When the Lord Jesus met with Martha, the sister of Lazarus, she said to him: If you had been here my brother would have not died. Jesus said to her: your brother will rise; I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  In addition, whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Here, in talking about the resurrection, Christ does not mean the resurrection of the dead on judgment day. Rather He was talking about the present resurrection, the state of resurrection that is lived by those who believe in Him and enter into a living fellowship with Him. Eternal life is Christ Himself and he who attach himself to Him lives but he who separates himself from Him dies. Therefore, the church always prays, “You are the Life of us all, the Salvation of us all, and the resurrection of us all…” (The litany of the Gospel).

The most important thing that Christianity offers us is, not only the great teachings or the promises of heavenly rewards, but fundamentally, it offers us the gift of Christ Himself; through whom we have become members in His Body and He is the head, who gave His life up for our sake to live through Him.

My brethren, we are not merely the People of the Book, as some describe us, but we are the people of a living person through whom we live and move (Acts 17). Through Him we have resurrection, “ Nor is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12), and “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthian 5:15). For “if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and rose[a] and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”  (Romans 14: 8-9).

Resurrection is an event that is not from this fading world, it is a new life that entered into t world, it started when the Son of Man was incarnated and united with the human flesh. He then died in that flesh and abolished the power of death that reigned over us through His own death, giving us an eternal life through His resurrection and triumph.

The victorious Christ is our basic and fundamental need in life, He is our food, our drink, our clothing, our breathing air, and through Him our life is nourished. His love reigns over the whole life.

+  He is our clothing in baptism, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Gal 3:27).

+ He is our food and drink in the Eucharist,  

 “He who feeds on Me will live because of Me.” (John 6:57), “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54).

+ He is the nourishment of our minds in reading the scriptures, “Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16), “Feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.” (Ezekiel 3:3).

+ He is our breathing air in calling out His sweet and redeeming name by day and by night: “Remembering Your holy name, brings joy to our souls, O my Lord Jesus Christ, my good Savior… With every breath that I take, I will praise Your holy name, O my Lord Jesus Christ, my good Savior.” (Saturday Psali from Midnight Praise)

This is the new eternal life that we live now!

Resurrection has become within our reach, because the resurrected Christ is within our reach!