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Connecting in our Weakness

April 19, 2025

Romans 6:3-11|Psalm 114 | Luke 24:1-12

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 
Romans 6:3-11

When I meet someone and try to find something in common it is usually around things that I like to do or something that I might be good at. If you like the outdoors, reading, or music, then we have something to talk about. If you like backpacking, reading theology, or playing the bassoon, then we are instantly kin, and I will be eternally loyal. However, if you are a fan of staring at the wall, or counting to one million in your head, or stock-car racing, I will have a much harder time connecting. These are not things that I enjoy or are good at (no disrespect towards stock-car racing). We like to connect around those things we are good at or enjoy.

This is where I find the passage from Romans so powerful and wonderful. I look at Christ, who is perfect, who is God in the flesh, and think that there is no way that I can relate. Christ is so good and I am not. But that is not where I connect with Christ. Paul reminds us that it is in the cross that we find the deep and powerful connection. In the cross we see the weakness of God, we see the suffering of Christ, and we can connect. We know what it is to suffer. We know what it is to be betrayed. We know what it is to falter or to be weak. We know what it is to be hurt. We can look to the cross and see our own brokenness. We can see our sins. And we know that Christ understands.

On this Saturday we have the vigil, and it is long. The readings are long. The service is long. The day is stretched out so that we can find that time to look to the cross, to see how our humanity dies with Christ on the cross. And we also look to Paul’s words of assurance that in dying with Christ we find new life. We look to that new life that will be assured with the first ray of dawn, with the first breaking of the sun over the horizon. We will look to that new life and know the redemption, the fresh breath, the hope that we are given in the resurrection is just before us. Tomorrow, on Easter morning, we will all have something to bring us together, that we celebrate a risen Lord and our salvation. We will connect with God and with each other in celebration of new life.

The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Malone

Photo by Michael Strickland