ADAM'S FIRST EASTER

THE FORGOTTEN DAY

We’re all so familiar with Good Friday and Easter Sunday that we tend to gloss over what happened on Holy Saturday. The Creed that we profess each Sunday, however, reminds us that after his death on Good Friday and before his resurrection, “He descended into hell” before rising on the third day. In this post I would like to share some ideas and a personal angle concerning this forgotten phrase in the Creed. First, let me offer you the teaching of the Catholic Catechism on the topic (#s 632-637). 

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.

633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in

Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead." The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfillment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."

THE MARVELOUS MEETING

What prompted me to reflect on this topic, sometimes referred to as “The Harrowing of Hell,” was a reading that we read at Vigils this (Holy Saturday) morning. This ancient homily on Holy Saturday is one of my favorite readings of the whole year. Here is an excerpt.

Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

"Rise, let us leave this place!"

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. 

At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” 

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden. (A fuller excerpt can be found by clicking here.)

I’m always touched by Christ’s encountering Adam in the underworld. Never a word of reproach; the savior

Rise up, work of my hands!

simply “took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” For some reason this year I was really touched by Christ’s attitude of forgiveness and blessing. His whole purpose is to show Adam how much God loves him and his children. I felt as if Jesus were talking directly to me this morning when I heard these words: I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. I’ve been invited personally by Jesus to rise from the dead and share instead in his new life.

In looking around for information on the harrowing of hell I found a blog post that does a beautiful job, and so I happily refer you to that blog here if you want to pursue the topic.

May the risen Lord fill you with his risen life and with the deeply felt conviction that he died and rose just for you. May you hear his words to Adam addressed personally to you this Easter day: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

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HAPPY EASTER!

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