Resurrection Sunda
Resurrection Sunday!
This is arguably the single most important event in history alongside the crucifixion.
It is the pivot on which all of history turns and is at the foundations of the Christian faith that which is the hope of all who believe in Christ. It is the event that caused the followers of Jesus to review the life of Jesus, as in it, they started understanding the mystery that is Christ. Suddenly they saw the divinity that was hidden at the passion. This was the event that concluded 3 years of ministry with Jesus and without it, they would never have gone from doubting followers, to become the apostles of the church.
For us, this is the event that inaugurates our access into eternity, and the expectation is that we graft into our lives here on earth the resurrection life of Jesus.
So how do we live life with the risen Lord? We look for the signs of His life in ours. This can manifest in so many different ways, but I have found myself experiencing this life in the peace and the joy that is prevalent with walking with Him.
The resurrection is a joyous factual event that renders us restored and empowered. This resurrection life does not provide for us a means of escape the crisis of our age but rather it plunges us into the world to be salt and light.
Where our shortcomings hinder us from going into the world in obedience to the commandment of our Lord, we can find that the resurrection has shattered the cycles of depravity that we as humans find ourselves repeatedly falling into, and in that, we can find a hand of grace that is extended before we can even need it. This grace grants us access to ways of living that supersedes the shortcomings of man. It even nullifies the pain and corruptibility of our bodies and gives us access to an abundance of life that brings healing and restoration to all who experience this brokenness.
It is in the resurrection that we find that when God breathed life into Christ he breathed life into all mankind who would receive his breath, and when God made Christ body whole but leaving the signs of his sacrifice he granted all of humanity a way to become whole, indeed we can experience what the bible in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “all things have passed away”
Ignatius of Loyola taught that the vocation of Christians is not action or contemplation but rather contemplation in action. As we contemplate the glory and the power of the resurrection we are required not to just ponder it but to walk it out every day. The resurrection of Jesus is not a concept but rather it is a way of living that invites us into a deeper relationship with his, one where we walk with him and reveal his glory through what we do and who we are. It is the power of the resurrection that calls us to “arise and shine” as the book of Isaiah chapter 60 says. We get to partake of his resurrection and reveal his glory throughout all the earth
We are living in such uncertain times. We live in a divided world, and our divided world has been shut down by the pandemic, but the resurrection life of Jesus draws us into something new. Gone are the days of the uncertainty, brokenness, violence, and pain of the passion, we now have the life of the saviour. This life is drawing us past the brokenness of the world and into His life.
The resurrection is a joy that overcomes all, it is the power of The Cross walked out. It is the victory of Christ over all human sorrows. It doesn’t mean we become numb to the pain in the world and forget about it, rather like christ presenting his wounds we are to remember it but walk in the greater truth of his life. We now, in the context of our world, follow Jesus deeper into the truth of His Kingdom. It is not something we can do on our own strength, but rather it is something that we must walk alongside Jesus. The combined human sorrow that was represented at Calvary is now in the past and the Joy of Jesus in the resurrection is now given. This is not a joy we deserve, but we should not become resistant to it, rather it is a joyous gift given to us based on God’s merit
The reality of the resurrection isn’t as easy to grasp as The Passion. The passion is filled with pain and suffering and encompasses all of the human experience, there are detailed accounts written about it but the resurrection isn’t so clear, there are no descriptions of it happening, there are no eyewitnesses. There is simply the empty tomb.
The resurrection could have happened in a way that is more clear, more evident, with eyewitnesses to describe it in the gospels, in a glorious way that would have made it clear to all of Israel that he had risen, but it did not. It happened quietly. It is a unique but discreet event that is revealed to mankind through stories and whispers of an empty tomb. It is not seen, it is announced.
The resurrection draws us out of the depravity of man, and into the abundance of His life. This doesn’t mean the absence of a challenge, but it gives us peace and joy amid difficulty.
Perhaps to recognise how Christ is at work in these times, we must first like Mary in the Garden learn to recognise his resurrected nature.
May his resurrecting grace abide in you as you abide in Christ.
A son, friend and lover of grace, Israel is a graduate from Bethel church in Redding, California and former residential member of the Community of St Anselm under the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is passionate about teaching people about the healing power of God and demonstrating the love of the father through it. He has taken a message of Good hope to various nations and is now based in South Africa where he is the site pastor for a new church plant in Cape Town under Father’s House Church.
follow him on Instagram @israelfouche