Jesus' Death and Rising
Resurrection is Christ's victory over death
Jesus' death and rising marks the
epitome of the message and content
of our Christian faith. With His
death and rising, our Christian faith
teaches us that we can overcome all
suffering through faith in Christ as
the Life and the Resurrection.
Introduction
In Scripture, the gospel accounts give us a clue of
the resurrection of Jesus through the empty tomb
description. The context of this resurrection is
the appearance of the angel telling that Jesus has
risen, the burial cloths all neatly folded up beside
the tomb, the stone of the tomb rolled away as seen
by the women who wanted to put spices to Jesus' dead
body, and the several resurrection appearances Jesus
performed before his apostles and disciples. These
we can read in the texts of the gospel of Matthew
[Mt 28:1-20]; the gospel of Mark [Mk 16:1-20]; the
gospel of Luke [Lk 24:1-53]; and the gospel of John
[Jn 20:1-31, 21:1-25].
There is really no evidence of a bright light or
a description of the way Jesus resurrected as often
depicted in popular cinema that can be found in
Scripture. The only evidence of truth that Jesus
indeed resurrected is that many apostles, disciples,
and up to this day, many Christians, are willing to
give their lives to Christ and to die for the faith
and to witness to the power of Christ's resurrection.
And this we can attest and see throughout the history
of two millenium of Christianity: both in the Catholic
Church and in the other Christian churches.
Jesus' death and rising foretold in the Old
Testament and by the prophecies of Jesus' Himself
There are many allusions to Jesus' death and rising
in the Old Testament. One popular one is the story
of Jonah who was three days in the belly of a whale.
Even Jesus alluded to Jonah in his preaching and said
that just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the
whale, so "shall the Son of Man" be dead for three<
days and rise again to life on the third day. [Mt 12:38-42;
Mk 8:11-12; Lk 11:29-32]
In the gospels, we are told that Jesus also foretells
His death and rising many times: three times to be
exact.
First prophecy of the Passion [Mt 16:21-23;
Mk 8:31-33; Lk 9:22]
Second prophecy of the Passion [Mt 17:22-23;
Mk 9:30-32; Lk 9:44-45]
Third prophecy of the Passion [Mt 20:17-19;
Mk 10:32-34; Lk 18:31-33]
Jesus' death and rising commemorated in the
Eucharist
When the priest presides over the Eucharistic
celebration and the part where he consecrates
the bread and the wine into the Body and Blood
of Christ, we remember that mystery which gives
us meaning and sense to our life: the sacrifice
of Jesus' death on the Cross and His victorious
resurrection after the third day. It is this
mystery which we are gifted with and live out
in our daily lives and which we offer in every
Eucharistic celebration. The Eucharistic meal
then nourishes us with the strength we obtain
from consuming Christ's Body and Blood so that
we too may follow His example and be as a gift
to others through the sacrifices we make out
of love and service.
The relevance of Jesus' death and rising for our time
In our contemporary times, we are often tempted
to take the easy way out, to take short cuts, to
stay within our comfort zones, and to avoid any
form of discomfort, suffering or pain. However,
because pain, suffering, discomfort, sickness,
and death shall always be part of our human
condition, it is inevitable that we will always
experience these realities at one time or another
in our lives. And when we do, it would be good to
believe in the salvific death and resurrection of
Christ. For when we are in our sick bed, or when
we are in our death bed, then we shall be confronted
with the essential and deep mystery of life itself.
And this is where our Christian traditions has much
to offer us in terms of faith in the salvation that
Christ suffered and died for us so that having faith
in Him, we too shall overcome all suffering and death
and live again in His name.
The social relevance of Jesus' death and rising is
that we are also saved by Jesus salvific sacrifice,
but within the context of a Christian community,
such as the parish or the universal Catholic
Church in general. Our salvation from Jesus comes
to us through the Church who ministers to us the
sacraments that grant us the gift of God's graces
that we may be saved from our sin and we may rise
above all our sickness and sufferings.