Easter: Called to a new way of living

The very act of the creation of all things began with God speaking: Let there be light. The very moment of the re-creation of all things began with Christ appearing in the dawning light. At his Resurrection from the death, from the deepest place of darkness, God opened up a crack of light in the body of his Son, so as to let life back in.

I like to think that the point at which Jesus began to experience his resurrection was precisely at the point of his wounds of death. Into the holes made by the nails and lance, light appeared; from the wounds of death, life. And not just ‘life’ in some general sense; but the life of the world enveloped in death, and life for us.

The Resurrection of our life-sacrificing Saviour is the re-creation of our lives, in him. His is the light by which our lives, and all life, is enlightened. He is, in his Resurrection, the light of the world, and life for our world. To come into this light, by faith and in trust, is to come upon a pathway from the dark things of our lives. God offers us re-creation through the re-creation of Christ’s resurrection.

Easter re-creates, not just the world of material things, but the world of living realities. Where there are wounds of violence and personal hurt, to there comes a resurrection of forgiveness and hope. Where war and conflict scar peoples and communities, there belongs the resurrection of reconciliation and peace. Where an overwhelmed created environment is dying, there is where the resurrection of recovery and re-generation is needed.

By Christ’s Resurrection, we are opened up to a new light, and therefore a new vision, by which to see how to live in life-giving ways in this world given to us. Death – personally and existentially – is not the end; descent into conflict and hatred is not inevitable; peace, healing, mercy and forgiveness are possible and do-able. For Christ’s Resurrection shifts our view of the world, and our vision for the world.

Today, this (dawning) Day, calls us to a new way of living, in the light of the Resurrection. But we are not called to see ahead on our own. First, God gave us back his Son, the best of us, so that then we will have a way – a light – by which to see ahead. If Christ’s rising is life re-created, then we have in His Resurrection the means to re-orient the world. To be given life is to have found life. And in finding life, we too become givers of life. This foundational giving extends outwards always. Where, then, might we see this risen light coming towards us?

At its most fundamental, it begins to be seen in the babies born among us, new lives of hope, for there we see the means of our re-recreation by procreation. It is also where we are found by God, through the waters of Baptism. In faith, we come to know of Jesus’ friendship for us, where the light we need always shines. From there, we can see how the giving of life, by formation in faith, hope and love, can flourish within our families and households.

Then, opening our doors, we are called to go out of ourselves to our neighbours, that they may come into the light; to seek to live truthfully and justly, so that societies might flourish; to see ourselves freed from the shadowlands of bitterness, contention, untruthfulness and control, and to turn our backs on radical ideologies – either of a religious or secular form.

From the Resurrection of Christ, from his re-creation, we are invited to strike out for the horizon of our re-creation, which is drenched in light. God created in light. Christ rose in light. May we find our way by this light.

Happy Easter.