“To Be Born Again ….. First You Have To Die”

(Salman Rushdie)

 Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a grave and on the third day he resurrected from the dead. The day of resurrection is what we call “Easter”. It is a great day and a time of great joy and celebration. It is a day of victory over death. No one has ever returned from the dead but Jesus. It’s a great miracle in the history of mankind.

What did Jesus want to show to the world by overcoming death. What is the mystical meaning in death and resurrection?

Every action in the life of Jesus was a lesson for resolving the problems of life. What we celebrate on the day of Easter is a reminder to ourselves that we must learn to follow this example in order to resolve all the problems of our daily life.

The question is how we can do that? How can we resolve our worldly problems by dying and then resurrecting ourselves every time we face a problem? Well, it has a deeper meaning. Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow me continuously”. To follow Jesus means to act upon the techniques taught by him. The first condition is: “deny one’s self”. Now, denying oneself doesn’t mean to leave everything and become a hermit or a yogi. It means to get rid of our old, rotten beliefs, thoughts and ideas. The ideas, thoughts and actions which result in failure, which block the fulfillment of desires and achievement of our goals, need to be discarded. Failure is the death of our desires. The next step is to replace the discarded ideas and beliefs with new ideas, thoughts and beliefs. The negative thoughts of sickness, worries, anxieties, fears, anger, disappointment, failure, hatred, poverty and misery must be cast away. They must be replaced by love, peace, joy, prosperity, success, wealth, health and happiness. When we are capable of bringing this change in ourselves, we get on the road to victory. We achieve our goals. Our desires are fulfilled. Our prayers are answered. We are successful and victorious. Success, in reality, is what is called resurrection. The Christ is risen in our lives. Once the Christ resurrects in us, we get rid of all the burdens that we had been carrying with us up to now. This is what is

called “freedom from sins”.  All our problems are resolved; all the sins are washed away. There is peace, there is joy. That’s what we call: Easter. Thanks be to God who rescues us from death (failure) and leads us to success (resurrection) which gives us “ everlasting joy and peace.

Mumtaz Shah