This year April begins on Easter, the holiest day of the Christian year. Again we will gather as a family of faith to recall the miracle of God bringing new life out of death and declaring Christ “to be Son of God with power…by resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:4) Yet Easter does not stand alone.
Death precedes resurrection.
Resurrection of Jesus by Hans Rottenhammer
As followers of Christ, our lives are to follow the pattern of life-death-rebirth which our Lord
established. In the early church, it was understood that baptism, the sacrament by which believers entered the community of faith, was symbolic of death. A liturgy from the Apostolic Constitutions (late 4th century A.D.) is explicit: “Sanctify this water so that those who are baptized may be crucified with Christ, die with him, be buried with him, and rise again for adoption.” Even today the Moravian Church baptizes persons “into the death of Jesus.” “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.” (Romans 6:5) Eternal life is assured. So certain is apostle Paul of God’s promise that he writes of our resurrection in the past tense! For Paul, sincere gratitude blossoms into righteous action.
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3: 1-2)