Resurrection message

God gives supreme value to human life, and he also wants us to value it. Christ conquered death by entering into and invading the realm of death. Death is our last enemy of life. Christ paid the penalty for sin, and the sinner is acquitted through belief in the efficacy of Christ's vicarious and subst-itutionary death. Through man's disobedience to God sin and death has permeated the entire human nature and has been subjugated under universal reign of decay.

The universality of the death shows how unique is the event of Christ's resurrection. But how is Jesus Christ is alive in us today? To be sure no human person has seen the actual event of Christ's resurrection. The Roman soldiers and Jews guarding the tomb all were so terrified at the shaking of the earth at the event that they were like dead men and as such could not see Jesus being actually physically raised. While the disciples shut themselves in houses for fear of the same fate as met by their master. According to New Testament writings the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples and many other people at various times and places, about twelve times for 40 days between his resurrection and his Ascension, to as many as 500 people. Neither did Mary Magdalene and the other women, who went up to the tomb to pay their last respect to Christ's body and embalm it, saw the actual event of the resurrection. The resurrection caught the disciples completely by surprise. The disciples were waiting death. So when Christ appeared to them they were frightened and surprised as if they were met with a phantom.

So how did the disciples come to believe that Jesus had really been physically resurrected? The answer seems to be that primarily each of them had their individual personal experience in his real spiritual presence. According to the New Testament Christ bodily appeared to them. But that body was a transformed and unnatural body. This presence was a transforming experience for them. That changed their whole life and its course and their attitude and philosophy. They celebrated life, valued and loved it for themselves and also for others. They knew how violently their master was killed. With their altogether new experience they could internalise God's transforming power in the world of nature.

Christ's resurrection was not a fabricated story: it was a fact, and as such the disciples needed to see proofs for it. It is an historic event that supremely testifies to the love of God for life. He is Creator and the Sustainer and Redeemer. Admittedly there are many discrepancies in the narratives. But that do not necessarily point to any possible fabulousness. Rather they point to the truth of the event personally experienced by each of the writers. They wrote from their personal point of faith and spiritual experience.

We live in a terror-stricken time and society. Sometimes it seems that we are plodding along the valley of darkness and death. But there is always hope for us for better life. We firmly believe that the uncaring few cannot have the last word. They never had. Evil and wickedness prosper because they are not punished. All depends on us, individually as well as corporately. We all need to promote and encourage each other and entertain each other in the festal protest against all that frustrate life. Let this supreme human value be real to each of us irrespective of any difference that may exist among us. Let all people of good will everywhere have the one single choice to make a difference. It is the challenge to love love, and hate hatred. Finally, let us remember that God will not do for man the work he can do for himself. Men are God's tools for fighting any form of evil and death. Surely, we can overcome!