Resurrection: Promise and Fulfillment

The annual celebration of the glorious feast of Easter appears as a gift to many of us. Our hearts long for a springtime renewal of hope which can withstand the wintery blasts of cynicism and despondency. World events and the daily grind have a way of wearing us down and depleting our energy. This year the dark forces that stalk our earth seem especially formidable: the uncertainty about tariff policy; the volatile stock market; the war in Ukraine; the horrible humanitarian crisis in Gaza; extreme weather conditions; and the threats to democracy. We also have to contend with our personal demons, including habitual sins, constricting limitations and failed ideals. Given such momentous problems, it is no wonder that many people are experiencing various degrees of confusion and helpless ness. At the extreme are those feeling hopeless, no longer capable of imagining alternatives and summoning energy for the daily struggle.

For Christians, Easter is the matchless remedy for all forms of hopelessness. It is the short answer to those who ask about the reason for our hope (1 Peter 3:15). The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for the deep trust that enlivens our faith and love. The resurrection vindicates the claim that Christ is the fulfillment of the messianic promise. It also functions as a warrant or guarantee for our hope that God will one day completely satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts.

We could examine the resurrection from the viewpoint of God’s providence operative in salvation history. The Bible records a series of epiphanies or special manifestations of divine power, especially the Exodus events in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospel miracles which culminate in the raising of Jesus to life, the supreme expression of God’s powerful presence and love. Reading the Bible from the perspective of God’s promises, rather than God’s presence in salvation history, generates an alternative approach to the significance of the resurrection as a basis for hope. The Hebrew Scriptures reflect an ongoing interplay between the divine promise and the expectations they generated. Yahweh made very concrete promises to Abraham, especially that he and Sarah would have a son in their old age and that their descendants would be remarkably numerous. Their son Isaac was living proof that the Lord is faithful to his promises. The Exodus, which freed the Israelites from the cruel fate of slavery in Egypt, became the enduring sign of Yahweh’s unwavering fidelity. God had promised to free his people and did so in spectacular fashion against overwhelming odds. Reflecting on the Lord’s fidelity, the wise king Solomon declared: Not a single word has gone unfulfilled of the entire generous promises he made through his servant Moses (1 Kings 8:56). Through the prophets, the Lord also promised that the Davidic line of kings would endure forever, thereby setting up various forms of messianic hope among the Israelites. Their hope was based on God’s words of promise: for example, Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you (Is 49:15), and The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah (Jer 33:14).

Without denying the inner integrity of the Hebrew Scriptures, Christians see these promises fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospel of Matthew portrays Jesus as the fulfillment of ancient hopes: he is the new Israel taken once again out of Egypt; the long-awaited heir to the throne of David; one greater than Moses who ascends the mountain to deliver the new law; the courageous Suffering Servant of Isaiah who endures hardship for the sake of others. Jesus understood himself as God’s representative called to fulfill the divine promises by reconstituting Israel and establishing the reign of justice and peace. He committed himself totally to the cause of God for the benefit of the human family. Faced with the disintegration of his mission and the agonizing prospect of imminent death, Jesus prayed for relief and then quickly added, ”not my will but thine be done” (Lk 22: 42). His fundamental trust in the absolute fidelity of God enabled him to take up the cross and to die while commending his spirit to his heavenly Father.

The resurrection is the validation of this trusting surrender to God. It is the fulfillment of the promises made to the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets. By raising the man Jesus to life, God proves faithful to the covenant made with the human family. Our God is totally trustworthy and will never forget us. The resurrection vindicates the claims of Jesus to be the absolute savior, the bringer of the kingdom, the architect of the new creation. In and through him, God fulfills the ancient promises in ways beyond all expectation.

The resurrection not only seals the promises woven through the Scriptures, it also opens up new vistas of hope. It allows us to believe what we desperately hope is true: that our most significant desires will one day be completely satisfied. We can make our earthly journey confident that none of our good efforts are finally foolish or wasted. Resurrection faith enables us to maintain perspective on all the dark forces that assault us, trusting that history has an inner meaning and is not a “tale told by an idiot.” We can enjoy our wondrous created world with the calm assurance that God is preparing a new transformed heaven and earth.

The apostle Paul tells us that we who belong to Christ are “heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29). Through his resurrection, Christ has guaranteed the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, who is “the promise of my Father” (Lk 24:49). Anointed by the Spirit, the early Christians eagerly awaited the return of Christ, coming on the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead. After two millennia, most Christians no longer expect an imminent return of the Lord. Nevertheless, hope grounded in the resurrection can take many other effective forms in our contemporary context. The Spirit of the risen Christ clears an empty space for us so that we can imagine a better future for ourselves and our world. Our dreams, interpreted in the light of the Gospel, reveal to us the unfinished character of our lives, the distortions and contradictions which block our progress, and the possibilities for personal development and social improvement. Christian hope helps us overcome our fears so we can work energetically and intelligently for limited but important goals. In the face of evil, both monstrous and mundane, hope rooted in the fidelity of God enables us to maintain a fundamental trust in the power of love and the goodness of the created world. Hope patterned on the example of Jesus fosters healthy approaches to time: living wholeheartedly in the present moment without being totally absorbed by earthly pleasures or swayed by passing fads; appropriating the past without rationalization or neurotic guilt; and constructing the future without utopian dreams or paralyzing fears. Hope guided by the Spirit avoids despair which spirals downward into a psychic black hole and presumption which expects simple answers and easy progress without the proper effort to cooperate with God’s grace. In short, we are hopeful people because the faithful God raised Jesus to life.

Reading the Scriptures from the viewpoint of promise and fulfillment also suggests a distinctive image of God. The provident God of salvation history is often pictured above the historical process directing it to a victorious conclusion or perhaps within special persons who interpret the revelatory events. The God of promise, on the other hand, appears ahead of us beckoning us into the future. As we make our journey through life, God is in front of us, clearing a path for personal growth and social improvement. In another image shared by a dying friend, God is towing us down a winding river with surprising new possibilities around every bend. While salvation history emphasizes God’s providence and power, the biblical God of promise is especially characterized by unwavering fidelity. We can count on the God who kept his promise to send the Messiah to also keep the promise of final victory written into the deeper meaning of the resurrection of Jesus. According to Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit paleontologist and religious visionary, God is drawing the whole evolutionary process toward an ultimate convergence point of intimate union with the universal Christ. The faithful One will see to it that the kingdom already present on the earth will ultimately achieve its full realization in heaven. The whole cosmos, pregnant with possibilities, groans until it shares in the final victory prepared by God for the human family (Rom. 8:19-23).

Admittedly, the God of the future often seems to be absent as we make our earthly pilgrimage. There are times when the demonic forces appear to be in control, dominating our consciousness, distorting our thinking and hardening our hearts. And yet the deeper truth is that we are always supported by the promise of the Father. The God who remembered the plight of the Israelites in Egypt will not forget us in the struggle for liberation from the enslaving powers which threaten us today. The Father who raised his Son to life sends the Paraclete to guide and strengthen us as we make our daily journey. This is good news for all who feel imprisoned, alone, and confused and are tempted to despondency, cynicism, and paralysis. For all of us, the joyful celebration of Easter assures us that one day God will ultimately fulfill all the divine promises by drawing the entire human family and the whole creation into an everlasting communion of love with Jesus Christ the risen Lord.