Easter Sunday 31.3.13 Life in Christ
One of the things we say at funerals, by way of relieving grief, is that we hope one day to be reunited with the deceased person and others we have known.
It will indeed be a great thing to see these people again, but it may be misleading to say ‘re-united’ because we are already united with them. We never stopped being united.
Physical death is a physical separation, but only that. It makes no difference to how much we love the person, or how much they love us. We still identify with them, love them, commit ourselves to their happiness and welfare.
And we are not committing to just a ‘memory’; the dead are still alive. At least if they died in a state of grace – which is another way of saying they died in union with Christ.
And to be in union with Christ is to share His life, therefore to be alive.
If Christ is alive and I am in union with Him - then I must be alive too.
And He is most certainly alive – the main point of our celebration of Easter.
He is Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Rom 14,9)
He is master of both sides of the grave and of every phase of human existence. He has been conceived, born, grown up, died, been buried and (the one thing not yet common) has risen from the dead.
He has paved the way for us to follow. And wherever we are on that spectrum of events, we are in union with all others on the spectrum – including the dead - provided we are in union with Christ, that we believe in Him, love Him, have His life within us.
The dead can be alive (in Christ) and the living can be dead (apart from Christ).
It would be better to be lying in the cemetery (united with Christ) than running around in this life, full of vitality but dead in the soul.
We are still alive physically, and we regard that usually as good fortune, but our main reason for happiness is that we have the life of Christ in our souls.
The soul is the one that really counts. Generally we put too much emphasis on the physical and too little on the spiritual. We need to correct this.
The body, though, is still important. Today it is the bodily resurrection of Jesus that we celebrate. His bodily resurrection is important as a completion of His victory, a demonstration of it.
They could not kill Him without his will; nor could they keep Him dead. Nor could they keep any part of His body in their possession.
The life of Christ is complete in every way, body and soul. He is fully alive and will live forever. And in that life we are privileged to share.
It all depends on how closely we are united with Him. We can improve on that union at any time, and we always need to improve it.
Every time we sin we go backwards; we choose death over life. Every time we repent and make new resolutions we choose for life and we feel the difference immediately.
So we seek Him out, as frequently and as fervently as possible.
The more united with Him the more united we become with each other, including those who have died in Him.
We should not grieve ‘as those who have no hope’ (1 Thess 4,13). We can grieve because we miss them, but only for that reason. The rest is hope and joy.
We rejoice in the union we still have in that both living and dead are united in Christ. And in both cases becoming more fully alive.
It is not just once a year we think about these things. Easter Sunday is a focal point, reminding us of our hope and calling us back to a more active seeking of eternal life. We renew this desire at every possible chance.
He is risen, alleluia!
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