Photo: vk.com It is not your beliefs or even deep conviction that can overcome the fear of death and shame; only love can make you faithful to the end, without limits, and unconditionally. Today we are celebrating solemnly and reverently the memory of Sts. Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the holy Myrrh-Bearing Women.
Sts. Joseph and Nicodemus were secret disciples of Christ. While Christ preached to the crowds of people and was the object of the hatred and increasing vindictiveness of His opponents, they would go to Him timidly at night, when no one could notice them. But when suddenly Christ was taken, when He was seized and brought to death, crucified and killed, these two men, who during His earthly life had seemingly been diffident and hesitating disciples, suddenly, out of faithfulness, out of gratitude, out of love for Him, and out of amazement at Him, turned out to be stronger than His closest disciples... They forgot their fear and opened up to everybody else when others were hiding.
St. Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus; St. Nicodemus, who had only had the courage to visit Him at night, came too, and together with Joseph they buried their Teacher, Whom they would thenceforth never abandon.
And as for the holy Myrrh-Bearing Women, about whom we know so little—one of them had been saved by Christ from eternal perdition, from demonic possession. Others followed Him as well—the mother of James and John and others, listening, taking heed of His teaching, becoming new people, learning the only commandment of Christ: of love, but of such love as they had never known in their former lives, be they righteous or sinful. And neither were they afraid to stand at a short distance while Christ was dying on the Cross and all of His disciples except St. John had forsaken Him and fled. They were not afraid to come and anoint the body of Jesus, Who had been rejected by people, betrayed by His Own disciples, and condemned by others as a “criminal”.
Later, when the news of Christ’s Resurrection had reached them, two disciples hurried swiftly to the Savior’s tomb. One of them was St. John, who had stood at the Cross—the one who would become the Apostle and preacher of Divine love and whom Jesus especially loved; and the other was St. Peter, who had renounced Christ three times and about whom the Myrrh-Bearing Women were told: Go your way, tell His disciples and Peter (Mk. 16:7). This is because the others had dispersed out of fear, and St. Peter had renounced his Teacher three times in front of everyone else and could no longer call himself a disciple. “And bring him the news of forgiveness too…”
And when this news reached him, how he rushed to the empty tomb to make sure that the Lord had risen from the dead and that everything was still possible; that it was not too late to repent, that it was not too late to return to Him, that it was not too late to become His faithful disciple again! And indeed, later, when he met Christ on Lake Tiberias, Christ did not ask him about his betrayal, but only wondered whether he still loved Him…
Love proved to be stronger than fear and death, stronger than threats, stronger than the horror of any danger. And where reason and conviction did not save the disciples from fear, love overcame everything… So throughout the history of the world—both pagan and Christian—love wins. The Old Testament tells us that love is truly strong as death (cf. Song 8:6). It alone can fight death and win.
And therefore, when we test our conscience in relation to Christ, in relation to our Church, in relation to those close to or far from us, and to our motherland, let us not ask ourselves about our beliefs, but about our love. And he who has a heart as loving, as faithful and unshakeable in love, as those of the timid St. Joseph, or the secret disciple St. Nicodemus, or the quiet Myrrh-Bearing Women, or the former traitor Peter, or young John—he who has such a heart will resist torture, fear, and threats, and remain faithful to God, to the Church, to those near and far from him, and to all.
And those who have only strong convictions, but cold hearts—hearts that have not been ignited by the love that can burn any fear away—let them know that they are still weak. And let them ask God to grant them this gift of love—fragile and delicate, yet so faithful and invincible. Amen.
May 15, 1974
