From St. Luke 24: Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.[1]
What we can do about His mercy toward His enemies, the powerless, that is, all of us (each by name) is as the angels said: Remember what He told you. What a joyous response: You remembered! What a sad response: I forgot.
You tell a friend about your mother that she is sick. Please pray for her, you ask your friend. A week your friend asks you, How’s your Mom? In your heart, you rejoice because your friend remembered. You know your friend prayed for your Mom. You doubly rejoice. “Thanks for remembering”. “And (the women) remembered (Christ’s) words.”
Every Word, Christ spoke and taught, is as alive as He is. We are not told what joy was the women’s. They returned from the tomb with no idle tale, but the joy of proclamation: Christ is risen! Remembering is thanksgiving. Jesus came through just as He said He would. Jesus seeks to bring to Himself us all, as a shepherd seeks his lost sheep, as woman finding her lost coin, as a Father seeking and finding his lost son in the far country. He went as far and as deep as hell, as He descended even into hell,
“(Hell) took a body and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen and fell upon the unseen. O Death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?”[2]
Our lives in Christ are one of remembrance of Christ. The devil’s strategy is for us to forget. We are baptized to remember His Word as it points out where we have gone astray and ever points us to the living Way Who is Christ, the crucified and risen Lord.
Remembering is learning. Tests in school, and trials in life, are to see if we do remember. Tests and trials also are for us to remember our lessons and our Lord. The purpose of school is not for us to feel good about the subject matter, but to learn it. Jesus risen was taught by the angels and the women. When we forget, we die. Remember what He told you. We must learn. We are learning in Christ to love as He first loved us. He had said three times, the Son of Man MUST suffer, be killed and rise again. The women remembered because the angels reminded them, as do angels in our lives. A divine MUST all the way around is His death and resurrection and so acquiring and learning by faith His resurrected life for us and for our salvation.
“O Holy Trinity, You Self-sufficient Love, ignite also in our hearts this fire of Your Love.”[3]
Christ is risen!
[1] The angels instructing the women to remember, is reportage unique in St. Luke’s Holy Gospel.
[2] Fom the Paschal Sermon by St. John Chrysostom read by the Eastern Orthodox at the Vigil
[3] Rev. Johann Gerhard (+1637)
Concordia and Koinonia 
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