Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… 1 Peter 1:3
Happy Easter, dear friends! Today we celebrate a singular event in human history, what through the eyes of faith we believe is the watershed moment of all time. One way the writers of the New Testament understood the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was as a mighty victory over the powers of sin, darkness, and death. “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14) The resurrection of Jesus is transformative for his followers.
Of course not everyone believes in the message of Easter. Karl Marx, the 19th century philosopher and political theorist who wrote “The Communist Manifesto,” famously said that “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” While he acknowledged that religion could provide solace and meaning in a world of hardship and injustice, he viewed religion as part of the dominant ideology that props up the existing social order and the ruling class. He believed that by transforming the economic conditions that create suffering, humanity could “outgrow” its need for religious consolation.
Without denying the sad chapters in history where religion has been misused by the powerful in deeply harmful ways, genuine Christian faith is fundamentally different from Marx’s caricature. The call of Jesus is not to deny reality but to care for the needy, not to pursue one’s own self-enrichment but to be a blessing to others, not to lord it over people but to lead through service. Far from quelling believers into an opiate-induced stupor, Christians throughout history have chosen to suffer for the sake of justice, to sacrifice in order to share the message of Jesus Christ, and to lay down their lives on behalf of others.
Theologian Jurgen Moltmann disputes Marx’s famous saying when he writes, “Believing in the resurrection … means participating in God’s creative act. Resurrection is not a consoling opium … it is the energy for a rebirth of this life.” Far from causing believers to prop up the powers that be, resurrection faith has propelled Christians in history to abolish slavery, oppose racism, fight cruel child labor practices, establish hospitals, provide universal education, promote the sacredness of human life, protect children, practice marital fidelity, and create institutions to care for orphans, foster kids, and the poor. While Christians don’t always get it right, the power of Jesus’ resurrection continues to produce transformation, growth, and rebirth in the lives of his followers. May Jesus’ resurrection life flow through us that we may show the world his life-changing grace!
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