Is Resurrection Life or Death?

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home › resources › literature › Is Resurrection Life or Death?

Keraza Magazine issue 15-16 April 17, 2015

Some might consider Christ's resurrection a legendary fairytale picturing the ongoing struggle between a good god who stands for goodness and an evil god who stands for wickedness, where the good god inevitably had to ultimately defeat evil. They only see in Christ's death and resurrection a heroic epic based on human imagination, projecting all heroic power and might to unto the Lord Christ, as a psychological defense mechanism through which man can confront feelings of insecurity in facing the reality of one's death and the death of loved ones.

Others only see in the Lord Christ's resurrection a mere historic event occurring at a specific point in time at a certain geographic location, attested to by an empty tomb and a group of women and disciples, eyewitnesses who documented these events.

As for the Christian with a living faith, he believes that resurrection (even if it is an event that happened at a specific historical geographical point) is a daily act in the present continuous tense that transfers a person at every moment from death to life.

After Adam's fall into disobedience, death became an inseparable component of the human identity, casting its thick shadow on all his relationships and actions. Death is a person's movement away from God, and away from his fellow being. It is a person's isolation in the prison of the ego and the grave of his passions. Yet, the Lord Christ personally sacrificed Himself instead of man and arose, giving humanity a new identity centered around love, instead of the old identity centered around the self and the ego. Thus, life becomes a movement in the opposite direction in which a person comes out of his ego to God, and to his fellow beings. Life is nothing but the resurrection of love, and love is nothing but death. Yes, it is death as long as it relinquishes everything, even existence, for the sake of the other: "He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39).

Faith in Christ, the incarnate God raised from the dead, is faith in a living God who is present for us and in us at every moment of our lives. Christian does not await a specific day in time in which life ends, Day of Resurrection, in order to enjoy the resurrection and eternal life. The risen Christ is not dead for the Christian, but rather living and present in every moment of his life, giving it an eschatological dimension. He is present in the person's new identity, based on love, giving it of His life: "Because I live, you will live also" (John 14:19).

Rejoice greatly, O man, and shout for joy, as through the effect of resurrection old things in your inner man have passed away!

Jubilate, O son of Adam, and sing a new song, as through the power of resurrection all that is within you has become new!

Do not stop praising God, through Whose resurrection He granted you a new heaven and a new earth in which all righteousness lives!

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States