And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. - Nicene
I believe in...the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. - Apostles
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! This is the victory cry of Easter which comes on April 21 this year. But why is this the biggest celebration of the year? What difference does Christ's resurrection make to my life here and now? There is much more to Easter than the tradition which have grown up around it.
But let's start by looking at what Christ's resurrection is NOT. It is not a matter of resuscitation, where Jesus dies and is revived or “brought back”. We may know some people or have certainly heard stories of people who “died on the table” or passed, but by CPR or an AED device were revived. This can happen, but only if the AED / CPR is given in the first 5-7 minutes, after that there is no oxygen to the brain and all biological functions cease. Mary Magdalene was not a first responder and no one who put Jesus' body in the tomb had any ideas of this being a resuscitation. After 16-24 hours, rigor mortis sets in and that is “proof in the puddin'’ of death occurring. Jesus was in the tomb for a sufficiently long enough time that this was not a mistake (he wasn't really dead, just in a coma) nor a case of passing and suddenly coming back and the heart spontaneously restarting. It must be something else.
One of the more humorous ways of looking at Easter, though it's actually quite sad, is that Jesus is a zombie – a reanimated corpse, a member of the undead, neither living nor dead but in an existence somewhere in between. With the enduring popularity of television series like The Walking Dead, Z Nation, and movies like World War Z, and the like it is not surprising that those who didn't grow up with the Easter story can only picture someone coming back from the dead to be a zombie (or vampire). But Jesus came back not just as an animated corpse, but as a rational, thinking, feeling (hungry, joyful, etc.), indeed glorified person. The resurrection of Jesus was more than just His body, His mind and soul were also raised from the dust of death. While His bod still bears the nail marks and the spear wound, these wounds themselves have been glorified and a source of joy for those who believe. This was a different body coming out of the tomb Easter morning (see I Cor. 15:42-49)
The last myth of Easter takes us some 40 days after that great first day of the week. We cannot divorce the resurrection of Jesus from His ascension. There are many accounts in Scripture of the dead being brought to life; Jairus' daughter, the widow of Zarepeth, Lazarus, Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12) and others. But all these others have one thing in common – they all died again. When Jesus was raised, He did not simply live out the remainder of His days and then passed away in the manner of all flesh. He rose and did not die again; even some 2,000 years later, He still has the same physical body that came out of the tomb for “death no longer has master over Him” (Acts 2:24) and He hold the keys to Death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). Some 40 days after He rose, He ascended into the Kingdom of His (and our) Father, where He lives and reigns with them to all eternity. One day He will return in the same way He departed, in the new and glorified body, to usher in the Kingdom of glory in its fullness.
So, what does that mean for us? That's all spelled out for us in both of the universal creeds we often use. This is both good news and bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first – you are going to die. No one (save God alone) knows how or when, but we know it will happen. There can be no resurrection unless someone first dies. The good news is that we who believe in Christ will not stay dead. Just as He was raised from the dead, we who are in Him will also be raised from the dead and in the same glorified, perfected way that He was. Then we, bodies, minds, and souls, shall be brought into the eternal city, the new Jerusalem to live forevermore. Until that happens, we will sleep without cognizance of the passage of time. Paul reminds us in the great resurrection chapter that our resurrection will take place “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.” (I Cor. 15:52) This is our hope and our ever-present reality – we will not die, but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done. It is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118). And that's what Easter is all about.
-Pastor Brian
I believe in...the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. - Apostles
He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! This is the victory cry of Easter which comes on April 21 this year. But why is this the biggest celebration of the year? What difference does Christ's resurrection make to my life here and now? There is much more to Easter than the tradition which have grown up around it.
But let's start by looking at what Christ's resurrection is NOT. It is not a matter of resuscitation, where Jesus dies and is revived or “brought back”. We may know some people or have certainly heard stories of people who “died on the table” or passed, but by CPR or an AED device were revived. This can happen, but only if the AED / CPR is given in the first 5-7 minutes, after that there is no oxygen to the brain and all biological functions cease. Mary Magdalene was not a first responder and no one who put Jesus' body in the tomb had any ideas of this being a resuscitation. After 16-24 hours, rigor mortis sets in and that is “proof in the puddin'’ of death occurring. Jesus was in the tomb for a sufficiently long enough time that this was not a mistake (he wasn't really dead, just in a coma) nor a case of passing and suddenly coming back and the heart spontaneously restarting. It must be something else.
One of the more humorous ways of looking at Easter, though it's actually quite sad, is that Jesus is a zombie – a reanimated corpse, a member of the undead, neither living nor dead but in an existence somewhere in between. With the enduring popularity of television series like The Walking Dead, Z Nation, and movies like World War Z, and the like it is not surprising that those who didn't grow up with the Easter story can only picture someone coming back from the dead to be a zombie (or vampire). But Jesus came back not just as an animated corpse, but as a rational, thinking, feeling (hungry, joyful, etc.), indeed glorified person. The resurrection of Jesus was more than just His body, His mind and soul were also raised from the dust of death. While His bod still bears the nail marks and the spear wound, these wounds themselves have been glorified and a source of joy for those who believe. This was a different body coming out of the tomb Easter morning (see I Cor. 15:42-49)
The last myth of Easter takes us some 40 days after that great first day of the week. We cannot divorce the resurrection of Jesus from His ascension. There are many accounts in Scripture of the dead being brought to life; Jairus' daughter, the widow of Zarepeth, Lazarus, Eutychus (Acts 20:7-12) and others. But all these others have one thing in common – they all died again. When Jesus was raised, He did not simply live out the remainder of His days and then passed away in the manner of all flesh. He rose and did not die again; even some 2,000 years later, He still has the same physical body that came out of the tomb for “death no longer has master over Him” (Acts 2:24) and He hold the keys to Death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). Some 40 days after He rose, He ascended into the Kingdom of His (and our) Father, where He lives and reigns with them to all eternity. One day He will return in the same way He departed, in the new and glorified body, to usher in the Kingdom of glory in its fullness.
So, what does that mean for us? That's all spelled out for us in both of the universal creeds we often use. This is both good news and bad news. Let's get the bad news out of the way first – you are going to die. No one (save God alone) knows how or when, but we know it will happen. There can be no resurrection unless someone first dies. The good news is that we who believe in Christ will not stay dead. Just as He was raised from the dead, we who are in Him will also be raised from the dead and in the same glorified, perfected way that He was. Then we, bodies, minds, and souls, shall be brought into the eternal city, the new Jerusalem to live forevermore. Until that happens, we will sleep without cognizance of the passage of time. Paul reminds us in the great resurrection chapter that our resurrection will take place “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed.” (I Cor. 15:52) This is our hope and our ever-present reality – we will not die, but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done. It is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118). And that's what Easter is all about.
-Pastor Brian