From Jesus the Servant to Jesus the Lord

History has not ended; instead, everything begins now. Death no longer has the last word over the Poor One; on the contrary, it was he who, giving himself up to death, bent it to submission and took away its most fearful sting.

There is no other affirmation so categorically repeated in the New Testament, whether in the Gospels or in other apostolic writings, as this one: Christ rose from the dead.

In other words: the resurrection of Jesus is not a dogma that was born in the womb of the Church, but that the Church herself was born around this faith in the Resurrected. Without this certitude, similar historical caravans following the steps of Jesus would never have made a move.

They were absolutely certain that they had met with the resurrected Jesus; and this was something unquestionable, an immediate certainty, that needed no justifications or explanations; they had established a personal relation with him, on the deep levels of faith, adhesion, and commitment, and through this relationship, they received an enthusiasm, a vitality, a fire that made them see clearly that Jesus had triumphed forever over hate, injustice and death.

Jesus, resurrected and alive, is the ultimate reason for the community of disciples, for the Church and its universal trans-historical expansion.

Extracted from the book “The poor One of Nazareth” by Father Ignacio Larrañaga