In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
An old Hollywood entertainer named Danny Kaye once said this: “Our lives are one big canvas. Let’s paint them in vibrant colors.”
Well, today is “Red Sunday” in the Armenian Church. That is the color of the day and we see the vibrant red color adorning our altars more than we normally do because our Church Fathers set this day aside every year to recall the sacrifice made on the Cross by Jesus Christ. It is a day we are asked to remember the price that was paid on the Cross that opened the door for eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Listen to these words of Jesus: “I tell you the truth. A time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” He spoke these words to His disciples but He is also speaking them to us and they are a bit unsettling. They are unsettling because they say to us that a message has been given to the people of the world that is tied directly to our eternal lives. They are unsettling because they refer to death and no one likes to hear or speak about death.
It is a topic that understandably troubles a lot of people because, I think, we don’t understand enough about it. By “putting it on the table” to be discussed, Jesus is saying: “We need to talk about it and we need to hear about it because a time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” In biblical times, the phrase “to hear” meant “to understand.” It means we didn’t just hear the words He taught us, we understand them. We comprehend that the Christian faith isn’t a passive religion. With this faith comes responsibilities and expectations and that we put the words we hear into action. It means believing His Words with our whole heart.
Our Church Fathers call today “Red Sunday” because they knew that in this world death is a part of life. We can even say that both suffering and death are a part of life. Think about why we commemorate April 24 every year or why we remember our deceased loved ones—especially on the anniversary of their passing every year. No one needs to spell out for us that there is suffering and death in this world. We all understand that we grew up with the stories of April 24 seared in our minds because the lives of our ancestors bore witness to it. We all understand the pain of death because we have all lost loved ones along the way.
What Jesus is saying is this. Don’t lose hope. Eternal life is just that—eternal, forever and unending. What Jesus is saying to us in this Bible passage comes down to this. To “hear” the Words of God and believe in them means to follow His example in life so completely that we set ourselves apart from the world while living in it.
The Bible points out that Jesus encountered the same kind of everyday problems that we face in life—the problems of disease and prejudice and racism; the problems of anger and depression and even death, but He did so with love and acceptance and compassion in His Heart.
For us to live as He lived is not easy because the world around us seems to have little value for God or His ways. Hearing the4 Word of God means living our lives with our faith at the center. It means denying our “wants” for the “needs” of others. It means suffering for our beliefs in a world that challenges the teachings of the Bible every day and calls our faith a myth and irrelevant.
So, as we try to live out our faith in this world, we can ask God for help. We can ask Him to help us overcome the obstacles and dangers of this world. We can pray that He puts in our heart light to chase away the darkne4ss around us, courage to combat our fears and hope to overcome our doubts. Also, that He puts in our heart peace in times of turmoil and joy when we feel sorrow and strength in times of weakness, wisdom in times of confusion and forgiveness for our wrongs and love when we are faced by hate.
So, on this “Red Sunday,” ask yourself:
- What do you hear God saying to you?
- What do you need Him to place in your heart to help you overcome the challenges in your life today?
“I tell you the truth. A time is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who choose to hear will live.” Hearing the Word of God and believing them means living our lives with our faith at the center.
Amen.