God has transformed death into our birth into eternity

The day this paper goes out is Good Friday, but I am not sure when you will see your copy.  I hope you get it on Good Friday.  It is an amazing thing that we celebrate.
There was a brutal murder that was preceded by a bogus trial at which an innocent man was sentenced to death.  The man was abandoned or betrayed by His closest friends.  These friends were not just His friends; they were men that He mentored and was planning to entrust the work of salvation to them.  This man died forsaken.  
For much of the world that is the end of the story, but we Christians know the full story.
This man who died was not just a man.  He was certainly a man, but He was and is God Himself.  He became man precisely so that He could pay for our sins.  No mere man could ever make atonement sufficient enough to reconcile us with the Father.  None of us had anything worthy of God.  Only God could make atonement for our sin.
However, humanity owed the debt.  Justice demanded that a man pay the price.  Only in the person of Jesus Christ could atonement be made.  Justice was fulfilled since it was a man, a man who in fact had a human nature.  The offering was sufficient because the man who died on the cross was also fully God.  When Jesus died on the cross a human paid the price and the price paid was efficacious because it was offered by a divine person.
St. Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23." Death entered the human condition through sin.  The Savior took on all of our sins and paid the price.  Then, the Father raised Him up, thus conquering death.  St. Paul tells us in 1 Cor 15, “The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.”
But, wait …we still die?  Yes, but death is no longer eternal.  Death is no longer the end of the story; the Resurrection is the final word.  God has transformed death into our birth into eternity.  He has taken something from the enemy and made it something for our eternal benefit.  
This is what we celebrate on Easter!  This is why we rejoice that the tomb is empty.  Happy Easter!
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected] 
For more information concerning the events of this office, visit us at mobilefaithformation.org