Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ expresses the belief that “Love is strong as death” (Song 8:6). Resurrection is the greater strength of love in the face of death.
When someone values love more highly than life, that is, when someone is ready to put life second to love, for the sake of love, then love is stronger and more than death. If love is to be more than death, it must first be more than mere life. . . then the power of love has transcended the power of the merely biological and taken it into its service. . . .If the power of love for another is so strong that it could keep alive not just one’s memory, the shadow of one’s “I” but that person himself, then a new stage in life has been reached. This is the meaning of the empty tomb, the startling revelation that love has conquered death: Jesus is risen. For love is the foundation of immortality, and immortality proceeds from love alone. The power of God’s love that raised Jesus from the dead is the inner core of my life as well. I am called to die into this love, to let go of all that stifles or oppresses this love; this is the beginning of resurrected life.
But how can I live for another if I am afraid to die to myself?
If I am afraid to die, is it because I am afraid to live?
Only the power of God’s love is stronger than death; in this love I am free.
I must place everything that hinders this love, the lure of science, corporate America, male politics, political power and place these where they rightly belong, below the power of the Spirit.
For now is the moment of resurrection: now is the beginning of a new earth.
I must now live by the power of love alone and I must act as if I am free.