I
read a humorous story from one of the blogs in the net about a pastor who took his
pastoral responsibility so seriously that he would move around seeking his lost
sheep. This pastor once entered a pub and found three men sitting at the bar.
He asked the first, "Do you want to go to heaven?" The man said, “yes”.
The priest said, "Then go stand against the wall." He asked the
second if he wanted to go to heaven. The man said, “yes”, and the priest told
him to stand against the wall. He asked the third, "And you, do you want
to go to heaven?" The man said, "no." The priest was taken
aback; he asked, "What? When you die, you don't want to go to
heaven?" The man said, "Well, yes, when I die. But I thought you were
getting a group to go right now!" Many of us are like the third person in
the story. We want to go to heaven when we die, not today.
What
is the resurrection of Christ all about? What is Easter all about? Has it got
any significance here and now, while we live on this earth? Or is it
significant only after our death? Resurrection of Christ is not about a heaven
after our death, but it is about living a life victorious over sin and death
today. What are the implications of Christ’s resurrection for our life in the
world, here and now?
First,
it assures us that it is not all over yet. We are living in a world of sin and
death. Satan and the princes of this world seem to have their free reign over
this world; they seem to trample upon human lives and God’s beautiful creation.
We feel hemmed in, unable to make any headway, lost and surrounded. Resurrection
announces that they do not have the final say; the final say is for Christ and
his people; it is for God’s kingdom. God, by raising Jesus, His son, from
death, has unleashed the forces of a new life that works toward peace, justice
and fullness of life. We have been given victory over sin and death. We read in
1 Peter 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his
great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead …” (1 Peter 1:3). We are filled with
a living hope. It is not all over yet. In a world of sorrow, pain and
ultimately death, it’s not over yet. Easter is indeed a forceful reminder that
the human spirit cannot be confined. It does not deny the reality of death, but
it offers us an assurance that death or death dealing forces do not have the
final word.
With
the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the world has been shaken up, the
new rule of God has been proclaimed, so that despite appearances, the world is
in fact a different place, full of new possibilities, previously unimagined. Paul
explains in Colossians the reality of being raised with Christ, “Since, then,
you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ
is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on
earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
(3:1-4) Even while we are on this earth, we can be part of this resurrection
life of Jesus Christ, we have been given this experience of being raised with
Christ, so that our minds and hearts are
set not on earthly things, but on things that are above. We are controlled and
guided by heaven; our citizenship is in heaven.
Second,
resurrection provides us with a new meaning for our life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
in his “Letters and Papers from Prison”, writes about the meaning of Easter,
“Good Friday and Easter free us to think about other things far beyond our own
personal fate, about the ultimate meaning of all life, suffering, and events;
and we lay hold of a great hope.” Life has a purpose and meaning beyond our
personal successes and failures; God has a plan, a purpose for you and his
creation. It may involve privations and disappointments, but whatever the cost,
it will be worth it. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Eternal life begins
now. "I am the Resurrection and the Life." You are part of a new
reality, new life in Christ. While in that horrible prison, Bonhoeffer wrote,
"As I see it, I am here for some purpose and I only hope I may fulfill it.
In light of the great purpose, all our privations and disappointments are
trivial." Life takes on a new meaning. Without this meaningfulness, we are
as good as dead.
Death
is not physical cessation of breath, but it is a state of having no meaning and
purpose for living. If you are possessed with this meaning, death ceases to
have any control over your life. Hence, in Paul’s first letter to Corinthians,
he writes, ““Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to
God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (15:55-57) The
sting of death is our fear of death. It is the fear of death that causes us to
hold on to life and become selfish; it causes us to be forgetful of and
indifferent to the sufferings of others; we try to secure our life in panic by
hoarding and accumulating. We move away from our God given destiny; that is
sin. But ultimate meaningfulness of life, which enabled Christ to declare on
the cross, “it is finished”, drives away all fear of death; and death’s sting
has been taken away, and we can now live a life victorious over sin and death. That
is the experience of eternal life. That is the experience of true freedom.
Lastly, resurrection of Jesus provides
us with the assurance that the way of the cross is the true path to all human
and cosmic quest for liberation. We tend to think that the cross was a
temporary defeat and that the resurrection was the real moment of victory. But,
the cross was the victory and the resurrection was merely the visible proof and
public vindication of the victory on the cross.
Resurrection
does not do away with cross but rather, it affirms that the way of the cross,
the way of suffering love, the way of being responsible for ones fellow human
beings and creation, is the most legitimate way for living meaningful lives,
for solving the problems of this world and for the liberation of this world. God,
by raising Jesus from the dead, has given his stamp approval to the way that
His Son, Jesus Christ, has opted, a way of dying to give life. Jesus said,
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Cross
embodies this way, the way of dying to give life for others. It is a very
costly way; it is not the way of miracles. “For you know that it was not with
perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed… but with the
precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”(1 Peter 1:18-19).
Jesus
did not shy away from any situation of human disfigurement and disintegration
of life. Jesus acted in responsibility to his fellow humans and the earth; he
refused to budge before the death dealing forces of his time, whether be it
from religion, culture or politics. In this, he remained resolutely in
solidarity with the poor, those who were pushed to the margins of our society.
He brought them wholeness and healing. In short, “he took up our pain and bore
our suffering”; He showed us love in action, not love in the abstract. This
style of life, way of life, made cross inevitable. The cross remains as the
embodiment of the power of love and its victory over all that disfigures God’s
beautiful creation. Resurrection of Christ is God’s way of declaring the way of
the cross as the only way to liberate this world. This message is powerfully
encapsulated in the poem/hymn written by James R Lowell, titled “Once to Every
Man and Nation”. The last stanza concludes as follows:
Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet
the truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own
Yet that scaffold
sways the future’—Yes, Resurrection bears witness to it. Successive generations
of Christians bore witness to it and even faced the gallows singing praises to
God. And we, who are given the privilege to be part of this resurrection faith,
are called to bear witness to this reality and experience its power to
transform the world.
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