perfect and wonderful commandments; His yoke is easy and
His burden is light, and He desires us to follow these commandments and
He makes us capable of following these commandments; and if we struggle
to follow them, it is a certainty that the lord will make His abode with
us and we will be happy. Happiness that the world doesn't know,
happiness that never ever grows old. 

This is what we celebrate on Pascha, that we can become complete, we can
become whole, we can become perfected, we can have absolute happiness,
for eternity, knowing God. 

But the Lord didn't just break the bonds of death: He broke the bonds of
sin too, because as a man He lived without sin. He was like us in all
things. He was tempted in all ways, just as any other man would be
tempted, except that He did not sin. So He made our flesh change, just
as the old covenant changed into the new, the old man, who would live in
sin and die and go into the grave, was changed into the new man, who
would live, and would be capable - if He would receive Christ, of living
righteously, and when He dies, He would not die the death of eternal
damnation, but He would be alive in Christ. This is what the
resurrection does for us: makes us able to see God.

Glory be to God that He has given us so many blessings. He's given us
grace and truth and grace for grace. May God help you to live
righteously so that you can feel in every aspect of your life the
presence of God and joy.

Amen.