By: Jason Coutts
The resurrection of our Lord marks out a signpost declaring that death has been conquered and that new life has arisen. Often during this Easter season, we commemorate an event that secures an eternal hope for the life to come. Yet, it is often after the Easter weekend has run its course that the human heart so quickly becomes discouraged because it returns to a world whose parts are routinely subject to trial and decay. We know that God saves the soul of anyone who repents of his sin, but we struggle to understand what the resurrection has to do with the sharp physical, economic, cultural, or political realities we all face every day. If God does not grant that fullness of life extends to space and time, then the purpose of the resurrection would seem rather thin amidst the sea of uncertainty and distraction that surrounds us. And so, I raise the question. I wonder what God’s purpose could be in appointing our Lord to die and be raised to new life if it is not to remind us that the fullness of life God intended since the beginning is now being revealed through Jesus Christ. Surely, this makes a world of difference for those who have eyes to see it.
Christ came to restore and renew and make whole everything that is broken on this earth. Everything that the world has deemed irretrievable, including its own corruptible forms and systems, God has secured for Himself. For the world prefers to set its course according to the winds of self interest, the laws of calculation and predictability, and the hope in man’s ability to better himself and his surroundings. But through Christ, we understand our lives as belonging fully to Him, whom we serve as His image bearers in all avenues of life. Since his fall, man has been busily constructing idols for himself, and pride has guided his steps. But through Christ, we have a new calling – to reflect the beauty and glory of God in a dark and broken world. As was once written, “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.” Eph. 5:8-10 (NIV)
At times, I fear that while we rightly take solace in the reality of our soul’s salvation, we fail to go out with boldness into the world of physical realities. The forms surrounding us are bending low and their uncertainties seem always to press in upon us, and perhaps this is the reason we lack the strength and courage or even the will to carry ourselves forward. Jesus’ death and resurrection remind us that God seeks not to condemn the earth but, rather, to restore to it its Divine purpose. It reminds us that “the earth is [truly] the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.” (Psalm 24:1) The resurrection, therefore, secures far more than a life with God after we die. It establishes an entirely new way of life on the earth He establishes and upholds. Through the restoration of life in Christ, we come to understand that our lives have a new purpose, a new course – to glorify the Lord in everything we do, in all the patterns of our minds, in every place we go, and in every task we undertake. This earth is, indeed, the place God has chosen to carry out His work and His purposes. And by His death and resurrection, we take part in the life of Christ in the fullest possible way.
But what does this new life in Christ mean for the world in which we all live? My own experience has pressed itself upon me in such a way that I must confront the reality of human frailty. From this premise, I am reminded that if Jesus has risen from the dead, then any human form (no matter how frail in appearance) can be redeemed and is worthy of being redeemed. Though the evidence of death and decay abound in these jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7), yet because of Christ, we carry with us the glory of the Lord. These vessels of ours carry evidence of God’s glory revealed, though it is a glory that is not yet fully revealed. No matter how robustly our physical bodies might operate, still they are subject to decay, because they do not now fully reveal the glory of God. And no matter how weak or infirm our bodies might appear, still they reveal the glory of God inasmuch as they reveal even the smallest hint of that glory.
Some of us might be discouraged today with feelings of physical helplessness, fatigue or illness. Others might feel the deep, grinding effects of a workplace that carries a culture of bitterness or resentment. Still others might be disillusioned by a relationship or by a set of social or economic conditions that appears unlivable. Still others might feel the psychological effects of discouragement or depression. Those of us who find health in our bodies and minds might still despair of the uncertainty that befalls our broken political system or of a culture that appears to be derailing itself. In all things, the world has great cause to despair, for the world perceives that hope arises only on the basis of what can reasonably be calculated to work or to have an effect or to produce a desired material result, often on a grand scale. In short, the world has reserved its hope for that which is different, for the prodigy, the successful, the ambitious, the celebrity, and the eyes of us all are fixed upon them. But the Christian carries his hope with him in his vessel of clay.
Therefore, is it not true that where the world has only resentment the Christian can have the greatest joy? The joy of the Christian is what the world never finds because it never knows where to look. And so, the Christian is in a distinct position to reveal to the world something that the world does not recognize but must certainly be drawn to. For the redeemed heart most fully sees and takes notice of his neighbour – most fully loves him and cares about him – because he has understood the redeeming love of God. And the redeemed man can best understand the trials and sins of his neighbour because he above anyone is most acquainted with his own sins. Surely, the Christian ought to care most for the whole world, since the whole world is the reason for which Christ came. Christ has declared His rightful Lordship over our hearts, our minds, over all created things, over every part of life. And we have the privilege of working this new life out into the world as our true Christian vocation. I would urge us, then, to look to His cross and look to the empty tomb and find therein the source of true hope for the redemption of all things.
