On the morning of the third day, the first day of the week (John 20:1), some of the women who had been at Jesus’ crucifixion led by Mary Magdalene went early to the tomb, but found the stone that had covered the tomb rolled away. An angel appears to Mary and tells her that Jesus had been raised from the dead. Jesus then appears to Mary Magdalene, and over the next 40 days, Jesus appears to more than five hundred of His disciples. Jesus had been raised, just as he had said (Matthew 28:6).
The death of an innocent man, one without sin, speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). While the one who dies in sin deserves his death, divine justice demands that a man who dies without transgressing the divine law of God must not stay dead. This is why the humanity of Jesus could not stay dead. Not only did Jesus rise again, but He is alive today! He cannot die again because of divine justice.
Yet, Jesus takes the eternal life granted to Him through divine justice and offers it to us in an act of divine mercy. We, through no merit of our own, have been given the opportunity to live forever with Him. If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him (Romans 6:8). This is accessible to all who believe in Jesus, die to themselves in the waters of Baptism, and partake in the Body of Christ by eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood of the New Covenant. In becoming part of His Body, we leave behind our justice of eternal separation and now receive the justice of the resurrection given to Him.
In receiving the divine justice given to Jesus through the divine mercy that He offers each of us, we are elevated to something greater than Adam and Eve before the fall. At the time, they were adjacent to God in terms of perfection and being able to stand in His presence. However, when we die with Jesus so that we may rise with Him, and receive His life by becoming the Body of Christ through the power of the Eucharist, we are elevated into the inheritance of the Son. We are no longer adjacent but in the blessed life of love of the Trinity, and we will remain there for all eternity. That is the power of the resurrection, and that is the life for which we were created.
Originally published in Prime Soil Magazine | Vol. 1 No. 2
Originally presented at The 10th National Eucharistic Congress in July 2024
