Life and Death in Battle Array

BY Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI.

While the first-ever Good Friday in the Christian Calendar registers the condemnation, crucifixion and the death of Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son of Galilee, the itinerant preacher and healer, by contrast the first-ever Easter Sunday hails the triumph of the Risen Christ who rose from the darkness of the tomb thus defeating death which is the common lot of every human being and indeed of every living thing in the world. Life and death happen to be the daily drama being enacted everywhere around us.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is an unprecedented event in the history of religions where a founder of a religion ever rose from the tomb. From the many tombs, just one solitary person came forth alive back to life. For twenty long centuries of the Christian era, the Resurrection continues to be the touchstone and decisive factor of the Christian believer’s religious faith and indeed of Christianity itself as a religious tradition.

The biblical scriptures of the New Testament are replete with the radicalism of this Easter faith which shaped the way of life instilled the courage of the earliest Christians indelibly. It anchored as an ingrained conviction which made them stand resolute and unwavering in the face of rejection, persecution, imprisonment and even martyrdom for its sake.

The Resurrection is a historical event

The incarnation of the gods, their dying and rising formed indeed a paradigm in early myths and religious legends. They were rampant in the mythologies of early Greeks and Romans. But the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was by its very nature unique as challenging the polytheistic mythology of the pre-Christian eras. While all those myths and legends have disappeared, the story of Christ crucified and risen remains to this day an imposing and incisive faith-tradition having seen its transition from the time of the Apostles who were the first disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, through early Greek and Western fathers battling with heresies to medieval romanticism and renaissance that inspired art and architecture and finally into modern and post-modern era which is hell-bent on questioning the very idea of religion as an illusion unworthy of modernity studded with radical rationalism, subjectivism and a pervasive dictatorship of relativism. Pure and simple scientism and modern high-tech too are antagonistic towards religion in principle drawn as they are to anchor heavily and solely on empirical and verifiable data.

There has been the radical atheistic communism which considered all religion as the opium of the masses condemning it as a sad obstacle for the development of man and his society. However, in recent times the world has witnessed the catastrophic downfall and extinction of communism through its utter rejection by those who fell victims to it for decades in some parts of the world. The history of civilization is replete with manifestation of religion and we see it as an anthropological fact that could hardly be denied or denigrated. It has been shown that nearly more than 90% of world’s humanity professes some form of religious belief.

Resurrection however defies any scientific enquiry based on empirical or scientific evidence. It is a spiritual reality and though historical, is a matter of faith and experience. Sometimes profounder and deepest of truths are attained through intuition and experience where scientific investigation may be incapable of. Jesus is not a myth or an imposing legend. He was a historical person.

The Jesus of history is identical with the Christ of Christian faith with both being inter-dependent. St. Paul declares at Corinth that if Christ was not risen, his preaching would be of no use, the people’s faith would be in vain and they would be the most to be pitied (1 Cor 15: 17:-18). St. John a more contemplative gospel writer says that they preach about the Word of Life, something they have seen and heard and touched with their own hands (1 John 1: 1-6). St. Peter recalls their ecstatic experience of the Christ of glory and light at the transfiguration event on Mount Tabor: “We saw him and were asked to listen to Him” (2 Peter 1: 18). The Risen Lord manifested his presence to the disciples gathered in fear within locked doors.

He became a companion to the two distraught disciples moving away from Jerusalem after the shocking events of Friday. He was seen walking on the sea providing a miraculous draught of fish and having a meal with his dear disciples on the beach of Galilee. He commanded his disciples to change location to Galilee where he would be seen for the last time commissioning them to go and teach all nations to observe what He taught them.

The celebration of the Breaking of Bread, the earliest ritual of the Church would make the Risen Lord truly present again as they share the bread and wine. These assemblies became the privileged places and moments of profound unity, fellowship and solidarity among the believers. Today in various churches this celebration is given immense prominence and in the higher churches more solemn ritual adorns this celebration.

This meal continues the miraculous feeding of the five thousand by Jesus up in the Galilean mountains and is the drama we see re-enacted in the centers of great Christian and catholic pilgrimages, festivals and on ordinary Sundays. The hidden presence of Jesus Christ in those whom He considers as the least of his brothers such as those who hunger and thirst, the strangers, those who are naked, sick and the imprisoned is proved by the fact that when we see to their needs, it is Him alone that we serve (Matthew 25: 35-40).

This teaching on compassionate charity has inspired many saints even of the present time as Mother Teresa of Calcutta known for her care of the destitute and the dying. Christ also raised children as symbols of his kingdom calling the adult world to a life of childlike-ness. Children invariably teach us about life’s inviolable dignity becoming thereby evangelizers of life and prophets of a culture of life and love.

Today’s Mega-Drama of Life and Death

The era we live in is truly witnessing the mega drama of life and death. Modern life both in urban, sub-urban and rural areas is threatened by multiple forces of death, destruction and decay. They may be natural disasters that are beyond our control while others are man-made including disruption of the environment due to relentless abuse of modern technology. Melting of the ice-glaciers in the poles, the rising of ocean temperatures and emission of fossil fuels which poison the environment and the spread of viral deceases are some of them which make the earth our common home less safe and healthy a place to live.

Then there are the crucial moral issues directly infringing on the sacredness of human life such as direct abortion and euthanasia and the harvesting of embryos for scientific experimentation of various kinds. Nature has decreed that the dignity of marriage which is the way of spousal love and the door to new life through motherhood not be infringed upon through donor insemination or surrogate motherhood which amount to alienation of the persons involved.

Marriage, motherhood and new life are intimately linked in the human context. To divorce them would be a serious travesty of human relations so basic to the life of society and civilization. Both the global world-economic system run in favor of the rich and the weapons industry prevent funds being channeled to feed the world’s hungry masses. Wars can never be paths to justice and peace. What is important are the structures of dialogue needed for building bridges instead of walls of separation. Death-dealing factors are to be eradicated with life-giving resources explored to the full.

Easter is restoration of Life

Building a new world-order that fosters life in its richness and diversity requires as a condition-sine-qua-non the elimination of the culture of death and all that is a threat to life. Peace, goodwill and efforts at mutual understanding among nations and peoples are absolutely needed in providing an atmosphere of fraternity and solidarity that facilitate ensuring safety and security of life. It is only in a world at peace that joy of life can prevail as well as tranquility of order. Easter reversed all that led to the darkness, despair and fear following the death and burial of Jesus Christ.

Once risen with power and glory from the tomb, a radiant springtime of joy and peace dawned which made all hasten to share it with one another. Following the Easter paradigm, death has to be destroyed and life is to be restored. The battle for life and its victory, includes the struggle against evil and all its forces. It should not be forgotten that sound morality and preservation of wholesome ethical behavior are of great importance for raising a healthy society where people can experience their human dignity. There are so many factors today that denigrate society such as the drug trade, many-fold mafia and abuse of social media.

It has brought tragedy to the lives of individuals and even families. These modern pathways of evil and moral corruption have to be dealt with since it eats into the moral fiber of society in general. The immense good that social media can accrue for those who use them is to be appreciated. May Easter that saw the destruction of death and the rising of new life, inspire all to walk the paths of life, love and peace which ensure a safer and more secure journey for humanity.