Colleagues,
As we celebrate this Easter season, this message on “What does the resurrection of Jesus means to me” is fitting for us all to reflect on what this truly means to each of us.
Happy Easter all!
Junella Magloire-Trotman
2nd Vice President/PRO CAAP (2016-2018)
What does the Resurrection of Jesus mean to me
The world celebrates Easter year in year out. For some people that is the only time they talk about Jesus or want to hear about Him. Some take advantage of the season to show their self-righteousness while others think it’s just another celebration.
Question: What is the most important message that we should take away from this Easter celebration?
Today I ask you what Christ’s Resurrection means to you and me.
(1) Christ’s resurrection solidifies the truth
When Christ resurrected, Satan tried to hide the truth from the world. You may ask was there any truth to hide...You seek to kill me...,” Jesus said, “...a man who told you the truth...” Jesus was put to death because He spoke and revealed the truth about God and His plan for our salvation. If Christ’s enemies had succeeded in silencing Christ forever, then falsehood
would have been stronger than truth. For me the resurrection is the final guarantee of the
fact that truth cannot be destroyed.
(2) Christ’s resurrection tells me that good prevails over evil.
Do you know that the forces that crucified Christ were the forces of evil?
Jesus said: “You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father’s desire. He was murdered from the beginning and has nothing to do with the truth” (John 8:44). If Christ had not risen there would have been no hope that good would have ultimately triumphed over evil.
(3) Christ’s resurrection enforces that love is stronger than hate.
Poisonous hatred/deep rooted hatred led to the crucifixion of Christ. The devil thought that he had conquered when his hatred finally laid him in the tomb. Praise God there was a resurrection.
If there were no resurrection, it would mean that human hatred had conquered God’s love. The resurrection is the triumph of God’s love over all what human hatred could do.
(4) Christ’s resurrection tells me that life is stronger than death.
If Jesus had not risen again, Satan would have had the keys to life and death and would have meant that death had power even over the best life lived for Christ. The story is told that between the cracks of the ruins of a church in London bombed during the World War II, some corn plants came out. As the bombs could not destroy the life of the corn-seeds, so death could not destroy Christ’s life. The resurrection is the final proof that death cannot destroy God’s gift of life.
(5) Christ’s resurrection tells me, not only that Christ died to pay the penalty of my sins, but also that He lives to empower me to live victoriously.
Many of us focus on Christ’s crib and some on His Cross, but ultimately it is His
Resurrection that gives us the reassurance that “He is able for all time to save those who
draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb
7:25). The resurrection reassures me that Jesus is not on leave recovering from
overwork or exhaustion but he is ministering on our behalf at the right hand of God
(Eph 1:20) to bring to consummation the redemption he accomplished on this earth.
(6) Christ’s resurrection assures me that God preserves the identity and individuality of those who have fallen asleep until the Day of the resurrection.
When Christ resurrected He was recognized by His followers, because He was
the same Christ they had known before His death. In the same way the resurrected
saints will be recognized by their loved ones because God preserves and will restore the
identity of each person.
(7) Christ’s resurrection gives me reason to believe in my own resurrection on the glorious day of His coming.
Being “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20), Christ’s resurrection has a profound eschatological meaning. The early Christians grasped this meaning when they greeting one another saying, “Marantha-the Lord is Coming.” The Lord is coming because He is risen. His Resurrection is the prefiguration of our resurrection.
A careful study of all the references to the Resurrection reveals the incomparable importance of the event, but it does not provide any indication regarding a special day to commemorate it. In fact, the first day of the week, in the writings of the New Testament, is never called “Day of the Resurrection.” This is a term which made its appearance later in the fourth century.
What then is important? Of significance it behoves us to live as ambassadors for Christ so that when he makes his appearing we will be among his chosen and will hear from His lips come he blessed of my father and inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.
I thank you.
Adapted by: Ursula Edwin, St. Joseph, Commonwealth of Dominica