Reverse

Paul writes as a tired, old man:

All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death (Philippians 3).

In other words, there is no possible way of living like Jesus Christ unless the power of his resurrection resides within us.

In other words, we cannot offer ourselves to the Father and for others – as Jesus did most especially in his saving death – without resurrection grace.

We must take note of what is going on here:

Historically – in time – the death of Jesus comes before his resurrection, but in the moral life it is the reverse.

The resurrection must enter us, enabling us to die to sin and rise to goodness. Baptism is essential to this dynamic.

The woman taken in adultery is surely a demonstration of this.

How is it that she dies to adulterous acts and lives in Christ?

Can we see in this evocative scene a foretaste of the foundational moral principle I have been expounding?

If we want to leave sin behind – whether it is venial (light) or mortal (grave) – we must have the resurrection of Jesus within us.

Amen.