It was just after Peter’s pronouncement, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” that Jesus announced two things that would soon happen. First he would die, then he would be raised from the dead. Peter seems to have suffered from selective hearing, because his reaction to Jesus’ statements is to say “this shall never happen to you”! Peter heard the part about Jesus’ death but failed to understand the part about Jesus’ resurrection. So too, we can think about Jesus’ death and all that it has won for us without continuing on to consider the resurrection that is part and parcel of what Jesus did on our behalf. It’s not a case of one or the other, but rather that the whole is more than we tend to think about or live by.
Consider this:
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
We are told that we are in Christ and in Christ we have died to sin, yet, in Christ we have also been raised to walk in newness of life. The life we live now is the resurrection life of which Jesus is the firstfruits. Our death in Christ broke the bond of slavery to sin and allowed us to walk the resurrection life in Christ.
So, as we look beyond Easter, let’s walk in the newness of life that comes to those who have died in Christ and have been raised with Christ. Let us live lives given to God, presenting ourselves – body, mind and soul to the God who raised us and sustains us – we’re living now not under law, but under grace. Let’s live day by day in the awareness of both our death and resurrection in Christ Jesus!
