‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ (Jn 11:25).

These are the words of Jesus spoken to Mary, the sister of Lazarus, as recorded in the Gospel of John.

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:4).

These are the words of St. Paul written to the early Church community at Corinth.

As we approach Easter Sunday, these passages, and the other elements of the witness of the early Church to the resurrection of Jesus take on renewed importance. They do so because they remind us of a fundamental truth. The resurrection did happen and we are called to share in it one day in our own bodies.

St. Paul teaches the Corinthians a lesson needed for every age.

Jesus rose from the dead only after suffering and death. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer. In doing so, the Father showed us that He gave His only Son for us even at great cost.

Jesus showed us that the price of love, His love for us, is high.

For us, the lesson is also that the way to our own resurrection in glory will be through and with Jesus.

That means that we must expect to suffer and struggle in this life, just as He did.

Of course no one likes to suffer. Jesus Himself asked first if He might not have to drink of the chalice of suffering. But the example of Jesus should help us not to doubt God’s love or even His existence if we suffer. And the resurrection gives us hope that, as for Jesus, suffering has value, has meaning.

When Jesus told Mary that He is the resurrection and the life, they were standing in the presence of death. They were before the tomb of the recently deceased Lazarus. Shortly thereafter, we are told that Jesus wept over Lazarus.

Without the resurrection, all of us stand before the tomb. All of us are in the looming presence of death, our own or the passing of those we love. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, and because of our own sin, absent the resurrection, there would be no escape.

But Jesus did rise. And in that rising, something else was offered us. It was not just an extension of life on earth. It is the life of heaven.

We are invited to give our hearts, our lives and wills to Jesus so that we might share in a new and transformed life for eternity. That is the meaning of Jesus as the resurrection and the life. With Him, we will be forever separated from death.

Over the next several weeks, at Mass, we will read once more the testimonies of the early faithful who saw the resurrected Jesus. At His command they went forth to witness and spread the news.

It is ultimately that witness that has come down to us as the basis for our faith. And we are the witnesses today, passing on that news to those around us and to those who will follow us in this world.
We need this witness. And the world needs our witness to the resurrection. Our modern and secularized world concentrates on the here and now. It ignores or denies the reality of a life to come and the need to prepare for it now by our love, moral uprightness and faith.

In contrast to that pessimism, faith in Christ and in the reality of both His sufferings and His rising from the dead gives joy and hope.

All of life has meaning, even the difficult moments. But if we live now faithfully, simply and well, we will be joined to the resurrection of Jesus, along with all who have believed.

It is worth our struggle. It is worth the wait.

A blessed Easter to all!