The risen Christ did not merely come back from the dead
The risen Christ is not one who has come back from the dead. The risen Christ is the One who has gone through death and opened the door to the new world beyond death.
The risen Christ is not one who has wrestled free from the clutches of death to return to the land over which death still holds sway. The risen Christ is the One who has passed all the way through the black hole of Hades into the world of light and life where death cannot go.
Lazarus is a man who came back from the dead…only to die again. Christ is not a mere survivor of Sheol. Christ is the Conqueror of Sheol who has trampled down death by death.
Christ was raised on the third day. Lazarus on the fourth. But that doesn’t mean Lazarus is one up on Christ. Oh, no! Lazarus merely came back from the grave…but still a subject to the tyranny of death. Christ went all the way through the grave…and emerged as the Vanquisher of death.
To be baptized into Christ is to follow Christ into New Creation.
To be baptized into Christ is to follow Christ into New Creation.
To feed upon the bread and wine of the Eucharist is to ingest Eternal Life.
To belong to Christ is to belong to the Age to Come.
Our task now is to seek to embody and enact that which belongs to the Age to Come.
