What do you think Jesus was thinking about as he triumphantly entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday? Clearly he was taking in the great crowds who with palm branches and hosannas were welcoming their king. Very likely he was anticipating and dreading the cross he would have to bear within a matter of days. But I imagine he was also looking across all the people of Jerusalem with a certain thoughtful love. He knew that his death meant their death with him, and his resurrection meant their resurrection life alongside him. And I think he couldn’t wait to see them experience that life.
In the grand scheme of things, we are waiting until the very end to be fully resurrected with Christ. And yet we get to have a preview of that resurrection as we live here and now. When Paul talks about our present-day resurrection life, he means that we have been transferred from one realm—one kingdom with one master—to another. At one time, sin mastered us and commanded our every move. But no longer! United to Christ Jesus, our shackles have broken, our hearts and wills have been redeemed, and we are free to serve our new master, the one true God!
In one sense, the deed is done. Our resurrection was secured when Christ resurrected 2000 years ago. But our experience of that new life happens when we first believe. Faith itself is not the powerful action that raises new life, but rather it is the content of our faith, the finished work of Christ Jesus, that makes it happen. Faith, then, is simply a radical re-understanding of who we are in Christ and in what realm we dwell—so radical, in fact, that the transformation it brings about in our lives could even be seen as the old self dead and the new self raised to life. I don’t know about you, but that raises a convicting question for me. Is my faith that radical?
Such is the long haul of the Christian life. We strive to have a faith radical enough to change us, and sometimes wonder why our old master still seems to have a hold on us. But it starts with recognizing who you are and whose you are. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God—because you in fact already are. Realize that you are free from the mastery of sin! We are alive to the power of the Almighty God and don’t have to obey sin’s commands anymore! We have no control over our own death to sin; Christ took care of that. But we do have control over the way we take our death and resurrection seriously and let it have its effect. So recognize yourselves to be alive to God!
