Chapter I. — On this holy day, dearest brethren, on this renowned and excellent day, on this day of which the most sacred psalm resounds: 'This is the day which the Lord has made' (Ps. 117:24): on this day sadness was taken away from the heart of the disciples, and confusion was set upon the eyes of the Jews. On this day of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the disciples, filled with sorrow, went each wherever they could: there was none to gather them, because now was fulfilled what is written: 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered' (Zech. 13:7). Yet the sepulcher was sealed with the seal of the Jews, secured by a guard of soldiers: within was the light, which could by no means be bound.
For whatever we seal, all of it we can bind; but the light we cannot bind. And therefore the eternal Light, who in the beginning illumined the world, and who both was and is and ever shall be with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit—one in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, himself indeed God and man—through his marvelous resurrection deigned to touch the hearts of the faithful with the key of his truth; that he might illumine what was dark, and open what was closed. He who, with an angel ministering, was joined to the Word, himself, with an angel ministering, was today raised from the sepulcher. As though the sealing could in any way harm him for whom there was no deceit, guards are set to guard the man.
He whom they already knew to work miracles, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, raise the dead—could he not present himself out of the tomb? Chapter II. — But the crowd of the Jews, already blind in heart, who had the law and did not understand it, sang the third psalm, yet did not recognize the Trinity of the Lord. For the third psalm has: 'I slept and took my rest, and I rose up, because the Lord sustained me' (Ps. 3:6): while indeed, intent and prepared for the confounding of the disciples, they merited to find the confusion of their own souls. For they say to Pilate, 'That deceiver said that on the third day he would rise again; let soldiers,' they say, 'be posted, lest his disciples come and steal him away' (Matt. 27:63-64).
If the tomb was closed to the disciples, could it be closed to the holy angels? Or perhaps he could not rise from the sealed sepulcher, who was able to come forth from the sealed Virgin? A true Virgin was sealed, and a true burial is sealed. A true Virgin gave birth without man, and a true seal was made a gateway in the sepulcher. For while these guards are present—no longer guards, but witnesses—they could keep watch, but God had determined to raise his Son: for an angel of the Lord had descended from heaven; seeing him, the guards are terrified. They could not see that sublime angel, being full of the falsehood of the Jews. The women are permitted to see the angel, because they had come weeping to the tomb. To whom he spoke great joy:
'I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified: he is not here, but he has risen, as he said: come and see the place where the Lord was laid' (Matt. 28:5-6). O joy not only to those women, but to all the faithful and believing who have been reborn! 'He has risen,' he says. Chapter III. — But to say briefly what was long ago foretold: that king David, full of the Holy Spirit, truly sang in the psalm: 'The Lord rose up as one sleeping' (Ps. 77:65). Why should I say many things at length? Let it now suffice for faith, that which speech is not strong enough to unfold. Who can grasp the heavy toil of the night now past, who the splendor of this day?
This day has poured out immense joys for all Christians, since Christ made it better for us than the other days. Let us exult therefore, dearest, and rejoice in it, because this is the day which the Lord has made. For I think, brethren, that this day alone must be called great, and the day in which the true Day was raised up again for us. For this day shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. By darkness I mean the Jews, who, while they denied Christ the Day, lost the light which they had received: for while they cry out, 'Crucify, crucify,' darkness came upon the middle of the day. Therefore, because the Jews wished to seize Christ by night, they remained on that account in darkness.
But the Gentiles and the dwelling nations, who withdrew from the darkness of idols, merited to be brought to fullness of day, as the Apostle says: 'He rescued us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his majesty' (Col. 1:13): whence he says also in another place, 'We are sons of light,' he says, 'and sons of day' (1 Thess. 5:5); 'we are not of night nor of darkness: let us walk honorably as in the day' (Rom. 13:13). Let us exult therefore, dearest, all with all, because this is the day which the Lord has made. Chapter IV. — What has your iniquity profited you, I ask, O serpent, or what did your persecution avail out of its cruelty? Behold, he has risen from the sepulcher whom you Jews fixed upon the wood. Today he is seen alive who was thought to be slain.
Fortify diligently, O Jew, the sepulcher of your cruelty; add guards of soldiers, command watches of the nightly secrets, that you may prove dead the one whom you were unwilling to acknowledge alive. You gave the disciple Judas a price of silver, that you might lay the slain Christ in the tomb: give as much silver to the guards, that you may hear the falsehood that he was stolen away by the disciples. Pay out, pay out the silver for your crime. In vain, at any rate, do you keep watch at the tomb by night. Already he has risen, already he has ascended to the heavens, already he has been glorified on our account, who humbled himself on our account. For what will you do, made from friends the bitterest enemies?
He whom with such zeal you fixed upon the wood, he himself sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven; he it is who comes in the name of the Lord, God the Lord, and has shone upon us. He has shone upon us, and has subjected you beneath our feet. For the Father has fulfilled for us what he promised to his Son. For what has he fulfilled for us, and what did he promise to the Son? The Psalm says: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet' (Ps. 109:1). For behold, Christ sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and has subjected you Jews beneath our feet on earth. When you, fierce Judea, procured one to slay, you would have kept for yourself what you had bought, and would not have lost what you had. Behold, you have lost the silver, and the one you procured you have not possessed.