Trampling Over Death by Death

Yesterday I was getting a little exercise in by running around the church parking lot (I know, not exactly the most inspiring scenery, but hard to beat in terms of proximity) and the song "Christ is Risen" came up on my iPod. The song was recorded by Matt Maher, a singer/songwriter/worship leader; our worship team performed it a couple weeks ago for our Easter services. It's one of those songs that builds, both lyrically and musically, and by the time you get to the end of bridge you want to jump out your seats and shout "Amen!" OK, at least that's what I want to do.

The chorus starts with "Christ is risen from the dead/trampling over death by death" - a line inspired by the Paschal Troparion, the characteristic Easter hymn of the Eastern Orthodox Church. That phrase - "trampling over death by death" - is arresting and unexpected upon first listen. But the more I've thought about the it more I've come to appreciate the beautiful, surprising, scandalous truth that these words proclaim. One of the great ironies of the crucifixion is that in pronouncing Jesus' death sentence Pilate (and the religious powers-to-be) indirectly silenced the power of death forever. What Satan thought to be his crowning achievement turned out to be the very means by which his fate is forever sealed (Col. 2:15).

N.T. Wright puts it this way:

"...the cross is...not the world's victory over Jesus, but Jesus' victory over the world. Here is the mystery, the cunning, of the deep love of God: that it is bound to draw on to itself the hatred and pain and shame and anger and bitterness and rejection of the world, but to draw all those things on to itself is precisely the means, chosen from all eternity by the generous, loving God, by which to rid his world of the evils which have resulted from human abuse of God-given freedom."

The truth of what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection came rushing back to me as I was running laps - I'm pretty sure I picked up my pace a bit! I'm grateful that Matt Maher and Mia Fieldes (the co-writer) have given the church a song that powerfully reminds us of how our subversive Savior conquered death and opened the possibility of the "abundant life" (John 10:10) to us all.

You can listen to the song and check out the lyrics over at Worship Together.