Birth and death are often considered opposites. They “bookend” our lives. We are born … we live … we die.
Birth opens all sorts of possibilities. Parents, family, and friends rejoice in the birth of a child. They wonder, what will this child become? What will he or she do in life? Will they live long, happy, and successful lives? Will they follow in the footsteps of their parents? Which of the many possible careers will they follow? Will they contribute and make a difference to society and our world? Will they marry and have children and grandchildren? Will their lives be relatively untouched by sickness and sorrow? Will they be blessed with health and happiness?
Death seems to end possibilities. It ends our life on earth. It severs our link with family, friends, and colleagues who are left behind to grieve. Death ends the relationships that have sustained us. It ends our careers. It often leaves unfinished business - plans not carried out, hopes unfulfilled, regrets unaddressed, broken relations not healed. It is a rupture, a break, a closure, a termination, an end. But in Christ, death is not the end. As the First Preface for the Dead states: “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.”
Jesus Christ was born, lived, died - and was raised to life! His life, death, and resurrection have transformed our lives and deaths. Death is no longer simply the end of our lives on Earth, but our continuing journey into eternal life.
Death has become birth. Death is no longer the severing of relationships but of relating in new ways. Death is no longer the end of hope. Even unfinished business and broken relationships can be touched and healed by resurrected life.
The resurrection of Jesus - born like one of us, died like the least of us as a criminal rejected by the religious and civic leaders of his time, abandoned by nearly all his followers, and buried in a stranger’s grave - has transformed the lives of all peoples, of all religions and world-views, of all times, indeed, of all creatures and the very cosmos itself. He is the fullness of life and grace that God intended for all from the very beginning, the source, the model, the example, the pattern, who has gone before us, and is the Way to follow.
Jesus’ resurrected life reaches into our lives, our minds, our hearts, our spirits, our histories, our ancestries, and indeed, into all creation, and there, through his life-giving Spirit, works the slow process of growth and transformation, healing and redeeming, reconciling and uniting, birthing us to become children of God, brothers and sisters to one another, stewards of our common home, supporting and caring for one another on our common pilgrim journey towards the fulness of Truth, and Goodness, and Life.
Rev Dr Patrick McInerney
Regional Director of Oceania
directoroceania@columban.org.au
Related links
- Read more from The Far East - March/April 2025
