The second reading today makes clear the implications of the resurrection. The risen Christ proclaims: "I was dead, but see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and Hades." (Rev 1: 18) The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was not a resuscitation or restoration of life, as in the case of Lazarus. Jesus reveals his divinity, foreshadowed in the Transfiguration, as a permanent and eternal state of being. He takes up his life and no one can take it from him again. It is relevant not only to him but to the whole of Creation. His resurrection is a cosmic event because up to this point in time the only possible outcome for any living being was physical death and annihilation. Jesus resurrection makes him Lord of the Universe. It is now his life that rules. He holds the key to immortality. All human beings will come before him to give an account for the life they have led: "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may recompense for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Cor 5: 10) This "us" includes Pontius Pilate, Pol Pot. Genghis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Mao Tse Tung and millions of others who have offended greatly against God's love. We cannot, however, be complacent that we will inherit the promise of resurrection ourselves as if it is a right or simply by being baptized. At Vatican II the Council Fathers warned: "All the sons of the Church should remember that their exalted status is to be attributed not to their own merits but to the special grace of Christ. If they fail moreover to respond to that grace in thought, word and deed, not only will they not be saved but they will be the more severely judged." (Lumen gentium, 14) As the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb 10: 31)
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