“You killed Him, but the Lord raised Him.” This is what His disciples were preaching from the streets of Jerusalem a few days after his execution. For them, the resurrection was God’s answer to the unjust and criminal action of those who wanted to shut His voice for good and stop once and for all His plans for a more just world.
We should never forget this: at the heart of our faith, there is a crucified Jesus whom God has brought back to us. At the very centre of our Church, there is a victim to whom God has done justice. Any crucified life, that is moved and inspired by Jesus’ spirit, will never end in defeat but in some kind of resurrection.
Such thought will completely change the aim of our efforts, difficulties, trails and sufferings towards building a better world and a more humane life for everyone. If we live trying to help those who suffer, being close to the less fortunate, and speaking for the voiceless, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus, and we cannot fail. Our lives will be heading for God’s Mystery, and our lives will rise, too.
The little rejections that we may suffer, the injustices, misunderstandings and insults that we will endure, are only little wounds that one day will heal and become scars for good. We must learn to look at the scars of the Crucified one. That is what today’s wounds will become one day: scars that will be healed by God forever.
This kind of faith will give us strength inside and make us stronger to continue facing all kinds of risks. Little by little, we have to learn to endure more, and go on living in spite of the evil that is prevalent in the world or the weaknesses within the church. We have to stop seeing ourselves as victims of the environment. Why can’t we live as Jesus did: “Nobody can take my life; but I will give my life”.
Following the “crucified” Jesus until we share with him the resurrection is, after all, learning to give one’s life, one’s time, one’s strength, and even our health, out of love. There will be injuries, exhaustion and fatigue. Still, there will be our ultimate hope: one day, God will wipe the tears from our eyes, and there will be no death and no crying, because this whole world will pass away.