Easter – God’s Victory

Having now come through the season of Great Lent, we have now, in a particular way, walked the passion of our Lord and Savior along with Him.  We have done this liturgically as we have attended the Stations of the Cross, but of course this is a meditation on an even greater reality.  This reality is that Jesus has taken not only our sins, but in fact all that draws us away from God and nailed it to the cross.  “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.  When He was abused, He did not return abuse; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He entrusted Himself to the one who judges justly.  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the Cross, so that free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:22-24)  And likewise we hear from St. Paul, “When you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with Him, when He forgave all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands.  He set this aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:13-15)

And of course we know that when St. Paul speaks of the triumph of Christ, he is speaking of the Resurrection, the triumph of Christ over sin and death.  If the only thing that we knew as Christians was that Jesus went to the Cross, then He would be looked upon as a failure.  Yes, He had taught a new way to come into contact with God.  Yes, He had performed many powerful acts of healing.  Yes, He taught with authority, but if it all ended upon the Cross, then all of it would have been for nothing.  But we know that it didn’t end there, we know the next step.  We know that Jesus Christ is victorious because of the Resurrection.  Jesus triumphed over the authorities and powers of the world, because they did their worst to Him, they exposed Him to the shame of a criminal’s death, but death could not hold our Lord.  On the third day Jesus returned having been risen from the dead.

It was a promise that Jesus made during the raising of Lazarus when He said to Martha, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to Him, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” (John 11:23-26a)  The promise was certainly made that Jesus Himself was the Resurrection and the Life, but it was a promise not only made, but kept as well.  “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After He said this, He showed His hands and His side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.’  As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.  When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’” (John 20:19-23)  The disciples knew of the crucifixion and were in sorrow, but here their sorrow turns to joy because they had encountered the risen, living Jesus.

The promise has not only been made, but in this meeting, and others as well, there is evidence, there is an encounter that tells us that the promise has been kept.  This is the victory of God over sin, death and all things evil.  But we must also know that the victory is not for Jesus alone, but it is our victory as well. Jesus did not die for His own sins.  He had none, as Scripture tells us.  Rather He died for our sins and the sins of all who believe, and therefore the victory that Jesus won, was not for Him alone, but for all who look to Him for the forgiveness of sins.

If we believe in Jesus and put our faith in His forgiving and powerful love, then the doors of heaven have been opened for us.  It is a part of the prayer that we all pray on Easter morning, “Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, by Your Resurrection You fulfilled all that had been promised by the prophets.  As we honor Your Resurrection in thanksgiving on this holy morning, grant that we, who have been cleansed from sin through Your death, may rise with You to a new life.”  (Prayer at the empty grave from the Easter Procession)

Easter is a day and more importantly a season to rejoice that our Lord, Jesus Christ is now risen.  He sits gloriously at the right hand of God.  He has shown us that the grave is not the end and that we do not have to live and die in our sins.  Because of this event, we can live risen lives as well.  As Scripture tells us: “This we know: our old self was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed and we might be enslaved to sin no longer.  A man who is dead has been freed from sin.  If we have died with Christ, we believe that we are also to live with Him.  We know that Christ, once raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no more power over Him.  His death was death to sin, once for all; His life is life for God.” (Romans 6:6-10)

What beautiful thoughts and words these are for us, each and every day of our lives: “Death to sin, life for God.”  These must be our Easter words, and not just as a remembrance of what Jesus had done nearly two thousand years ago, but especially the words for each of us today, “death to sin, life for God.”  This is how we must live each and every day.  Things have changed now because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and because of it our lives are being constantly renewed.  Each and every day, we can say “death to sin and life for God” because of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

So my brothers and sisters throughout the Polish National Catholic Church, let us have on our lips the traditional greeting of Easter, “Christ is risen, He is risen, indeed.”  But also let us know that Christ is risen for you and for me, that in our own individuals lives we can have “death to sin and life for God” because Jesus lives.