“I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me” (Galatians 2:19-20, NJB).

The whole paradox of the Christian faith reaches its climax at the celebration of the Holy Week. Through the celebrations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter, the irony of death comes alive. And we, the Easter people, are reminded by the Church once again: we must die in order that we may live.

How much of this has anything to do with our daily lives, if any? It is one thing to believe that Jesus did such a humbly mighty act for us, and another thing to believe that we must actually be foolish enough to be like him. For if we truly desired to be like him, we would be helplessly trampled upon by broods of vipers; it would be difficult to survive in the world. The easier thing to do, therefore, would be to dismiss that Easter reality into the background of our religious lives. At least that would make being Christian more bearable.

Have we so normalised the Christian faith that its body of paradoxes now escapes our sensibilities? And if so, what would being Christian mean anymore?

Many Christians tend to justify their cause in saying that the demands of the gospel should not be carried too far. That is "extremism" or "fanaticism", they say. We are now living the modern life, and this calls for modern renditions of scriptural interpretation. So "moderation" is the order of the day.

The faith of the Easter people calls us to return to true and authentic life in Christ. Parents, in the face of raising up children, are called to mortify themselves over and over again as they deny themselves for their younglings. Husbands and wives continue being called to uphold the sacred promises of their marriage by crucifying their own desires and giving themselves for the wellbeing of each other daily. Servants who serve their masters continue being called to serve in faithfulness so that the light of Christ may shine through their daily dying.

More than that, and worse still, there is a call for us to love the unlovable, to touch the untouchable. It may be easier laying our lives down for those close to us and from whom we receive love. But to give of ourselves to people who may have nothing to give in return, and more so, to people who may even trample upon that which we offer, that is an entirely different challenge.

A rather silly way to live, by the standards of modern wisdom. But the only way to live, for the Easter Christian.

We are a people crucified with Christ and raised with him in baptism, no longer conforming to the standards of the world, being parables of the gospel paradox: we are dead with Christ, therefore, alive in Christ.