![]() ![]() ![]() This is why Christ’s risen Body was no longer subject to pain or death it could not be killed again. Moreover, body and soul both had to be perfected, freed of all the corruption with which Adam’s fall had infected them. Thus, it had to be a physical resurrection, a reunion of soul with body after all, God made men to be spiritual creatures, but also bodily creatures, not pure spirits like angels. That life is the perfection of what God intended for human beings. As the “pioneer” ( Hebrews 12:2) of the new mankind, He had to lead the way into the life He came to give. What does this imply about the Resurrection? The question is clearer now: if Christ came to bring a renewal of human nature, that renewal first had to take place in Him. Paul sums up this doctrine concisely: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” ( 1 Corinthians 15:22). This is why we speak of being baptized “into His death” ( Romans 6:3): as we are joined to Him, brought into the renewed humanity of the new Adam, the merits of His atonement are applied to us too, just as the first Adam’s sin was passed on to all descended from him. His suffering does more than pay for our crimes it enables all of us to be truly purified. Thus, God the Son became a human in order to restore damaged human nature. Why? Because they inherited their nature from him. When he fell and upset the perfection of his being, becoming subject to corruption of soul and body, he inflicted the same loss on all his descendants. The first Adam, as forefather of mankind, determined all his offspring’s destiny by his choice. He came to be the new Adam, that is, to mend human nature. He did not come merely to pay for our sins that was part of His mission, certainly, but not the entirety. To clarify the issue, we should consider what exactly Jesus came to do. Nevertheless, it can be easy to lose sight of precisely why His Rising has these universal consequences. The hymns and other prayers that speak this way also indicate that Jesus’ Resurrection has saved all of us from death in some way (“ Death is conquered, man is free. Peter explains on Pentecost, “God raised him up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it” ( Acts 2:24). What could be more grossly inappropriate than for Him who is “the Life” to succumb to death permanently? How could the Author of life and fullness of being assume to Himself a complete created nature and then let that nature be shattered and molder? Christ is God, the summit and source of all life as such He had to overcome death, so to speak. To be sure, Easter devotions often describe Christ as conqueror of death, which indicates part of the Resurrection’s significance. But how would triumph and glory do that? We must, however, understand the answer, lest we trivialize Easter, reducing it to a time of merriment over an amazing event in the past. One’s suffering buying another’s rescue is simple enough. The Cross as redemption makes sense fairly easily, because almost everyone is familiar with the concepts of punishment for wrongdoing and of some generous person bearing the penalty due to another. but what does it directly have to do with salvation? The Resurrection and Jesus’ Mission The way we speak and think about our Lord’s death and Resurrection often implies that the former is really what brought about our redemption, while the latter is important to give the story a happy ending. Not infrequently, however, we miss how this is so. Responses to this came quickly to mind my first thought was of the words of the liturgy: “Dying You destroyed our death rising You restored our life.” Of course, the Church has always taught that the Resurrection is an essential part of the whole Paschal Mystery. His glorious Resurrection,” when it was the Cross that paid for our sins? In fact, said person opined, it would have been more of a sacrifice if Christ had died knowing that He would not subsequently rise in glory. On one occasion, however, someone voiced an objection: how could we pray for mercy “for the sake of. Thus, our custom now is to insert the words “and His glorious Resurrection” to help us maintain the spirit of the season. Over the years, however, we became concerned about the incongruity of repeating “for the sake of His sorrowful Passion” 450 times during the height of the Easter celebration. Like many Catholics, we pray the Divine Mercy Novena from Good Friday to Divine Mercy Sunday. The question first came into focus for me one evening at my family’s devotions. How exactly does the Resurrection fit into the mystery of redemption? Though the question touches on the heart of our faith, many of us might not be readily able to answer it. ![]()
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