**The glory of the resurrection**

**The glory of the resurrection**

Rev. Jerry J. Pokorsky

The desire for holiness is a response to the hope and possibility that life does not end with death. As we ponder life and death, most sense the tug of eternity. But what will our experience of eternity be? Will we encounter eternal bliss, or is there a possibility of eternal horror?

Upon awakening to our dependence on God alone and our need to be rescued, it is a true grace to pray with the Psalmist, “Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! If thou, O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (Ps. 130: 1-4 RSV).

The Christian vision of eternity rests entirely on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Cor. 15:3-34). The desire to participate in the holiness of God depends upon our accepting, by God’s grace and without any equivocation, the fundamental dogma of our faith: the bodily resurrection of Jesus: “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:13-14 RSV).

As a recorded historical event, the resurrection cannot be proved by scientific inquiry. It can only be accepted by faith based on the testimony of biblical witnesses and the martyrs of the early Church.

When, with goodwill, the resurrection is tentatively accepted as plausible, it becomes reasonable through consideration of the entire narrative of God’s encounter with man, repeatedly presented through the Sacred Liturgy and during the liturgical year (Luke 24:26).

Abraham’s test of faith foreshadows the Crucifixion. The Promised Land of the Israelites is replaced by the new and heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). With the prospect of eternal life all history has changed course and becomes intelligible. Ecclesiastes’ tortured philosophical questions are resolved. All is not vanity (Eccl. 1:2).

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, all is also coherent. The resurrection allows us to recalibrate and assemble the entirety of God’s revelation within the framework of the Apostles’ Creed. The Word of God has returned to the Father and now beckons us to follow him. God sends forth his spirit and renews the face of the earth (Ps. 104:30) in the Sacraments. Even human suffering takes on a new and redemptive meaning in Christ, all because of the Empty Tomb.

God’s triumph does not require man’s obliteration or subordination. With his resurrection as reported by the four Evangelists, and as witnessed by the martyrs of the early Church, Jesus, the Word made flesh, definitively accomplishes what God intends: our liberation from sin and death.

God’s revelation as recorded in the Bible is the comprehensive history of the power of God’s word. And his encounter with man not only reconciles us to God, but in Christ our life is also given new meaning. “For the glory of God is a living man; and the life of man consists in beholding God.” We are forever reconciled by the promise of the life to come.

With every passing day, consciously or unconsciously, by the Holy Spirit we enter the history of the living Word of God as presented by the Church. Jesus in his humanity directs attention to God as the source of goodness. “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone” (Mk. 10:18 RSV). Christian holiness is free participation in the goodness of God in history. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.