The mystery of our resurrection with Christ
God’s Word says that we were raised together with Christ. It is a certain mystery to us. Jesus was raised two thousand years ago in Jerusalem. I am not in Jerusalem, but in another place and in another time. I was not in the tomb with Jesus to be raised with Him. I was not even born yet. So what does it mean that “we were raised together with Him”? Let us think what happened at Christ’s resurrection: Christ’s dead body, which was lying in the tomb, was not only raised to life but also transformed. Christ was raised from the dead with a glorified body. He passed through the stone tomb in spite of a large stone rolled in front of the entrance to the tomb. After that, He appeared to the apostles in different places during forty days. Through the resurrection, new life entered the physical body of Jesus, and His body was glorified.
The mystery of Christ’s resurrection has a double dimension. Physical dimension – it means that Christ rose from the dead really and historically, the tomb is empty, He is risen indeed, His body was not taken away by anyone. And then there is also the spiritual dimension – the transformation of Christ’s body, interference with Christ’s physical nature, i.e. human nature which He took on Himself. We have the same genetic code as Adam: we have two hands, two feet, eyes, etc. It is similar in spiritual terms: Christ is the second Adam, and we receive His life, eternal life, which has been given to us.
God created Adam. But then came the first sin. We are born into this world with this sin. That was why God gave His Son. Jesus became man, coming in the flesh and assuming our human nature. Being both the Son of God and man, He died on the cross and redeemed us. He took sin upon Himself, paid the just price for it, and rose again on the third day, giving us a new life.
And regarding the question of time: When Christ rose from the dead, it was a specific historical time, a specific date, when it became a reality. On the other hand, however, being raised from the dead Jesus transcended time. He is beyond time. He is in eternity. Eternity is timeless. And now we come to the mystery of “together with Him”. I exist in time, but being baptized, I have been immersed in Christ’s death and given the new life of the risen Christ. When I put these truths into practice by faith, I live them NOW and TOGETHER WITH Christ. Faith connects me to realities that are beyond time and space. Faith is timeless and spaceless. It means that now I connect by faith to what Christ did 2000 years ago. Now I can connect to His death, to the moment of His dying; now I can connect by faith to what He obtained for me, to His new life. The only problem that remains is to allow Christ to live in us, to allow Him to work through our faith, and thus to be transformed into Him. That is why we must walk in the Spirit. It means that we should live by faith and return to the fundamental truths again and again, namely Christ’s death and His new life. It means that whenever we are tempted into sin – self-will, pride, hurt feelings – we should enter into Christ’s death, renounce ourselves, and unite ourselves to Jesus. By doing so, we immediately receive a new life, which is renewed in us again and again. At the moment when we enter into death, the new life immediately begins to work, pulsate, becomes active. We have to make it active by faith, and so God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us. He has also given us a new heart, the Blessed Virgin, the new woman as our Mother. When we spiritually receive Mary, then through Mary and the Holy Spirit God’s life grows in us and we become rooted in Christ. Through her Christ came into the world and through her He also comes to us, becomes incarnate in us, and we are transformed into Christ. That is why Jesus has given her to us as our Mother. When we receive the biblical faith, Mary’s faith, the Holy Spirit works in us again so that Christ may become greater and greater in us. It is then true about us: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
So, Christ’s resurrection is both a historical and transhistorical event. This means that it transcends time and space, and I can connect to this reality by faith and make it real in my life now in this time and space. Whenever I live the present moment in prayer and connect by faith to the mystery of Christ’s death and His life, Christ lives in me. I am crucified together with Christ. It is no longer I who live – my self, the sin no longer lives or rules in me, but it is Christ who lives in me. At that moment, I offer Him my will, my hands, my feet and all the powers of my soul, and He IS in me, LIVES in me, RULES in me.
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