COME TO THE FEAST!
An Easter Homily
by St. John Chrysostom


Whoever you are,
come celebrate this shining happening,
this festival of light.

You, the devout, God's unshakable lover
and you the servant brimming with thanks,
come walk into the joy of your Lord.

And you the impoverished faster,
come for your wages.

You who began before sunrise,
come for your stipend.

You who waited until nine in the morning,
the feast is for you.

And you the not-till-noon-day starter,
do not hesitate, you'll not lose a thing.

You who began only at 3 in the afternoon,
have no scruples, come to the feast.

You who arrived just before sunset,
forget you were late, don't be bashful,
our Master is magnanimous
and welcomes the very latest with the very first one.



He will not entertain you less,
you of the eleventh hour than you the dawn toiler,
no not at all.
To this one He gives and on that one He showers rewards,
whether you were a success or whether you only tried.

He will greet you,
make much of your effort and extol your intention.
Let everybody therefore crowd into
the exhilaration of our Savior.

You the first and you the last,
equally heaped with blessing.

You the rich, and you the poor,
celebrate together.

And you the carefree and you the careless,
enjoy this day of days.

You who have kept the fast, you who have broken it,
be happy today the table is loaded,
feast on it like the princes.

The milkfed veal is fat,
let no one go hungry.
Drink all of you.
Drink the cup.
The vintage is faith.
Feed sumptuously all.



Feed on His goodness, His sheer abundance,
no one need think he is poor
for the universal empire is emblazoned and wide open for all.
No one need mourn uncountable faults, be they over and over,
for forgiveness itself has reared from the tomb.

No one need fear death,
for our Savior Himself has died and set us free.
He confronted death in His own person
and blasted it to nothing.
He made it defunct by the very taste of His flesh.

This is exactly what Isaiah foretold when he declared:
"...hell is harrowed by encounter with Him..."

Of course it is harrowed,
for now hell is a joke,
finished and done with.
Harrowed because it is now taken prisoner.

It snatched at a body and gripped on God.
It gulped down the Earth and it gagged on Heaven.
It seized what it saw and it was crushed by what it failed to see.



Poor death, where is your sting?
Poor hell, where is your priority?
Christ steps out of the tomb and you are reduced to nothing.
Christ rises and the angels are wild with delight,
Christ rises and the graves are emptied of dead.
Oh yes, for He broke from the tomb like a flower,
a beautiful fruit.
The first fruit of those already gone.

All glory be His!

All success and power forever.

Amen



St. John Chrysostom,
Archbishop of Constantinople, 407 A.D.


*~~* Dedicated to Pat *~~*

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except for the title painting which is the work of Danny Hahlbohm.