THE END OF DEATH!
MYSTERIOUS OR PASCHAL
APPROACH TO
DEATH
Even in the New Testament, we can
find “sapiential” words referring to death, like in the Old Testament. These
may have been thoughts derived from Ecclesiastes or Sirach.
But this is not the novelty!
When Jesus died on the cross for
us, when “one died for all” then all things changed radically and death itself
became a new thing.
Jesus had spoken of his death as
a Passover “exodus” (Lk 9,31) and John oriented his whole gospel in a way that
clearly shows that Jesus’ death on the cross is the new passover (In Latin, pascha). The evangelist changed the
meaning of the word passover (pascha) to mean the death of Jesus: Passover is
the “passage of Jesus from this world to the Father” (Jn 13, 1).
Passover and death of Jesus are
two words intimately united in the minds of the first Christians.
Jesus’ Passover derived from his
suffering (passio) and is called such
because of the event of Christ’s death on the cross.
It is not only the name of death
that changed but also its nature.
The philosopher insists that man
is born to die, the exact antithesis or opposite of the Christian vision.
It is said of Christ that he was
born to be able to die (St. Gregory of Nyssa), which meant that Christ, being God,
took on mortal flesh to be able to struggle and triumph against death.
Death is attached to Christ; it
has devoured him, as it has done to all other men. But it could not “digest”
him because in him was God and thus, he could not remain killed.
“With the Spirit who could not
die, Christ has killed death which kills men.” (Meliton of Sardis)
“Death has killed him in the
flesh that he has assumed. But with the same weapon, he triumphed over death.
Divinity was born under humanity and became close to death which killed it and
was in turn killed. Death killed natural life, but it was killed by supernatural
life. Since death could not swallow the Word without the body, and hell could
not welcome it without the flesh, he was born of the Virgin, to be able to
descend, through the body, to hell.” (St. Ephrem the Syrian)
Western and Eastern liturgy
synthesized this dramatic vision in an often-repeated Easter verse: Dying he
destroyed death!
Human death is not anymore the same
as before. A decisive event intervened. In faith, the incredible newness is
welcomed, that only the coming of God on earth could cause.
1 Cor 15,55: Death is swallowed
up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
Truly, Christ has swallowed death
up in victory to destroy it.
God has eliminated death forever;
and this is most precisely and dramatically applied to the death of Christ.
The final wall has been pulled
down. There are 3 walls of separation between us and God:
-
That of nature
-
That of sin
-
That of death
By becoming man, Christ has
pulled down the wall of nature by joining divine and human natures in his
single person.
Through the cross, the wall of
sin was destroyed.
And in his Resurrection, Christ demolished
the wall of death.
thanks to Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, Sorella Morte
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