Easter Fire

 

CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER DEATH EMPOWERS THE CHURCH TO HEAL AND TRANSFORM THE WORLD THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

Imagine Jesus’ disciples, huddled together in gloom and discouragement, when Mary Magdalene came bursting into the room at the break of dawn with the cry, “He is alive! He is risen from the dead!” For the early Christians, this joyous proclamation became the very heart of the Good News that their hearts burned to tell the whole world. They understood — as modern people often fail to grasp — that if Jesus is truly risen from the dead, that fact changes everything.

 

The ancient world knew well that death is the most indisputable fact of human existence. The human mortality rate is, after all, 100 percent. Rich and poor, strong and weak, good and evil alike, all eventually go down into the grave together, leaving behind all their loved ones, earthly possessions, hopes, dreams and plans.

 

The early Christians therefore recognized that if Jesus has risen from the grave, then it is not just a lovely miracle that happened to one person. Nor is it a resuscitation to earthly life like that of Lazarus, who would have to die again. No, in Jesus, the power of death has been broken. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55). The whole trajectory of human sin, sorrow, suffering and condemnation has been turned around. The curse has been reversed.

 

THE OPEN HEAVENS

 

In Jesus’ own earthly life there was a remarkable foreshadowing that helps illuminate what would occur in his resurrection. At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John. Even though John’s baptism was a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 3:3), Jesus willingly submitted to it as an act of profound humility and obedience to the Father. His decision to identify totally with sinners meant that ultimately he would have to go to the cross. Indeed, his going down into the water prefigured his death; Jesus later speaks of his death as a “baptism” (Lk 12:50).

 

Jesus’ coming up from the water, likewise, prefigured his coming up from the grave. What happened when he came up from the water? He was “praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him” in the form of a dove (Lk 3:21-22). It is noteworthy that the Gospel does not say that heaven then closed back up again. The implication is that Jesus lived under an “open heaven.” Indeed, his mission was to bring heaven to earth. Jesus, in his human nature, had access to all the grace, power, mercy, healings and blessings of heaven, and he distributed them on earth. From that day, he was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and went “in the power of the Spirit” to begin his mission of making the kingdom of heaven present on earth (Lk 4:1,14).

 

What occurred at Jesus’ baptism parallels what would later happen to the whole Church, gathered in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension: As 120 disciples, including Mary and the Twelve, were praying, “a sound came from heaven… and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:2-4). The Holy Spirit imbued them with a courage, missionary zeal and supernatural power that they had never known before.

 

Immediately, they began to proclaim the Gospel in the same way that Jesus had: not only with words, but with mighty deeds that demonstrated the truth of the words. They healed the sick, liberated those oppressed by demons, brought unity where there had been division, brought joy where there had been sorrow, and brought the light of truth where there had been idolatry and spiritual darkness. And the Apostles, through the sacraments, brought the forgiveness of sins and the birth of new citizens of the kingdom in baptism.

 

It is no wonder that the Good News spread like wildfire across the ancient world and the Church grew exponentially, even during periods of severe persecution. The kingdom of God was visibly breaking in.

 

OUTPOSTS OF THE KINGDOM

 

Our goal in life is not only to get to heaven one day; rather, we are also called to extend the presence of the kingdom of heaven on earth. We need to draw upon that same power of the Holy Spirit with which Jesus himself was anointed during his earthly ministry.

 

As disciples of Christ, our works of prayer, charity, and virtue, when motivated by the conviction that Jesus is truly alive, are acts that bear witness to the power of Christ’s resurrection in the world. Every Catholic family, parish and organization is meant to be an “outpost of heaven,” where all those involved can experience something of the fearlessness, joy and hope that come from knowing Jesus’ victory over death. Indeed, the Knights of Columbus, through its various initiatives — prayer campaigns, serving those in need, defending religious liberty, advocating for Christians at risk, and protecting the rights of the vulnerable — are directly involved in taking ground from the dominion of darkness and extending the presence of the kingdom of God on earth.

 

Jesus foretold that such power would be at work in the Church when he said to Peter, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). Note that gates are not offensive weapons but defensive. Jesus is not saying that the Church would flee before the power of hell but ultimately be rescued. No, the Church is on an offensive campaign against sin, Satan and death. Even Hades itself (the netherworld or realm of the dead) will not be able to withstand the witness of the disciples of Jesus, walking in the victory of his resurrection. Its gates will be broken down and its captives liberated.

 

MARY HEALY is a professor of Scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit and the author of Healing: Bringing the Gift of God’s Mercy to the World (Our Sunday Visitor, 2015). In 2014, she was appointed as one of the first three women ever to serve on the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

 

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of “Columbia” and can be found online here.