Taking Jesus Seriously #5

Here is the study summary from last Thursday (3/3/10) on the theme of Resurrection....

• What does the Bible teach us of life after death?
• What does death mean? What is resurrection? Is it real?
• If resurrection has already taken place why is the world still suffering?
• Is creation a work in progress?


Resurrection is only important if you are dead. Sounds obvious but if you have an immortal soul that detaches itself at death to make its way to an eternal heavenly abode – then bodily resurrection doesn’t really make sense. Is redundant in fact.

Resurrection was a relatively new idea at the time of Jesus. It had emerged as explicitly stated doctrine about 200 years before. But it developed out of the Jews’ experience of persecution and redemption. If God could intervene directly to overturn living death –slavery in Egypt – then why would God not rescue us from actual death? Death was never in God’s plan. In Jesus’ time the Pharisees believed in resurrection, but it was rejected by many others – including the priests and Sadducees.

When people think of God intervening they think of light and force. A good example is Saul’s conversion account in Acts 9:3 (and 26:12-13) – including a blinding light and being thrown to the ground. Light and force also feature in Dn 12:1-2 where those whose names are written in the book of life shine like the stars.

Mark’s Gospel gives the earliest account of Jesus’ resurrection. The Gospel has two endings – the second added on because the first is just so shocking. The first image is of absence – the empty tomb, and of a young man giving a narrative. The account is counter-intuitive. There is no display of light or power.

I Cor 15 has one of the earliest accounts of the resurrection – Paul says he is passing on what he has received. He recounts the appearance of Jesus to five hundred men. Women are not mentioned because at that time women were not considered creditable, reliable witnesses in a court of law. Paul in pitching his message, therefore, leaves the women out. In the Gospels, however, it is women who are the primary witnesses – again this is counter-intuitive.

The Gospel accounts of the resurrection are almost post-modern they are so indirect and elusive. They are also non-violent. Jn 20:11-18 relates the encounter of Jesus with Mary Magdalene at the tomb. There is no fanfare. Mary only recognizes Jesus when he says her name. It is a relational rather than evidential. The very unlikely nature of the resurrection narratives is what paradoxically gives them credence. Something happened that was very hard to pin down, that didn’t occur in the world of force and violence, that was first grasped by women and which grew to a conviction that Jesus really had conquered death and was alive.

So what does the resurrection mean to us?

The Jewish understanding of resurrection is that when we die we rest until the day of the Lord - when all will rise to new life. There was no concept of individual resurrection. Unless all rise, no-one has risen. That is why Paul argues that because Jesus rose again, all have risen. Resurrection is therefore a communal event. Jesus’ resurrection is our concrete hope.

It is also linked to this world. The Biblical understanding of life after death is not the Greek understanding. There is no immortal soul that dwells in us for a short time in our mortal body. There is no heavenly eternal realm in which all those eternal souls reside. This Greek idea has permeated our culture but does not have its roots in Scripture. Resurrection is resurrection of the body (stated in the Nicene Creed). We are not separate from our physical being. All our thoughts and emotions are mediated through physical cells and physiological processes. So how can we live outside of these? But then how can our bodies that have rotted away then be resurrected? It doesn’t seem logical – except, we are always recreating ourselves. After receiving a kidney transplant the recipient’s cells will eventually replace all those of the donor’s. Even in this life we can be recreated, yet remain uniquely ourselves – all things are possible to God.

The essential thing is that resurrection is concerned with this earth. How we live our lives today affects our life after death. We rest in the earth until the earth is transformed. When it is so filled with God’s spirit of love that death no longer has a place, then that will be the day of the Lord. The gospel message is one of transformation. We are called to transform ourselves and our world in love. Resurrection is therefore directly tied to the earth and our actions relating to it. The earth is waiting, like the dead, for the day of the Lord.

When we die, we wait and rest. We remain in relationship with God. Anything that is love remains. The love within us is the Spirit of God – who is love, and this cannot die. Resurrection is about love relationships – with God and with each other. Resurrection is therefore always relational.

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful servants comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blest,
Alleluia, Alleluia!

But lo! There breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

(Hymn, For All The Saints)