The Resurrection and Time

The significance and power of the Resurrection is missed when it is reduced to a mere doctrine that we "believe in." The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus established a cosmic change in the nature of time. Time is different in the New Creation—whether you believe in it or not.

The Covenant God made with Israel through the Torah was rooted in a specific understanding and experience of time. The week consisted of six days of work followed by a day of rest (Gen. 2:1-3, Ex. 23:12). Human labor in the Old Covenant was characterized by futility. This futility reflects the cursing of the ground after the first sin--"thorns and thistles it will bring forth for you" (Gen. 3:17-18—see also Ecclesiastes). This futility was illustrated through Israel's relationship with the Torah. St. Paul explains that the “works of the law” do not fulfill the covenant and cannot obtain the blessing (cf. Rom. 2:17f., 3:20-24). In terms of time, the labor of the Old Covenant week cannot attain to the Sabbath rest (cf. Psalm 95:10, Heb. 3:18-4:11).

Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant. This is shown in the way he fulfilled the Old Covenant time and established the new time (the new age) of the New Covenant. Jesus entered Jerusalem on Psalm Sunday, the first day of the week. Jesus' “work” of salvation came to its completion on Good Friday, the sixth day of the week. His last words were, "It is finished" (Jn. 19:30). That is, the work of covenant fulfillment, the work of the old week, is completed. On the seventh day, Saturday, Jesus rested from his labor. The labor of Jesus achieved the Sabbath rest.

Jesus rose on Sunday. Easter Day was the first day of the new week of the new creation (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17, Rev. 21:5). The Resurrection thus established a new experience of time. Time is no longer a six day work week that longs for a day of rest at the end. Time now begins in Christ, on the Lord’s Day, the Day of Resurrection. This is why the church has, from the beginning, gathered on Sunday, the first day of the week, to celebrate the Eucharist (cf. Acts 20:7). Through the Eucharist the church experiences again the Resurrection and enters into the time of the new creation. Then the church returns to the world as witnesses of this experience.

This is why the Sabbath Day commandment of the Torah is not restated in the New Testament. Life is no longer six days of work laboring towards a Sabbath. Life begins by entering into God’s rest in Christ through prayer (Heb 4:3). Work is no longer the fruitless labor of the Old Covenant. Now, in the Spirit, all labor in Christ is fruitful. As 1 Corinthians says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).

What has historically been called “Sabbatarianism,” the keeping of the Old Testament concept of the Sabbath by Christians, involves a misunderstanding of the new time of the new creation; it is old wine in new wineskins. This does not mean we shouldn’t take a day off. Rather, it means that all of our time should have a different character to it. The time of the new creation is characterized by a rhythm of withdrawal into prayer, followed by engagement with the world as witnesses, followed by a return to prayer.

A “day off” can be part of this contemplative withdrawal. But our non-work time (the way we practice the rhythm of contemplative withdrawal) should not be viewed the way the world views “the weekend.” The world tends to hate its work and to see the day off as an escape from the tedium of the work week. Christians are not exempt from tedium and unfulfilling jobs; but we should always be mindful of the larger work of the kingdom that God is always doing in us and through us—even in the challenging spaces of life.

For example, the epistle for the Second Sunday after Easter says,

This is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. (1 Pet. 2:19-20).

This passage was written to first century laborers working in difficult conditions. It does not sanction unjust working conditions. Rather, St. Peter’s point is this: Because we live in the new time of the new creation, our perseverance in doing good in the face of opposition has an eternal benefit. It follows the pattern of Christ, whose faithful endurance through the pain and injustice of the Cross led to the Resurrection. In the new time of the new creation, all our labor in Christ bears fruit—even labor that seems fruitless from the perspective of the world.

Habitual prayer reorients us toward this experience of time. Through prayer we enter again into  the time of the Resurrection, the time of the new creation. From our prayer we enter the world as witnesses who are able to view opposition the way St. Peter exhorts us to view it. When we fall away from our prayer, we fall back into the time of the world, the 24/7 grind and the anxiety of social media that breed anger, fear, envy, covetousness, resentment, discontentment, and despair.

This is the reason that faith in the Resurrection will not change our lives unless it leads us into a new experience of time. We cannot experience the reality that we are “risen with Christ” if our habits and patterns of behavior are determined by the time of this world—no matter how much we “believe in” the Resurrection.

The church calendar and the life of prayer that flows from it lead us into the experience of the true meaning of time. As we move into late Eastertide and the exuberance of Easter Day fades, we continue to experience the truth that we are “risen with Christ” as we continue to live “in Christ” in the new time of the new creation.