“He is risen! He is Lord!” For those two simple statements, the Christians of the early Church were prepared to die. They summarise, as nothing else can, the reason that for those first martyrs, death was preferable to denying Jesus Christ. What is it that made these words so important to them?
First, the Resurrection. We have grown used, even in our religion, of thinking of human beings as souls inhabiting bodies. We think of ourselves as really being the soul, and of the body as being almost something disposable. The Jews thought very differently. For them, “…the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2) In other words, we are not a soul in a body, but a living body. We cannot exist without a body. The Jews recognised this in death, where God, as they expressed it, took back the breath of life, and man returned to the dust from which he came. This is precisely what happens in the grave.
As such, in order for us to live for ever, there has to be a resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead ended the power of death over us. But we will enjoy eternal life in the body, though it will not be a perishable body as we know it now, but an incorruptible, glorious body. Paul has much to say about this in chapter 15 of his first letter to the Corinthians. The resurrection is a sine qua non for us, for, as Paul puts it, “…if Christ has not risen from the dead, then we are the most unfortunate of all people.” Literally, without the resurrection, there is nothing.
But the resurrection has done something more. In rising from the dead, Jesus has become all powerful, and creation has become subject to him. In the language of scripture, God has “put all things under his feet.” He is therefore the Lord of our lives, who can free us from sin and make us fit to live forever with God. In the words of Peter, “There is no other name in heaven or on earth by which we can be saved.” (Acts 2)
The Jewish understanding of human life, which is also the Christian’s, means that we depend upon God for our very existence at every moment of our lives. In order to live with him forever, we need to experience a bodily resurrection. This is only possible because Jesus Christ himself died for our sins and rose from the dead to destroy death and win eternal life for us. And because the ultimate power over us is death, by destroying death he has become the Lord of all creation, for there is nothing over which he does not have authority by virtue of the power of his resurrection. If we acknowledge his as our Risen Lord, and live our lives for him alone, we are promised a share in that glorious eternal life. May this be the future of us all. We wish each and every one of our parishioners a very blessed Easter.
The Fathers and Brothers of the Oratory.
