coryonomics

The season of Easter loves its symbolism. The universal understanding of the possibility of new life. But new life from what? The average "man on the street" picks up quickly the idea of spring from winter, of new life from the decay of the old. It inspires songs like "the circle of life", but is cyclical change really change? It may be change, but it is not new; it is simply a revolving pattern of an old life.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ breaks this pattern. It addresses the problem of death. Resurrection, which does not mean spirit only or resuscitation of, states that death no longer has the last word. The resurrection moves well beyond the common symbolism that we find in most thinking. The Resurrection invites invites real change, real hope, real living, for today as well as tomorrow. This requires a new reality for us to step into and it is this new reality I wish to briefly address.
I have a friend whose father recently passed away due to cancer. In the process of he and his family adjusting, first to the initial news and then eventually to his death, he responded to my question of how he was doing by saying, "we are learning how to live in the new normal" Instead of fighting a loosing battle of what was not, the 'if only's", he stepped into a new way of living. This, by the way, is a profoundly healthy way to live, it subverts denial and enables one to grieve well.
The "new normal" is what we are called to live into when we step into Christ's resurrection. It is this reality that the apostle Peter found with Jesus on the shore by the sea of Tiberias. N.T. Wright in his book Surprised By Hope referring to John 21 states that "Peter, famously, has denied Jesus. He has chosen to live within the normal world, where the tyrants win in the end and where it's better to dissociate yourself from people who get on the wrong side of them. But now, with Easter, peter is called to live in a new and different world. Where Thomas is called to a new kind of faith and Paul to a radically renewed hope, Peter is called to a new kind of love." (p 72) This love is more than a feeling, but connected with the resurrection is a new way of believing and living. Wright goes on to reflect on the question Jesus then asks Peter, the question of Peter's love for him. It is this question that opens up a profound new reality, a question that Wright says invites us to be remade.
Outside of the resurrection, Peter must remain the same and learn how to cope with his betrayal. He may find ways to give his lifestyle a new makeover, but the reality he is in is still limited by death which ultimately limits how we live out the rest of our breath. However, confronted with the resurrected Christ, Peter's reality has shifted and now in order to live in a world where death no longer wins, Peter must step into a place where he allows himself to no longer be ruled by the former reality, the ones of tyrants, power, manipulation, defensiveness, and fear to name a few. The resurrection moves his forgiveness into more than just the healing of a relationship based on a former world view reality; it moves him into a new reality, a new creation that enables him to live differently starting at that moment.
A very important element for us to see is that this new reality is not just a personal one, God has come to redeem all of creation which calls us to a new kind of living today. It requires us to live and work hand in hand with God in his redeeming work. To live life as one who believes in the resurrection, not only of Jesus' resurrection but our own in the future, means that we begin to live it out now in everything we do. This kind of living begins to look like what Jesus called to us to do, love one another as he loves us, to forgive as we are forgiven, to treat our enemies as he did with honesty, compassion, and concern.
We can live this life because in Christ's resurrection death was defeated and with the defeat of death comes the defeat of fear. I believe that it is death and fear that makes us act and react in all the unhealthy ways we do. They drive us to a perverted sense of self-preservation because we fear that when someone harms us that they have power over us. The new reality says that in Christ, even though others may harm us in temporal ways, we are not victims of their violence, be they words or weapons, because we have only one Lord who has the final say and that is the one who defeated death; Jesus Christ. Therefore, I can turn the other cheek, I can bless those who persecute me, I can live as Jesus lived, did as Jesus died, and rise as Jesus rose. This is the reality that gives me hope, strength, and vision for today here and now.