I trust that you’ve all been keeping step with the celebration of the Holy Triduum during the past days, and that you’ve spent quality time reflecting on and studying the significance of the passion and death of Jesus. And now this, the resurrection of Jesus. While we read John’s version of the story in chapter 20:1-9, you may also want to read the different nuances of the same story reported by Matthew, Mark and Luke.
For today, rather than focusing on those nuances and details of the resurrection, I invite you to reflect on the significance of Christ’s resurrection from the perspective of the obedience of Jesus in taking up His cross.
JESUS CHOSE TO BE CRUCIFIED. HE COULD HAVE ESCAPED IT, BUT HE DIDN’T.
First of all, from the passion narratives that we heard in the past few days, we all know that Jesus willingly and obediently carried the dreadful cross and suffered a most excruciating death. And no, Jesus was not a victim of an unjust decision and the ill-twisted plots of the religious leaders of the time. No. God the Father had planned this long ago, even though Jesus, being human, dreaded this moment. But Jesus CHOSE to die in this most horrible manner of death.
Yes, Jesus loved His Father, and yes, Jesus loved all mankind. And this LOVE is what gave Him the strength to endure the cross. But you know what? In addition to His love for the Father and for all of us mankind, there was one other thing that was on Jesus’s mind that gave Him hope. And this was what sealed the deal. So, what was this? What was on Jesus’s mind that made him endure the torture and humiliation, that made him carry that heavy cross up to calvary hill, to quietly spread His arms to be tied and nailed to the cross, and to remain in excruciating pain, hanging on that cross for 6 hours before he breathed his last. What was on Jesus mind all this time?
JESUS KNEW THERE WOULD BE NO RESURRECTION WITHOUT THE CRUCIFIXION
Simply this, brothers and sisters. Simply this. Jesus KNEW that He would be raised again on the third day in full glory, and He fixed His hope on this promise from His Father. And that’s why He was prepared to endure anything and everything in view of this hope. The crucifixion would have made no sense without the resurrection. At the same time, the resurrection would also not have that much value without the crucifixion. In a sense, the way of the cross leading to the resurrection was Jesus’s PATHWAY OF HOPE, for Himself and for all mankind. And this is why the resurrection is the root of all Christian hope. It is central to all that God has promised, and all that Jesus came to do and to proclaim.
WE ARE PROMISED A SIMILAR RESURRECTION WHEN WE PICK UP OUR CROSSES
And the promise of the resurrection is also given to you and I, my dear brothers and sisters. It IS the pathway of hope to all who follow Jesus. In Matthew 16:24, Jesus says to all of us: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” We know that picking up the cross is a choice we need to make. We don’t have to humble ourselves, we don’t have to serve others, we don’t have to abandon any of the false gods that are the source of our worth and happiness, we don’t have to forgive others. But Jesus says, if you want to follow me, pick up your cross, deny yourself, put to death your egos and your ambitions and your false gods. And the promise of God through Jesus is that when we do pick up our cross, when we deny ourselves and when we put to death our sinful self-centered, self-sufficient world-addicted selves, we will be like a seed that first dies on the ground and then produces many seeds, we will no longer be slaves to sin, and we will be transformed, sanctified, born again, and it will no longer be us but Christ who will live in us. This, my brothers and sisters, is the hope of the resurrection that accompanies the commandment to pick up our cross, and to put to death our worldly, selfish desires.
And just like the resurrection has no value without the crucifixion, our transformation will not occur without putting to death our old selves. And the painful process of denying ourselves will be impossible if not for the hope of the resurrected, transformed lives that Jesus demonstrated will happen to all those who follow Him.
And this is God’s holy will and desire. That each of us gets renewed day by day as we submit ourselves to obey His commands, as we pray “not my will but Yours be done”, and we become more and more like Jesus. This is our living resurrection. This is our sanctification.
And some day, some day, when we face the end of our days, we cling to the one true hope, the promise of our bodily resurrection to enjoy the happy union with the Father for ever and ever. All praise and glory to God!
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