Journey with Jesus #7

New Testament - The Body 04/03/09

First century Israel was a culture under pressure – a period of great crisis. It was threatened by the military power of the Romans and the steadily increasing impact of Greek thinking, which was approaching its peak. Greek culture was city-based - political and cultural centers with baths, theaters and athletic arenas. In the second century BCE Jerusalem had a gymnasium. Jesus grew up in Nazareth, just four miles from the wealthy, cultured Hellenized city of Sepphoris (rebuilt in his early twenties), and fifteen miles from Capernaum (where Jesus hung out with his disciples) was the Hellenized city of Tiberias. Yet the Gospels do not mention Jesus visiting these Hellenic centers – in fact he seems to have avoided them.

History shows that Christianity was quickly affected by Greek culture and thought, but Jesus was not. Jesus had a direct and immediate healing relationship with people. This relationship that Jesus had with the body reflects the Hebrew, not the Greek, world view. The world is the arena of human existence. There is nothing else – this is it! The Hebrews did not actually have a word for “body”. Instead they used “flesh”, “soul” and “spirit”. Flesh refers to the concrete existence of human beings that would in due course die – it was a morally neutral term (not good or bad). “Soul” is the phenomenon of life – the experience of living. “Spirit” refers to God’s spirit or breath that dwells in you and gives you life, like a starter motor. When God removes his spirit your “soul” dies. For the Jews, God is the source of life. Without God’s spirit you return to the dust.

This contrasted with the Greek idea of the body as the vessel for the immortal soul – the body is like an empty shell. In classic Greek thought the soul pre-exists, enters the body for a short while and after death returns to the immortal heavenly realm. This life and world are just pale shadows. This Greek idea has led to the dualism of body and soul that has so impacted Christian thought. The body is less important than the soul. This world is less important than the hereafter. This is evident in beliefs such as punishment of the body for the sake of the immortal soul, a disregard for this natural world and the idea that after death our soul is released from our body and goes to heaven. These do not find their basis in the Bible.

The Christian Nicene creed talks of the resurrection of the body – it does not mention the soul. In the New Testament Paul uses the word “flesh” in a specialized sense. He uses it to express a death-oriented worldly style of humanity. It therefore attains a negative aspect. In contrast he uses the word “body” the same way that the Old Testament uses “flesh” – but now open to the possibility of endless life in the Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit means that this flesh/body has been opened up to endless life. God’s Spirit is poured out on all flesh (cf. Peter’s speech in Acts quoting the prophet Joel) and will not be taken away. At Lk 3: 6 John the Baptist quotes Isaiah: “And all flesh shall see the salvation of God”. The body is no longer doomed to die, but is now destined for fullness of life. In Romans 8:9-11 Paul says, “You are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you….If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.” Now a choice is available – between the way of life based upon a humanity that is going to die or a new humanity that is going to live.

When Jesus heals people he uses their bodies as signs that things are changing. In LK 7:22 Jesus’ response to John the Baptist is “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.” These are signs of God’s kingdom when the body is no longer going to die but to live.

MK 5:21-42 recounts the healings of the woman with a hemorrhage and Jairus’ daughter. At Jairus’ home Jesus criticizes the noise and mourning – signs of the old order that no longer apply. When the woman touches his robe she connects with Jesus – enters into relationship. Jesus identifies her in the midst of the crowd pushing in from all sides. He makes the personal connection, making the healing a sign of something more, i.e. a relationship.

We are invited into this life-giving relationship. At the last supper (Jn 13:23) the beloved disciple (with whom the reader is invited to identify) leans on the breast of Jesus. The same words are used in Jn 1:18 – “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known”. The words translated as “close to the Father’s heart” are the same as those used in the last supper passage. So, just as the Son leans on the Father’s breast, we also lean on the breast of Jesus. There is a direct connection to the Father through Jesus. The language is physical. At the Last Supper Jesus says that the bread is his body for us. Just as the healed bodies are signs of the new order – that death is no longer the ultimate meaning – so his body also becomes a sign of what is the ultimate meaning of life –a profound intimacy of love.