as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Naim, and Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised were returned by Jesus’ power to ordinary earthly life. At some moment they would die again. Christ’s Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another glorious life. At Jesus’ Resurrection he appears in his glorious state, so that Saint Paul can say that Christ is the Man of Heaven.
The Resurrection: A Transcendent Event
In the Paschal hymn of the Easter Virgil the deacon sings: "O truly blessed Night, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the dead." Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the Apostle’s encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. The risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, “to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.” (Acts 13:31; John 14:22)
The Resurrection: The Work of the Trinity
Christ’s Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a direct intervention of God in creation and history. In it the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. The Father’s power “raised up” Christ his Son, and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son’s humanity, including his body, into heaven. Jesus is conclusively revealed as “Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His Resurrection from the dead.” (Rom.1:3-4) Saint Paul insists on the manifestation of God’s power (Rom.1:3-4) through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus’ dead humanity, and called it to the glorious state of Lordship. As for the Son, He effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise (Mark 8:31). Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: “I lay down my life, that I may take it up again….I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again” (John 10:17-18). We believe that Jesus died and rose again (1Thes. 4:14).
The Union of Body and Soul
The early Church Fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the divine person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body, even when these were separated from each other by death. For in the unity of the divine nature, which remains present in each in each of the two components of Christ’s humanity, these are reunited. Even as death is produced by the separation of the soul and body, so Resurrection is achieved by the union of soul and body in a glorious way.
The Meaning and Saving Significance of the Resurrection
“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1Cor. 15:14). The Resurrection above all constitutes the confirmation of all Christ’s works and teaching. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority.
Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfillment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” (1Cor. 15:14) indicates that Christ’s Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.
The Truth of Jesus' Divinity
is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he (Jn. 8:28). The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly “I Am”, the Son of God and God himself. So Saint Paul could declare with the Jews:"What God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the seconf psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you" (Acts 13:32-34). Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son and is its fulfillment in accordance with God's plan.
The Paschal Mystery Has Two Aspects:
by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by His Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that fills us with God’s grace, and love, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4).
Justification
consists in both victory over death caused by sin and a new life in grace. It brings about adoption so that people become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren” (Mt 28:10). We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive relationship gains for us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.
