‘Love is Stronger than Death’

Dr Christine E. Wood, Director of the Office of Evangelisation & Catechesis

A student once asked me why all the rooms in the Catholic university have a crucifix rather than an image of the resurrected Christ? He argued that Jesus’ death occurred 2,000 years ago and now Jesus is risen so we should focus on the joy of the resurrection.

There’s some truth to this fellow’s theology but it doesn’t go far enough. Certainly, Catholics could be more expressive of their Easter joy since Christ’s resurrection actually changed everything. No longer does death have the final word. Christ has conquered death by rising from the dead.

Perhaps we don’t think enough about Jesus’ death to really experience the joy of his resurrection. Instead of skipping over Good Friday and Holy Saturday to rush to Easter eggs on Sunday, let’s really experience the pain, the loss, and the grief of Jesus’ passion, death, and burial this Holy Week.

Those of us who have lost loved ones know the experience as the destruction of relationships. Death puts an end to our earthly life and all the relationships it holds. There is a tremendous sense of loss in the silence that remains. All earthly communication ends. No words can span the divide that has opened up between us and our dearly departed ones. The disciples experienced this in Jesus’ death.

But we find meaning in Jesus’ death at the Last Supper where he gives his flesh and blood to his disciples. His gift of himself is a sacrificial act, made in love, to save us from our sins. This gift of himself provides meaning to his death the following day. His death is not an act of capital punishment but a voluntary offering of his life for love of you and me.

Jesus knows what is going to happen to him. He embraces his approaching death as the greatest expression of love for God his Father and for us. His voluntary death on the cross declares a love that is stronger than death. Jesus’ love conquers death and forms a bridge between us and the those who have passed over into the afterlife.

The four Gospels testify to the fact that Jesus dies praying to the Father. His prayer is an act of love and surrender of his life into the Father’s hands.

It is this love that draws Jesus out of the tomb. Without this love, there is no resurrection, there is no joy, death remains final. But Christ has risen from the dead; his love is greater than death. Now this is truly good news and the reason for our Easter joy.