Jesus died. The powers of death crushed him. Not only the fear-ridden judgments of Pilate, the torture by the Roman soldiers, and the cruel crucifixion, but also the powers and principalities of this world. The world’s death powers destroyed him. But the death of Jesus is the death of the Word “through who all things came into being,” and “what has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of people, and the light shines in the darkness, and darkness could not overpower it” (John 1:3-5).

Jesus was crushed by the powers of death, but his death removed death’s sting. To those who believe in him he gave the power to become the children of God, that is, to participate in the life where death can no longer reach. By his death, Jesus was victorious over all the powers of death. The darkness in our hearts that makes us surrender to the power of death, the darkness in our society that makes us victims of violence, war, and destruction, has been dispelled by the light that shines forth from the One who gave his life as a complete gift to the God of life.