He is risen! He is risen, indeed!
This ancient call and response has been with us since the beginning. Each generation is presented with the Gospel; some receive it and some do not. It is a divisive truth we profess after all: Jesus gave his life as the Word made flesh, an embodiment of God’s good, and was killed by the people he came to save. He rose from the dead and, rather than condemning us for our infidelity, he offered us healing and transformation.
In each generation the faith must be communicated and received, conversion must occur. We have been offered a new kind of freedom – freedom from rage and jealousy, from hatred and revenge, from self-seeking satisfaction of the senses and measuring our worth by the material wealth, from fruitless social competition and status. The question remains: have we accepted the grace being offered?
Do we look to the wounds caused by our own sin and see how God seeks to transform them in Love? Do we see in our shortcomings the way God’s grace might become manifest? Do we let God love us in all the good that we are, and “love on” those parts of us that are broken and in need of healing?
The freedom to choose that led us to sin also leads to our salvation. We have been given “a freedom for…” and “a freedom to…”. Freedom for mercy, to forgive and to move on; a freedom for peace, to let merc rule where wrath once dwelt; a freedom to grow in Loving action, to live in trusting relationships with others who care; a freedom from selfishness and self-centeredness, to live in a spirit of self-offering, rather than self-satisfaction.
Ultimately, the truth of Christ can be argued for, but it is better communicated in the way that we live. We are the people who die to our own sin, and rise with Christ in new life. As we share in the crucifixion, so do we share in the resurrection. We are all evangelists, and we have been asked to share the Gospel. May we learn to profess with the generations who came before us: “Jesus Christ is risen, indeed he is risen, in you and in me.”
