The Resurrection of Our Lord Year B - conclusion

We often think of resurrection as the panacea for death and while there is no doubt that comfort comes from the promise of the forever life with no pain, no sorrow, no tears, I think that way of thinking gives death more power than it is due. If we think of death in the same way we think of birth, leaving the womb of this world for life in the next then death is just a transition between the two. We know some births are relatively easy. I speak as a man, of course, but not one uniformed. My own wife after birthing our son without the benefit of an epidural said, “I could do that again.” (Which she did two years later) But then there are the births that are slow and painful and fraught with danger for mother and child. It is so with death as well. Some pass peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, caressed and cared for right up to the edge of this life and the beginning of the next. Some, like the One we remember on this Friday we call Good, are not so fortunate. Nailed naked to the cross while crowds jeered and his mother wept and no one, not even the God he trusted, came to comfort him so that his passing from life through death to life would be for the those who dread death and would do anything to keep it at bay. Jesus enters fully into our life, joy and sorrow, faith and doubt, pleasure and pain, but also our fear of death so that when the stone is rolled away to reveal death as the ultimate deception we who have yet to be born into that life are strengthened to live this one with more joy and courage and kindness. Those who have been born again, in the real sense, are still with us in memories of this life we cherish and the mystery of the future life we anticipate as all who are joined to the Christ are forever and always one.