Have you ever read a book with so dark and disturbing a beginning that you nearly quit reading before getting to the end? Some stories are so miserable that they seem not finishing.
This is how the first disciples read the story of Jesus up to the point of his death. They quit reading. They quit the mission. Some quit believing. They "had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel" (Luke 24:21). Those hopes no longer made sense. To appreciate Christ's humiliation it helps to interpret Jesus' story from the angle of his closest friends. By bearing our sins he allowed his life to become completely ruined.
Jesus' resurrection is the turning point in this dark story. After Christ accomplished salvation for his people, God restored to him the glory which he had willingly laid aside when he took on flesh. This restoration began with Christ's resurrection from the dead. Sometimes our lives are like those stories we no longer want to keep reading. Christ's resurrection is our story-changer.
It might surprise us that the Catechism only asks about the benefits of the resurrection, and not about the event of the resurrection. Unlike his descent into hell or his ascension into heaven Christ's resurrection wasn't controversial in the sixteenth century. But we should back up and reflect on Christ's resurrection as a real historical event.
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