Posts tagged ‘Resurrection’
Resurrection, It Does a Body Good!
In his book, The Historical Jesus, John Dominic Crossan says of Jesus’ resurrection, “Nobody knew what had happened to Jesus’ body.”[1] Crossan is well known for asserting that Jesus’ resurrection was not a bodily resurrection, but a series of mystical visions experienced by and subsequently promoted by early Christians. As for the fate of Jesus’ body after death, Crossan believes it was thrown in a shallow grave where it was quickly scavenged by wild animals.[2] And Crossan is not alone in his belief. Incredulous at the notion that a dead person can physically rise, many post-Enlightenment thinkers and theologians will speak of Christ’s resurrection as one that took place merely in the minds or hearts of His earliest followers.
The biblical account of Christ’s resurrection is not nearly so scientifically sterilized as Crossan and others make it out to be. Whatever these people may believe about Christ’s fate after His crucifixion, the biblical authors believed that Christ rose bodily. Indeed, this is Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15:
Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. (1 Corinthians 15:20, 42-43)
Paul’s argues that Christ’s bodily resurrection is the first resurrection in a long line of bodily resurrections that will come on the Last Day. The bodies of believers, once perishable, will be raised imperishable. The bodies of believers, born into the dishonor of sin, will be raised into the glory of perfection. The bodies of believers, formerly weakened by the Fall, will be raised in eternal power. The resurrection, Paul says, is bodily. And not just Christ’s resurrection is bodily, our resurrections are too.
Jesus Himself speaks to the corporal nature of His resurrection when He appears to His disciples:
While they were still talking about this, Jesus Himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself! Touch Me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it in their presence. (Luke 24:36-43)
Jesus will not have His resurrection mistaken by His disciples for a measly apparition. This is why He invites His disciples to look at and touch His hands and His feat. This is why He eats a piece of fish. Jesus has risen bodily.
So why is this even important? Why make such hay out of whether or not Jesus rose bodily? Three reasons come to mind. First, the bodily resurrection of Christ is the linchpin of our faith. To deny this is to lose everything. As the apostle Paul writes, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). To deny the resurrection of Christ is to deny all of Christ and His work. There can be no compromise on His resurrection. Second, the bodily resurrection of Christ affirms the goodness of God’s creation. God created bodies. And He cares about bodies. Christ’s resurrection is proof of this. For God could not stand by to see His Son’s body wrecked and ruined by a cross. And God will not stand by to see our bodies and wrecked and ruined by sin. And this leads to the third reason Jesus’ bodily resurrection is so important. The bodily resurrection of Christ is a promise our bodily resurrections on the Last Day. The fact of the matter is this: our God is just getting going when it comes to resurrections. One day, graves will be emptied, death will be defeated, and the redeemed of the Lord will cry, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting” (1 Corinthians 15:55). What a glorious day this will be. And this is why I believe in the resurrection of Jesus’ body and in the resurrection of mine. For such a resurrection is the hope and promise of life everlasting.
Weekend Extra – The End?
Mark’s account of Jesus’ resurrection is my favorite of all the Gospel accounts. I know that John’s account holds a special place in the hearts of many, perhaps because, at least in the many Easter services I’ve attended, it always seems to be the appointed Gospel lesson for the day. And no doubt the picture it paints of Peter running to the tomb and finding it empty and his companion John seeing and believing is gripping and exciting, but nevertheless, Mark’s account holds a special place in my heart, mainly because of how it ends: “Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid. The End” (Mark 16:8).
Well, “The End” is not actually in the Greek text, and that’s part of the problem. Because with an ending like this, many in the early church thought, “Surely there must be a better, more appropriate ending than three women, scared out of their wits, fleeing from an empty tomb where they have just encountered a young man dressed in white!” And so, in most Bibles, there is Mark 16:9-20, appropriately culminating with Jesus’ great commission in verse 16, His ascension into heaven in verse 19, and then a strange line about snake handling in between these verses. But don’t worry, that verse about snake handling probably wasn’t in the original, divinely inspired text. Whew! Am I a glad about that one!
