REFLECTION FOR EASTER SUNDAY

One of the most dramatic images of the Risen Jesus in the New Testament is to be found in the heavenly assembly in the Book of Revelation – also known as the Apocalypse of John. In it, John describes the risen Jesus as follows: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the centre of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” (Rev. 5,6). It is a striking, even terrifying image. The woolly lamb is, in our imagination, the weakest and most helplessly gentle of creatures. Yet here it becomes a divine creature with the fullness of power – seven horns – and the all-seeing vision of God – seven eyes.

Almost all of us would pass over the word “standing” as merely describing the Lamb’s physical position. Yet it is, perhaps, the most important word in the verse. In Greek, the word is hestekos, which comes from another Greek word, anhistemi, which means to “rise up.” In other words, the Lamb “standing” means the resurrected Lamb, and standing “as if it had been slain” is the crucified and resurrected Jesus, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Afrikaans word “opstanding” translates it perfectly.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the Resurrection of Jesus, because it is simply, without qualification or rival, the most important event in history. Resurrection is a Jewish idea, the basis for which we first encounter in the Bible as early as Genesis 2,7: “Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”. For a Hebrew, we are formed from those two most fragile of things; dust and breath. 

And yet, in this image, it is the breath, the Spirit, of God that gives us life. When God takes back his Spirit, life leaves us and we return “to the dust from which we came.” It is easy to see from where this imagery comes.

In other words, for the Hebrews, man is not a spirit trapped is a body; he is a living body. We are dependent upon God for our very existence. And for this reason, eternal life is impossible without a body. Therefore, without a resurrection, there can be no eternal life. And for a Christian, the Resurrection of Jesus makes possible our own resurrection; if he has not risen from the dead, then we cannot rise from the dead, and there is nothing beyond death for us. Paul puts this all exquisitely in 1 Corinthians 15.

And so, during this season of the Church, there is an explosion of joy in the Resurrection. “He is risen! He is risen! He is risen!” For in the Resurrection of Jesus is all our hope, and it is our only hope. It is strange, is it not, that all our hope should be placed in an empty tomb? Yet this is exactly the basis of all our hopes, our longings, our desires. May God grant us a blessed and happy Easter 2015, and may we all experience the life-giving power of his Resurrection in our lives.