Christ has been raised from death

Romans 6:5-10

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 

Sin’s greatest threat is death. Sin uses the threat of death and destruction to hold people in line. In the provocative poem, “They have threatened us with resurrection” (1980), Julia Esquivel writes that the death squads in Central America had the power to kill, but there was a greater power at work, the power of God to bring about resurrection. Resurrection is offered to those who are prepared to die. Those who live in this hope know that new life lies beyond death, for death has been defeated.

Death is the only weapon that sin has. But in Jesus Christ, we have already died, and having died with him, we will also be raised with him. This is the logic of baptism, this is how Lent ends in the hope of Easter. Sin and hell along with death, have been defeated. Having died in Christ, the old life which could be threatened by death, is no longer our reality. We have a new reality, living in the hope of the resurrection. To live a life to and for God now and into the future.

We hear this hope clearly echoed in “Amazing Grace”, death’s power is broken, we live in hope:   

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

Death does not win, sin cannot use death to threaten us, for we have the promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ – following him through death to the hope of the resurrection. Death is not the final world, life is the final word, life in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER:

We rejoice, O Lord, that in Jesus Christ you have defeated sin and death and hell. We rejoice that the powers of destruction do not win, and that there is hope for us in Jesus Christ who died and was raised to life again. Thank you, Lord, for this great grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.