Dying to the values of this world
March 2006
`In the body Christ was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.'
The execution of Jesus of Nazareth on a cross was not just expediency on the part of the Jewish authorities and the Romans. It was not just the elimination of a man who opposed the injustice and corruption of his day. The death of Jesus of Nazareth was also symbolic. It was the outward and visible sign of what had already happened within Jesus.
Jesus' whole life was a life of dying to the values of this world. It was a life of distancing himself from what this world regards as important -- selfishness, greed, personal ambition, self-fulfilment, personal gain, self-promotion, pride etc..
The whole life of Jesus of Nazareth was a continuous act of dying to, or abandoning of these things and of putting on the armour of God - the breastplate of love and compassion, the belt of truth, the helmet of tolerance and forgiveness, the sandals of eagerness to spread the gospel of peace.
The very act of abandoning selfishness, of dying to self-interest, brought life of a new order - a life of total freedom to love, to forgive, to tolerate, to sympathise, to give, to share.
So we can say that the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth made concrete what had already happened to him internally or spiritually. So even before he died on Calvary and rose to new life three days later, Jesus of Nazareth had, within himself, already died to the selfish values of this world and was already living the new life of the resurrection.
So how does this connect up with Lent?
We too (like Jesus of Nazareth) can live as people of the resurrection.
I have yet to die and rise from the death in a concrete way, but, like Jesus of Nazareth, I can live now, today, as someone who has died to (abandoned) the selfish values of this world and live as a child of the resurrection.
Why not give it a try during Lent? You might get hooked on the freedom it brings you.