Easter Sunday is the most important day in the Christian calendar and commemorates the most important event in the history of the world. The day that death was conquered. But Easter Sunday needed the tragedy of Good Friday for it to happen as it did. The resurrection could not have taken place without the death of Jesus, killed on the instigation of a baying mob convinced of its own righteousness.
The lesson I draw from this is that the gateway to eternal life is through death. That does not just mean physical death. It is the death of the old person which entails the complete renunciation of the earthly man with his worldly desires and fears. There is no entry to the new life of heaven without the giving up of everything associated with the old life of this world. That doesn't require us to abandon genuine love for what is true in this world but we must see that in the light of heavenly reality. If we do not see it in that way but in its own light then we are still attached to the world, and nothing that has anything worldly in it can get into heaven. The way is guarded by a holy flame through which none can pass whose being is not purified of all worldly stain.
Good Friday represents final purification. It is the stripping away of all the residual "dark matter" that contaminates the soul and prevents it from receiving and reflecting the light of God. It is a bitter day of sorrow and grief but leads to the brightest of heavenly dawns.
No comments:
Post a Comment