Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ is coming again. This triple affirmation, made by the Church for the past 2,000 years, is no longer understood by our society at large. Our culture has become so secularized that we no longer know what this strange but beautiful phraseology means. Volumes can be and have been written to explore the depths of this affirmation, but let’s attempt a nutshell explanation. Let’s start with the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus. Jesus avoided band-aid solutions to deep wounds and quick-fix solutions to deep problems. He always went to the root of the issue. We see this in his Sermon on the Mount. Not content to merely condemn murder, Jesus addressed the anger behind the murder. Not content to merely condemn adultery, Jesus addressed the lust behind the adultery. Jesus insisted on unmasking and addressing the real issues behind the presenting issues. He went beyond the behavior to address the motivations of the heart. This helps us to understand what was accomplished on Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. When Christians say “Christ has died” we are affirming that, by his death, Jesus severed the root of all that is evil. He died to conquer sin and death and all of their demonic tentacles, which are the cause of all the evils within the human soul, which are the cause of all the evils within our world. When Christians say “Christ is risen” we are affirming that by his resurrection, Jesus demonstrated that the job has been completed. The mission has been accomplished. Sin and death and all the evils within our souls and all the evils within our world have been severed at the root. The fire that destroys all that is good and right and beautiful in our lives and on our planet has been extinguished at the source, as attested by the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. When Christians say “Christ is coming again” we are affirming that what has been accomplished by the death and resurrection of Christ will become the living experience of all the redeemed, and will be the future of the planet, when Jesus returns. When we say “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ is coming again” we are affirming that the problem of sin and death, the problem of evil and pain within our souls, and the problem of evil and pain within our world have been extinguished at the root and are on the cusp of being eradicated, completely and forever. That is why today Christians around the world make the joyful proclamation “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”.
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