If you’ll notice, after verse 8 in most Bibles, you’ll find a notation: “The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9–20.” In other words, even though Mark’s gospel wraps up nicely with Jesus’ great commission and ascension in verses 16 and 19 respectively, the earliest manuscripts of Mark end with wary women. This leads textual critical scholar Bruce Metzger to comment on verses 9-20, “The section was added by someone who knew a form of Mark that ended abruptly with verse 8 and who wished to supply a more appropriate conclusion” (Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 105). It is important to note that Metzger also explains that verses 9-20 have a long storied history in the Church, first being attested to by Irenaeus and Tatian’s Diatessaron in the second century. Thus, though these verses were probably not written by the Evangelist himself, they did not come long after him.
But even with all this in mind, I kind of like that we seem to have nothing more of Mark’s Gospel after verse 8. After all, if I found a missing body and a supernatural looking guy in white hanging out in Jesus’ tomb, I think I’d be scared too! And yet, we all know that the women shouldn’t have been scared. After all, Jesus had foretold His death and resurrection time and time again (cf. Mark 8:31, 10:33-34). The women should have known better.
But then again, so should we. For we, like the women, have the promise – and the fulfillment – of a risen Savior! We, like the women, can say with the young man in the tomb, “Christ is risen!” And just as the young man told the women that Jesus was going ahead of them into Galilee where they would see Him (Mark 16:7), Jesus tells us that He goes ahead of us as our Good Shepherd, leading us through this life, and even into the next (cf. John 10:4). So why in the world do we worry? Why in the world do we fret? For what reason in the world do we have to be afraid?
Perhaps we are more like the women than we care to admit. For we have the same message as the women: “Christ is risen!” But we also have the same response: We are trembling, bewildered, and afraid.
But we don’t have to be. For Jesus, as our Good Shepherd, invites us, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Fear may mark the end of Mark’s Gospel, but it does not have to mark the end of our lives. For Jesus’ gospel in and through our lives is still being written.
So, of what are you afraid? Your finances? Your future? A person? Perhaps even your eternity? Remember that the message of Easter is not only, “Christ is risen,” but also, “Do not be alarmed” (Mark 16:6). For we serve and follow a living Lord who can take care of and take away our fears. I hope you’ll let Him. Because although verse 8 may be a good place for a Gospel to end, it’s never a good place for a life to end.
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Resurrection! It’s Not Just for Jesus
One of my favorite parts of Holy Week is the music. Last night in Maundy Thursday worship, we sang of Christ’s body and blood, given for us sinners to eat and drink. I’ve been singing the words to this hymn this morning:
God’s Word proclaims and we believe
That in this Supper we receive
Christ’s very body, as He said,
His very blood for sinners shed.
Today, as we reflect upon the cross of Christ, we will sing another of my favorite songs:
Mighty, awesome, wonderful,
Is the holy cross.
Where the Lamb laid down His life
To lift us from the fall.
Mighty is the power of the cross.
And then, on Easter, will come this powerful anthem:
I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever-living head.
The words of this final song, of course, are taken from the book of Job where, even after Job has lost everything, he declares his faith in God and his desire for an advocate to plead his case to God: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me” (Job 19:25-27)! These words have long been taken by Christians as a foreshadowing of Christ’s resurrection. Hence, the reason we sing these words on Easter! Interestingly, however, it’s not just Christians who have found hints of a resurrection in Job’s story, the ancient Jews did too.
In the third century BC, a Greek translation of the Old Testament was commissioned. Because of the rampant Hellenization of the ancient world, many Jews could no longer read Hebrew, the language in which the Old Testament was originally written, and so this work of translating the Bible into Greek was undertaken so that people could read the Bible in their language. The Septuagintal translation of Job is especially interesting because whoever translated it seems to have a love for resurrection! Consider these passages:
- Job 14:14: Hebrew – “If a man dies, shall he live again?” Greek – “If a man dies, he shall live!”
- Job 19:26: Hebrew – “After my skin has been thus destroyed…” Greek – “And to resurrect my skin upon the earth that endures these sufferings…”
- Job 42:17: The Greek Septuagint adds a line to this verse not in the Hebrew text: “It is written of Job that he will rise again with those whom the Lord will raise.”
Clearly, the translator of Job believed in the resurrection! Thus, the book of Job not only foretells Jesus’ resurrection in that famous line from Job 19, it foretells the resurrection of Job and all the faithful as well. For because Christ has risen, we will rise! In the words of the prophet Daniel: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). For those who trust in Christ, we will be raised to everlasting life. Because Christ has risen, we will rise. The translator of Job knew and believed this. I hope you do too. For if you know and believe that your Redeemer lives, you can know and believe that you will live…forever.
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