Spreading the Flame

 

Scripture

 Mark 16:9-19

⁹ Now after he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went out and told those who had been with him, while they were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

¹² After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ¹³ And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

¹⁴ Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ¹⁶ The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸ they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.  (NRSV)

 

Devotion

 Today's scripture passage (known as the Longer Ending of Mark) is a section of some dispute.  Some ancient texts include it; others do not.  Whether Mark wrote it himself or someone else added it later, this text always comes to mind when I watch videos of Orthodox Easter being celebrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter a week later than we do.  When Easter comes for them, Orthodox Christians from around the world pack into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to celebrate the sign of Christ's Resurrection through the Miracle of the Holy Fire.  There is only a limited amount of space within the church, so each Orthodox Community gets a certain number of tickets to share with their faithful.  The church is crammed with thousands of people divided into sections based on which community they represent.  There are Syrians and Russians.  Greeks and Arabs.  All gathered around Jesus's tomb in order to witness the moment when the light of the Risen Christ descends from heaven to miraculously ignite the lamp placed where his body once lay.  At a certain point, the Greek and Armenian Patriarchs enter the tomb itself.  The lights go out, and people wait for the confirmation that a blue flash of light has come down from Heaven to ignite the lamp.

When the Patriarchs exit the tomb with candles lit from the Holy Flame and begin using it to light the candles of those closes to them, the crowd erupts in joy. Bells begin to ring throughout the church, and everyone rushes to share the Holy Flame.  From there, the Holy Fire is placed into special lamps and flown to Orthodox communities around the world.  Others go out into Jerusalem to tell the yet more thousands of Christians gathered outside the gates to the Old City that the light has arrived.  Everywhere the news of the Holy Flame's arrival spreads, people react with joy.  And wherever the Flame itself travels, folks rush to share it with others in their community.  Watching the footage of that pure, Flame spreading from the tomb out into the world always brings me to tear.

Whether or not one believes that the Holy Flame is truly of divine origin, there is something miraculous in knowing that on Orthodox Easter, believers who are there to witness the Resurrection literally carry the light of Christ from Jerusalem into all the world.  Would that we all be that excited to fulfill Jesus's command to go forth and share the Good News with all creation!  And just think of the difference Christ's Church could make if we shared that level of joy not just on Resurrection Day...but every day of the year.

I'm including both a clip of this year's Holy Fire ceremony and an Orthodox Easter hymn below.  I may be posting 8 days after the fact, but I hope that the joy of the ceremony moves your heart as it does mine.  And may we each recommit to carrying the joyfully carrying the light of our Risen Lord throughout the world.

 

Prayer 

O Risen Lord, fill me with the living flame of your Holy Spirit.  May I rejoice in the way your presence burns within me and go out to the Good News with all the world.  Amen.