EASTER: THE NEW FUTURE OF HUMANITY
He is risen! This is the message of faith that the Church proclaims to the whole world on this Easter Day. The same message has echoed across our earth for more than 2,000 years. The Church proclaims it again as though it were a message never heard before—one that, even today, fills believers with joy and enthusiasm. He is risen!
In living memory, since the beginnings of humanity, no message of this kind has ever inspired so many men and women, for so long. Hundreds of thousands have willingly accepted death while proclaiming and defending this message of faith. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a historical event of universal and timeless significance.
From the Jewish Passover to Christian Easter
The resurrection of Jesus took place within the context of the Jewish celebration of Passover (“Pesach”). This feast commemorated the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt. In that context, Passover originally meant “Passage”: the passage through the Red Sea, from slavery to freedom, from a foreign land to the Promised Land.
It was during the commemoration of this historic event that Jesus was arrested, falsely tried, and beaten to death until He died.
Prophetic Announcements of Jesus’ Passion: The Finger of God in History
The coming, passion, and resurrection of Jesus were not events that occurred by mere coincidence. All of this had been announced long before it came to pass. The ancient prophetic texts are filled with words that converge and find their fulfillment in the life and events of Jesus. The Scriptures themselves are proof and a powerful demonstration that the historical reality of Jesus belongs to God’s loving plan for humanity.
The Holy Scriptures—both Old and New Testaments—constitute a unique proclamation and testimony to the presence of a Spirit, an invisible Hand, guiding history toward its fulfillment in the person of Jesus, and onward until the end of time.
What is most remarkable is the dating of the various books of Scripture. Written over a span of 1,000 to 1,500 years, between the second and first millennia before Christ, at different times and by people of every age and condition, the sacred books all converge toward the same summit and point of fulfillment: the person of Jesus. At the very least, we can say that those who wrote the Bible did not know they were writing it as such. They themselves were instruments serving a single plan, guided by the same Spirit toward one unique goal that was revealed in due time. We are its witnesses and beneficiaries—we who believe in God.
The Deep Meaning of Easter
In the light of the Event of Jesus, Christian Easter takes on a meaning far deeper and stronger than a simple ritual of liberation from slavery. Indeed, the universality of Jesus’ mission and its timeless character raise the meaning of Easter to a greatness and height that surpass what the universe itself can contain. The Easter of Jesus belongs to the eternity of God.
Thus, Easter is synonymous with passage from death to life, from time to eternity, from temporal earthly life to eternal life. Easter is the new future of believers. He is risen!
In living memory, we have never heard of a man who died and returned to life, was recognized as such, and in whose name signs and wonders have been accomplished for more than two thousand years—attested and sealed by the blood of martyrs and saints of every age, language, people, and nation. This alone should lead us to reflect.
That men and women from every people, every age, and every condition would accept—despite the innate instinct for self-preservation and love of their own lives—to be killed in terrible ways in defense of their faith deserves the respect of every reasonable person. One must ask where such courage and self-denial came from. The blood of the martyrs is a constant question, a true challenge to human reason.
Easter: The New Future of Humanity
To exclaim that Easter is the new future of humanity is no exaggeration. The desire to live—and to live as long as possible—is inscribed in the heart of every living being. The instinct for self-preservation at work within us, pushing us to defend ourselves against any threat to our lives, illustrates this clearly. And yet death eventually reaches and carries us away.
And now, what every person longs for and seeks in various ways throughout earthly life is offered freely and without price: the resurrection of the dead and life without end—eternal life in God. This is the message of the Resurrection; this is the message to which the hearts of men and women aspire. It now depends on each one of us to welcome it, to embrace it, and to live by it.
At this point, the responsibility of Christians comes into play. Having received the grace of faith before others, we cannot keep to ourselves this message of the resurrection of the dead offered to all humanity. The proclamation of the Resurrection is a fire—the fire of the Easter Vigil, the fire of hope and joy—which it is impossible to contain. It must be stirred up and allowed to shine through us in order to set the whole world ablaze.
Easter—new and endless life—flows abundantly within us!
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