It is Finished

I will be out for Holy Saturday. It seems appropriate, then, to remind each other of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Holy Saturday

Have no fears then. Now that the common Savior of all has died on our behalf, we who believe in Christ no longer die as men died in time past, in fulfillment of the threat of the law. That condemnation has come to an end; and now that, by the grace of the resurrection, corruption has been banished and done away, we are loosed from our mortal bodies in God's good time for each, so that we may obtain thereby a better resurrection. Like seeds cast into the earth, we do not perish in our dissolution, but like them shall rise again, death having been brought to nothing by the grace of the Savior. That is why blessed Paul, through whom we all have surety of the resurrection, says: "This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality; but when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?'"

(Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 21; language slightly updated)

No Kivengere quotes this year, nor yet the usual Petra video of He Came, He Saw, He Conquered, which should be required listening for anyone. (Since I only post once a year anymore, it seems, just scroll down.)

Rather: a reminder that in the tomb, God is still sovereign. Though dead, he works death backwards, and he unmakes death. If in death, how much more in life?

In A Brief History of Thought, Luc Ferry rightly describes death as anything in our lives that is irreversible, whether it be the biological termination of our lives or the holiday at the sea we can visit only in memory. But the gospel gainsays death entirely, and it proves it by the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the grave.

Athanasius reminds us elsewhere that the resurrection secures eternal life for all—we are all immortal. But this is a sobering thought, for hell as well as heaven is full of immortals. As C. S. Lewis once wrote:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

It is a solemn day, but a day of joyful expectation. Can you imagine it? To arrive at the empty tomb?

Holy Saturday

What a discovery!  You mean this man who is hanging on the cross is a king?  The cross is his throne? The thorns his crown? This shattered body is a kingly body? A naked body, covered with the robes of a king?  Glory overcame the despair of this criminal.  And the king said, "Don't you wait for long.  Today, you and me are going to share paradise."

He was buried and he resurrected.  What does that do?  The death overcame the guilt and the sin and the separation. What does the resurrection do?  My goodness, it delivers!  The last enemy of mankind is death.  It makes men tremble; it makes clever men weep. It is the point of departure, the dead end of the road.  Jesus entered the realm of death: three days in battle down there. And in the grip with that terrible enemy of mankind, he killed death, disarmed it, opened the grave.

Jesus came out of the grave triumphant, glorious.  Do you think he came alone?  Not a bit!  He came with you!  The head came out, and so the limbs came with him.  You are there!  I know you say, "Bishop, I am not that type."  Jesus knows very well he died for that type! The kind of you, with all the things that make you tremble, with all the limitations of the human being.  Jesus took you when he rose from the dead, because when he died, he gripped you.

(Selections from Festo Kivengeri, in his sermon The Triumph of God's Glory)

Good Friday

As with all absences, my recent departure from blogging has not been because of lack of motivation—just lack of time.  There are real life priorities that demand my attention, and they are unlikely to recede for some time.  However, on this day of all days, and this weekend of all weekends—the very one that reset our calendars—I thought it appropriate to share a couple of videos as a reminder:

He Arose

(H/t: Char)

If it's going to be loud, it should be this song.

Holy Saturday

Hope deferred makes a heart sick; but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

Last night following Good Friday services, my mother reminded me well of how Good Friday must have felt to the disciples:  a catastrophic defeat, the end of all their hopes, an abrupt and confusing halt to their daily plans and activities.  They were confused and frightened and alone, fearful for their lives, and (at least for Peter), consumed by the guilt of their betrayal.

It is so easy for us who have not experienced this defeat to see Good Friday in the light of Resurrection Sunday, knowing as we do what happened on the first day of the week as the women came to the tomb.  (Just the thought of it gives me goosebumps.  Can you imagine?)

But for them, their expectations and hopes were disappointed; their faith was put to shame.  The promise of the Messiah, at least as they understood it, went unfulfilled.

They were foolish; even the resurrected Jesus says so:  "Oh foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!"  But their foolishness was necessary.  Their hopes were fanned anew in a way that would never have been if they truly understood that the Christ had to suffer these things and enter his glory.

But even more, the death of Jesus of Nazareth on the cross seen from the perspective of Saturday really is a defeat of the greatest order.  God died.  It staggers the imagination.  If Sunday did not follow—and the disciples themselves did not understand that it would—how terrible that day would have been, how catastrophic, how disastrous!

Today, of all days, is a somber day of hopeless and sick hearts.  But our true Desire is coming.

Happy Good Friday

Good Friday

It astonishes me sometimes to realize that a man lived, died, and was raised again. While the Bible records several resurrections, it is clear from the Scriptures that Jesus Christ was unique.

I hope and pray his resurrection grips your hearts as it has mine, and that this grip ever tightens. It has been so easy to fall into a rut, and so easy to lose sight of the goal in this wilderness. The only escape from the predations of sin and the terrors of that war is the resurrected Christ. He is our hope.

I doubt I shall have time to write on the Big Day itself, but for all who read, have a Blessed and Happy Easter. He is risen indeed.

Looking Ahead

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

(Romans 6.5–11, ESV)

If then 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. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

(Colossians 3.1–4, ESV)


Happy Easter, everyone.

He Is Risen!

As John 19.30 says so nicely, "It is finished."

Some verses to consider today:

I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
The LORD has disciplined me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.

(Ps 118.17-20)

Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory!

(Ps 24.7-10)

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."

(Lu 24.1-6)


Have a Happy Easter, all.