TOKYO (UCAN) - "Happy Easter" seems an inadequate greeting. Insipid, even. Is mere happiness a sufficient response to the mystery of the Resurrection? Is a wish used for birthdays, public holidays and even haircuts overwhelming enough, unique enough, joyous enough to be given to our fellow Christians?
Japanese Christians have a better greeting. They say gofukkatsu omedetou gozaimasu. Now, I don't advocate that we start greeting each other with a mouthful like that. However, I think a bit of thought given to the meaning and significance of the greeting may help our celebration of this glorious day.
The Japanese phrase translates as "Resurrection, congratulations!"
When do we congratulate others? Obviously, when something wonderful has happened in their lives. They have succeeded in a difficult task, they have wedded, they have given birth to a child, they have been recognized for their talents.
By saying "congratulations," I say I share the joy of the other, I am thrilled that good has come to him or her. It's an unselfish greeting. Good losers say it. "Congratulations" refers to the other person and the event's meaning for him or her, not so much to the event itself.
What is it for which Japanese Christians congratulate one another? "Resurrection." At first glance, that seems a bit peculiar. Why should we congratulate each other for what happened to Jesus? Isn't it he who deserves the congratulations? He is the one whose rising from the grave we celebrate. What have you or I to do with that?
A lot, as it turns out. On Easter we do not celebrate the Resurrection of Christ as an event once upon a time in a land far away. It is our feast as well as Christ's. You should be congratulated on Easter and should congratulate your fellow Christians as well because in Christ's Resurrection, we, too, are raised to new life.
That is the reason that during the Easter Mass we renew our Baptismal commitment. As St. Paul reminds us, in Baptism we enter the grave with Jesus in order to be raised with him to new life. So, on the day we celebrate Jesus' rising from the grave to new life, we commemorate and reconfirm our own union with him.
Traditionally in much of Asia, people add a year to their lives not on the anniversary of their birth, but on new year's day. Easter is, in a real sense, the same for us Christians. It is the day on which new life began for all of us when Jesus rose from the dead. Easter is our birthday in eternal life.
When does eternal life begin? When we die? Yes, but not at the death we usually think of, our physical death. Eternal life began for you, for me, when we died with Christ in Baptism and entered into union with the risen Lord. So, the day we renew our Baptismal promises is in a real sense a celebration of our birthday. That's good reason to congratulate one another. Easter is the day of our birth into new life. Resurrection, congratulations!
Christ is risen, and we are risen through him, with him and in him. So what? Is my life really all that different from that of others because I'm baptized? Am I more moral than others? Nicer than others? Better than others because of it? Not particularly.
So, what's the point?
My biological life does not, to a large extent, depend upon my conscious choice. I do not control the way my organs respond to the environment. My life in Christ, however, requires some response on my part, an activation, as it were.
On Easter, we recommit ourselves to a certain kind of response. We renounce a life apart from God and declare our desire to live as sons and daughters of the Father of Jesus Christ. We make a choice, a choice to live eternal life here and now. That, too is cause for rejoicing. Resurrection, congratulations!
What will this commitment mean to me and the world? As I deepen my faith, it should mean freedom from the fear that prevents my accepting and sharing the love of God. If I am already living eternal life, why need I fear anything that can happen to me in this world?
I am united with the risen Lord. So, I can be a servant to God and my neighbor. I can be the sign of the new creation begun in the Resurrection of Jesus. What better life for any creature than to share the life and vocation of God incarnate in Jesus? Resurrection, congratulations!
Easter is the anniversary celebration of your new birth in Christ through Baptism. It is the day on which eternal life became available to you through his Resurrection. It is the day you renew your commitment to living that new life for God and the world.
Resurrection, congratulations!
Maryknoll Father William Grimm is the publisher of UCA News and former editor-in-chief of "Katorikku Shimbun," Japan's Catholic weekly