Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! By rising from the dead, Jesus Christ was declared with power to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4). But on this Easter morning, there is another resurrection I want to celebrate as well; my own. My resurrection, and yours too, of course, is what makes the difference between an interesting historical event and world-changing good news. We don’t just celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead, but that he didn’t do it alone. Jesus’ resurrection was merely the first fruits (1 Corinthians 15:23). Because Christ rose from the dead, it is certain that we who are in him will rise as well. It’s my resurrection (which, of course, only occurred because Jesus rose) that changes everything.
Paul writes, “If we died with him, we will also live with him.” (2 Timothy 2:11) Wait a minute. Died? Yes, died. Before there can be a resurrection, there has to be a death.
“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:3-7)
God’s word proclaims that all who have been joined with Christ will rise with him, but interestingly, the main point of this passage is that we have been delivered from slavery. Because we have died with Christ we are no longer slaves.
Death is the outcome of sin, but it’s also the only way out. We – those who believe – have been baptized into Jesus’ death. We have been, in other words “united with him” in death (Romans 6:5). We have died in the kingdom of sin and death, and been raised in the kingdom of life.
Being joined to Christ doesn’t make it harder to sin; rather, being joined to Christ makes it possible to not sin. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). The gospel is not that I can pray a prayer and then go to heaven when I die, it’s that, through Christ, I can live right now in freedom as a son of God. I can, right now, every day, become more of the person God intended me to be. And that’s why I’m celebrating. That’s why the resurrection – both Jesus’ and mine – is not just good news, it’s the best news there’s ever been.