In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God.
Hades is perplexed, for he has swallowed a man and encountered God, he took what was human and discovered divinity, he took the creature made of dust and encountered the Creator. And his power is annihilated, his dominion abolished and his snare against humanity is destroyed.
And yes, I will still die—unless the Lord returns first I will enter the tomb as did our forefathers; the Lord does not stop our dying. Christ has not died instead of me, in place of me, Christ died to show me the path through death to Life. And if I hear the Word of the Lord, if I do the Father’s will, if I encounter Christ on that mountain which He has appointed and I join the Disciples, “And when they saw him they worshiped Him,” yes indeed, for worship is the appropriate action before our Lord and Saviour: “but some doubted.”
And I am drawn back, “some doubted.” Yet it is not wrong to doubt. I still need to make this my own, to have my assurance—the Church is not scandalised by doubt but encourages her faithful to work through their doubts, to question for themselves, to come to their own conclusion. And having examined the evidence, if I want to be faithful to the Lord and the Resurrection He has a task for me, work for me to do.
And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days, to the close of the age. Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Hades’ power is lost, Death is no longer to be feared. And you have all received the potential to examine this for yourselves, to work through your doubts. And if we want to be faithful to this we are given tasks, to go, make disciples, baptise and teach. And if we do this, if we remain faithful to the instruction of our God, then He will be with us all the days, even to the end of this age.
May this be, by the power of our Lord, God and Saviour Who has defeated Death and brings us to new Life, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, all who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
— Romans 6:3–11
After the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Lo, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. Amen.
— Matthew 28:1–20