Easter Sunday: And we shall be like him

Christ is risen, his death was not the end.

On Good Friday all looked lost. Jesus of Nazareth endured a painful, ignominious death alongside two thieves. He was shamed and humiliated. The onlookers abused him. His most faithful followers, his inner core of disciples, all, but one, shrank into hiding. His grief-stricken mother and a few women stood at the foot of the cross, along with John. The sky turned dark. There was a sombre eerie silence.

On Good Friday all looked lost.

However, there was a moment. One of the thieves turned to Jesus. He made a simple request: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in paradise”. In the desperation of his lot when death faced him, he turned to Jesus. His word asking for mercy turned into a promise of salvation. Jesus did not hesitate. His response was immediate and absolute: “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

Here, the words of Jesus reveal the meaning, the purpose, the outcome of his death. He died so that we might join him in eternity. This is what his death was about and this is the promise offered to each of us in his Resurrection which we now proclaim.

His death was for our sake and his resurrection is for our sake. His death was the supreme act of atonement for all the wickedness and evil and depravity of humanity. His resurrection ushered in the undeserved gift of eternal union with God in the utter bliss of heaven.

It was given to the repentant thief in a word. No conditions. No questioning of worthiness. All that the repentant thief needed to do was to humbly ask for mercy, because this plea carried a genuine sorrow for his past way of life. Mercy was given to him: “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

This remains the deepest longing of the human heart – a final place of peace, joy and happiness. Every person, deep inside, longs for life beyond death. Deep inside every person senses that human life is a journey which does not end in death. There is eternal life. The soul lives even though the body dies. In death the soul leaves the body and passes into the realm of eternity. There the soul encounters the All Holy God, the Divine Presence, at that moment of encounter there is a reckoning, but mercy awaits those of repentant spirit.

Just as the death of Jesus commemorated on Good Friday reminds us poignantly that each of us will have a moment in which we will die, so too the resurrection of Jesus that we proclaim today declares that upon our death we are taken up into the fruits of the resurrection.

For the Christian our baptism was the moment in which we appropriated the salvation offered by Christ’s death and resurrection. St Paul speaks of what happens in Christian baptism, commenting that it is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. He says, “We believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him”. (Rom 6:6)

The Christian already shares in the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. The Christian life is marked by the intention to live not for ourselves but for him. There is a dying in this. But even now in this earthly life a new life rises up within us. It is the life of the Spirit. It is the life of grace. It is the life of virtue and goodness. It is the life of holiness.

Even now we come under the fruit of the resurrection. It has been boldly and, in some ways provocatively, expressed by the great St Athanasius in these words, “God became man so that men might become gods”. This teaching is known in spiritual theology as the ‘theosis’ – the process by which a person is transformed and united so completely with God that the person becomes by grace what God is by nature.

St Peter says that the Christian is able to “share in the divine nature”. (2 Pet 14) This is our dignity by virtue of our baptism that we have become   sons and daughters of God. As St Paul says we can cry out with affectionate gratitude, “Abba, Father”. The Letter to the Ephesians begins with the words, “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ”. (Eph 1:3) In being baptised we have come under the blessing of God and we live our lives knowing that we are beloved of the Father.

My brothers and sisters, we are already caught up in the resurrection of Christ. We are being fashioned, prepared, for heaven, for union with God.

Thus, in the exultant chapter 8 of St Paul’s Letter to the Romans, in speaking about of dignity as sons of God, he says, “And if we are children, we are heirs as well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his glory”. (Rom 8:17)

What we live now comes to final fruition at the moment of our death. St John puts in simply: “We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is”. (1 Jn 3:2)

Christ is risen! This is not the end.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Saturday, 16 April 2022