This is some theologising of mine as I try to sort out what is the importance of the resurrection in relation to grace, particularly the transformative power of grace. It was spurred on by this article Cheryl wrote for The Age. I love her gutsy writing, because in its bravery she often gets me thinking.
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Does the transformative power of grace depend on the resurrection? No, I don’t reckon so. Did it ever? So what’s the point of resurrection? For me, the resurrection points to what is true. It’s funny that something we might need to invest belief in, that we might need to believe despite the rational logic of the situation, might point to what is true.

Now, I’m old-school, in that I do still believe Jesus’ resurrection breaks open the veil between earth and heaven, between empire and kingdom, between present and eternal. That’s what I reckon the resurrection is primarily about. I still reckon Jesus resurrection provides the ‘amazing grace’ that claims to conquer death, that claims to bring us into eternal living with God. He’s the conduit, he’s the source, he’s the sign.

But for me, Jesus resurrection doesn’t provide the means to grace. At least, not to what I think of as ‘immediate grace’, the kind of grace we experience and are able to unlock for others in the everyday situations of life. In terms of ‘immediate grace’, Jesus’ resurrection is for me the sign that this is the truth of existence. It’s the final vindication of his life - a life lived as a sign of the truth and ‘right-ness’ of grace.

Jesus was not raised to new life - resurrected - because he had lived a good life.
Jesus’ resurrection - his being raised to new life - shows that the life he lived was good. It was grace-filled.

I know there are plenty of everyday signs of the truth of the goodness of grace - it should be obvious to us that this is the right way to live - but there are also heaps of other ways to live a ‘good’ life, a productive life, a pleasant and fulfilled life, a life that is admirable according to our socially defined and ever-evolving norms. We can stumble across these ways of life in any number of avenues and culdesacs.

For me the resurrection is a sign that God has said “yes” to a particular way, whether we discover it for ourselves, or whether we learn it by following the example left for us. The resurrection is a sign of God’s approval for this way, God’s final “yes” to the kind of life that we were made to live. A grace-filled life. A life that seeks out transformation through grace, for ourselves and for others.

For me, the resurrection is the final ‘proof of the pudding’ in a world filled with plenty of ‘good ways’ to live. The resurrection not only points me towards this way, it holds me to this way, when I would rather peel off and invest my resources in the approval of my peers and consumer successfulness.

Do we need God’s imprimatur, do we need the resurrection in order to live with grace, with love? Of course not. Look around, people do it every day - with or without acknowledgment of God - and it brings life every day, transformation every day.

Do we want to know God’s opinion on the matter? The resurrection - if we want to believe it - is God’s very definite “yes” to this kind of life, a life filled with and committed to grace.