Resurrection Here and Now
“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!”
2 Corinthians 5:17
The Cambridge professor, priest, poet and songwriter Malcolm Guite has a wonderful song called “Golden-Top Guitar.” It’s a folksy song about the transformative power of music to turn “lead into gold.” The song stresses the importance of living in the moment as opposed to looking back to a golden age. One line beautifully summarizes the importance of finding contentment and joy in the present moment. Guite sings, “Well he’s not so young but he’s not old, he don’t look back to the age of the gold, he said, ‘find what you’re looking for right here where you are, with your rock-bottom heart and my golden-top guitar.’”
Of course, in the Christian faith, we are called to “look back.” That said, there’s an equal focus on living in the here and now, to find what we are “looking for right here” where we are. As we continue our journey through Easter in which we celebrate the resurrection, I encourage us to view the resurrection not simply as a historical fact that happened long ago, but as a present reality. The resurrection is not something that we simply remember, but a truth that defines us. We might even think of it as a mark of the Christian life.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) If we are “in Christ,” we are already part of God’s “new creation.”
Likewise, in Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of the Christian as having been “raised up with” Christ (past tense). At first glance, this might be hard to understand. I mean, how is it that we, who are still alive and going about our daily business, can say that we have been already “raised up” with Christ? Isn’t the resurrection simply a future reality that awaits us?
But something mysterious happens at our conversion. The core of our being is brought up to heaven. St. Paul puts it this way, “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-6
As you begin your day today, remember that you are a “new creation” and have been “raised up with Christ.” Because of this, the Spirit of the new creation indwells you. This means that you have resources to draw upon as you face the challenges of this day. So, whatever happens this day, remember who you are — a new creation!
