A Brief Homilette on the Death and Resurrection of Christ on the Occasion of his Rising

as recorded in St. Paul’s Epistle to Colossae commonly annotated as the beginning of the third chapter, verses one through four.

“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.”

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Jesus’ death and resurrection is our death and resurrection. His bringing of new life was not only for us in the future but is in us now. In him and by him we are resurrected from our sin to a truly and completely new life. We no longer need an intermediary; we no longer see through signs like the Jews, through regulations which, if broken, kindle the wrath of God and only accrue our guilt and shame.

Those signs and intermediaries are not the way of those filled with the Spirit. We are filled with the Spirit of Jesus, and we have the heart of the risen Lord. Though it seems difficult now to perceive because of our weakness, our frailty, our bodily corruption, our grief, our sadness, we are no longer slaves to the old Adam, the dead man, the man and woman who insist on their own way and who disrespect their husbands and are impatient with their wives or children. The ingratitude which allows us to live in a free and prosperous nation with air conditioning and good health and food and think of only of what we are missing, not the gifts we have been given. The sick heart which grows weary and whispers for just a drop more of distraction or taste of pleasure that our parents, friends, spouse, or boss could never know about. The consumption which starves.

From these things we have been resurrected. From these things we have been hidden, and from these things we have been saved.

In the gospel reading from John 20, the women and disciples both run to the tomb and then run from it. They run to it dead, grieving their lost Savior. But they all depart from it new men and women. There is a famous apologetic for the historicity of the resurrection that goes, “Twelve men would not suffer death for something they knew was a lie.” But as the Gospel accounts tell us, the disciples would not even die for something they knew was true. Yet coming from the tomb, the old disciples were being quickened by and with Christ. After going into and emerging from that sepulcher, the apostles would brave every trial, and give thanks in their suffering because they had already died, and their spirits were already alive anew.

St. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even while we were still dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Why did he enliven us?

“So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Fellow brothers, seek new things, set your mind on new commandments. Confess your sin to your neighbor, and live as you are called, as you will be when your body is raised incorruptible. Place your mind in heaven where the prophets longed to be. Jesus tore the temple veil and became himself the curtain through which we all draw near as priests with access to the throne where Jesus is seated.

Our hearts are with him, our minds are with him, so let us seek him where he is and find ourselves where he has brought us. Jesus famously said that if the crowds ceased to praise him, stones would cry out. And when the city which praised him sent him to the cross, he took us, various rough-hewn stones, and built us into a temple, and established us for his eternal purpose.

We are now a part of an edifice which was not our own design, and a structure which was not our own choosing. But it is a palace in which God himself is present, and over which he spent all thirty three years of his life designing. If you doubt the Lord’s goodness, observe God’s immeasurable kindness, and recall his comfortable love. We are not merely built by a carpenter to stand alone or testify to our own strength, but are hidden in him, not bare walls exposed to the chilled winds of death, but protected walls glorified with gold and adorned with precious jewels.

Our loving God delights in showing mercy. Draw near to him, seek him while he may be found. His gift is immeasurable, and light is eternal. Hold fast to our head, Christ, and be thankful.