Christ is Risen! With those words, we enter a new season of the church calendar. We move from the preparatory, penitential season of Lent to the festive celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.

The transition is real, but we can easily misunderstand it. We misunderstand Lent if we think that Lent is defeat and Easter victory, for Lent too is about the victory of the cross. We misunderstand Easter if we think that it leaves the cross behind.

Easter doesn’t cancel the cross. On the contrary, the resurrection imprints the cross on our flesh, like the permanent scars on the glorified flesh of Jesus. “I was crucified with Christ,” says Paul. And, “the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance.” And then, “I bear in my body the brand marks of Jesus.”

Easter is Pentecostal in this precise sense. The Spirit Jesus breathes is the Spirit of the Crucified Messiah. Filled with that Spirit, we share in the afflictions and the glory of Jesus; we share His glory by sharing in His afflictions, share in His resurrection power by bearing the cross after Jesus for our brothers.

Jesus’ resurrection didn’t eradicate the cross. By breathing out His Spirit of resurrection, Jesus has crossed the whole world.