Resurrection: The Holy Defiance
By The Rev. Matthew Simpson , Deacon
Once again, we come upon Easter and The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. The event is described in terms of our God’s Great Triumph and Victory... but why and how?
Is Jesus’s Resurrection important because through it we have eternal life? While certainly that is good news, other religions also have a belief in judgment and life after death. Even Judaism at the time of Jesus was becoming more sympathetic to the idea of Resurrection. For most of Jewish History, it was believed that after death all spirits descended to Sheol, a place of darkness. However, through Judaism’s exposure to the concept of Resurrection through Zoroastrianism in Babylonian Captivity, and especially after the numerous Jewish martyrdoms in the Maccabean Revolt, many Jews began to believe in a final judgment and life after death. The Pharisees were more sympathetic to the Resurrection, whereas the Sadducees did not believe in the Resurrection (which is why they were Sad-yousee). The Hellenistic world of Jesus’s time believed in Hades, the land of the dead, where souls would be judged and end up in Elysium, The Fields of Asphodel or Tartarus.
So, is the Great Triumph of Resurrection Eternal Life? While it is certainly a benefit, that isn’t the whole Triumph. If the real purpose of the Resurrection was simply life after death, why did Jesus have to be crucified? Why not just die a happy old man surrounded by his loving family and then be raised back to life three days later? No, there is something more to Resurrection than simply life after death, and it is directly related to the Cross.
In the Messianic Disaster of Crucifixion, Jesus suffers catastrophic humiliation and defeat. The powers that be of this world all put him to a torturous death. The powers of Empire, Religion, and the mob all conspire to crush this man whose primary crime was giving hope and healing to the oppressed of his society - all while challenging the callousness and hypocrisy of those who were supposed to care for everyone. In this defeat Jesus also experiences the humiliation of his friends and followers abandoning him and the agony of seeing his mother witness the whole thing. We know of his awful demise, but how does it inform the Triumph of Resurrection?
In Jesus’s Resurrection these “powers that be” are stripped of their power in the eternal, the corrupt powers of the world and the death they wield as their punishment are forever nullified. By Jesus being raised from the dead not only does death no longer have the final word, but neither does any power that warps and corrupts our humanity.
The Power of Empire? The Power of Religious Authority? The Power of the Mob? All are rendered powerless in the eternal by Jesus’ Resurrection. They may have the ability to inflict harm now…but they do not win; their power will be torn asunder.
The Power of Betrayal? The Power of Pain and Humiliation? The Power of Sin? The Power of the sword, gun, or bomb? In Resurrection they are now rendered obsolete in the eternal.
In our theology we also believe that after death Jesus descended to Hell to free those in eternal captivity.
The Power of Death? The Power of Hell? The Power of Oppression and Despair? Now, they are all shattered in this quiet and peaceful event of simple breath re-entering Jesus’s body.
In this Resurrection Light, we begin to see Resurrection no longer as a nice bedtime story that brings comfort in promises of life after death. No, Resurrection becomes something larger, something cataclysmic in human history: it is the moment all the Dominative, Oppressive, and Malevolent Forces that kill and corrupt our Humanity are themselves defeated. Resurrection, therefore, becomes a Holy Defiance against all Evil; against all deceits; all brutality, all those things that would cause us to despair and give up on striving to be fully human, the imago dei. In holding to the faith and hope of the Resurrection, we defy the powers of this world that seek to corrupt and destroy us.
Alleluia Christ is Risen, Death no longer has Dominion over us! Nor does any power other than the love and mercy of God! Christ and His Dominion of Love, Peace, and Mercy is now the only thing that will endure! This is our Triumph! This is our Victory! This is our Hope! Thanks be to God!