Resurrection Is a Current Event

The feast of our Lord’s resurrection is upon us (on April 4).  In our Eucharistic Prayer A, which we tend to use through the bulk of the church year, we proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.  Did you catch that?  Christ has died and he will come again - past and future events.  However, he is risen.  Not has been raised (only a past event), not will be raised (only an event of the future), but is raised, on that fateful third day after his crucifixion, in those days to which we look forward, and - present tense - right now, today, and every day we renew our faith in Jesus.  As such, maybe we can begin to see that resurrection is not just a single moment out of history.  Resurrection is a current event.

Having done more than give up chocolate through Lent (I hope), having gone through self-examination and repentance, engaged prayer, fasting, and self-denial, and reading and meditating on God’s holy word, now we get to experience resurrection.  Because Jesus has defeated death, death doesn't get the last word.  Jesus defeats death.  Because of what Jesus accomplished for us, we get to benefit, dying to those parts of ourselves revealed through Lenten disciplines that keep us distant from God, being raised to new life in intimate relationship with God.  That’s resurrection - not just something we have to look forward to, but a current event; something we get to experience today and every day that we find our faith in Jesus renewed.

Marc+