Our Resurrected Bodies

The Corinthians found it hard to believe that all Christians would be raised in a resurrected body. Just because Christ was raised in a resurrected body doesn’t mean we will be. They thought perhaps the soul lived on indefinitely, but death was the end for the body. Some of them believed the soul was pure while the body was sinful. Death was the moment they could get rid of the filthy body so the soul could experience purity. Many today believe this. The soul ascends to some other world where individuals can finally be free. This is Eastern Religion, pure and simple. Paul confronted this misunderstanding about the body with the foundational understanding of the resurrected body in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58.

Paul uses the example of a seed that sprouts into something that looks completely different than it originally did. The seed undergoes a burial and is later transformed. The seed’s DNA is built inside the seed but is not visible; later, there is an alternate change. This transformation process is out of our control. The seed is buried and left to forces outside of its control. If it has good soil, water, and sunlight, it will grow because God is the one who makes the seed grow and transform. How amazing this is every spring! Likewise, we, as believers, are buried at death like a seed. Still, God will accomplish the transformation of our bodies at the resurrection.

Paul is saying that just because individuals cannot imagine a body that is different from the one they have now does not mean it isn’t possible. God has created all kinds of bodies. Each is made for its own environment: animals for the land, birds for the air, and fish for the sea. God is the  Creator God. He has demonstrated that different bodies can thrive in a particular environment. These illustrations of the natural world help us to understand the resurrection.

We all long for the imperishable; that is evident in the incessant attempts to turn back the clock. No one has been able to make perishable life imperishable. However, individuals will try anything to lengthen their lives on this earth.  However, we can’t understand how something could go from perishable to imperishable, dishonorable to glorious, weak to strong. Paul sets forth that in the resurrection, Christians’ bodies will be raised, and their bodies will be transformed from the perishable to the imperishable, from dishonor to glory, and from weakness to power. Christianity acknowledges the longing to overcome death, disease, sickness, and even decay is natural. Still, it will only be overcome by transforming the body in the resurrection! (1 Corinthian 15:42-56).

Jesus’ resurrection body is the closest thing Christians have to an encounter with a resurrected body. Jesus was human; his disciples recognized him; he had scars and ate fish. But he was also supernatural, allowing him to walk through walls and defy the laws of gravity as he ascended.

We will have new bodies that can see, taste, hear, touch, and smell what we could never have imagined. The discoveries of heaven will be incredible because we will have a resurrected body to experience them.

Have You Caught Anything?

The light had replaced their darkness since they had seen the resurrected Christ. He had appeared twice to his disciples. Peter was now hopeful but still trying to process how this would all work with Jesus going to heaven. The fisherman traveled 80 miles to Galilee to do some fishing along with six other disciples who decided to join him.

Though it had felt good to be back on the water, it turned out to be a fruitless night as they caught nothing. The disciples were tired and frustrated and ready to call it a day. They probably were not thinking of the Lord, but unknown to them, Jesus was thinking of them and was watching them. Early the next morning, Jesus, standing on the shore, called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered (John 21:4-5). That was a critical moment to admit their failure. Failure only works in our favor if we are willing to accept it. Jesus was planning on turning things around for these seven, but it would start with their admitting failure.

Jesus instructed them to throw their nets on the right side of the boat. They still had not recognized him, but they obeyed, and when they did, “they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish” (John 21:6). At that moment, John recognized that it was Jesus which prompted Peter to dive in and swim to the shore. Though they had caught 153 large fish, the net did not break because Jesus was directing their work. Things are so different when we follow God’s direction after admitting our own failure.

After landing, they saw a fire of burning coals with fish and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught” (John 21:9-10). Interestingly, Jesus asked them to bring some fish they had just caught. He didn’t need them, but he wanted them to know they were needed and wanted by him. God doesn’t need me, but he wants me, and that thought is enough to change my world when I realize it. 

Seeing and Believing

 

Good Friday is a day that brought great sadness to the followers of Jesus because it was the day that Jesus died on the cross. But on Sunday morning, that sadness changed to joy. The earth grew dark at midday, fulfilling what Amos, the prophet, had predicted. All but John had fled, and now after Jesus’ death, the hours that followed were filled with confusion and hopelessness. The Friday that Jesus was crucified was the darkest day in the disciples’ lives. They had found hiding places for fear they would be next.

Four women, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, Salome, and Joanna, came to the tomb early Saturday morning to finish preparing Jesus’ body. They found the tomb empty and were confused. Did someone steal his body? Did Joseph move the body? Mary Magdalene immediately returned to tell Peter about the empty tomb.

Peter and John ran to the tomb to see for themselves. John outran Peter, looked into the tomb, and saw the empty grave wrappings but stopped at the entrance to allow Peter to enter first. Peter studied the linen strips lying there and the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head all folded up.

While Peter was processing everything in his mind, John believed that Jesus was alive. The scriptures say that he saw and understood. That makes John the first person to believe in the resurrection of Jesus (John 20:6-8). John saw the wrappings—everything was in its appropriate place, but Jesus was gone, and there was no body! To John, it was clear that no one had taken the body! Jesus was alive, and John knew it. “Can’t you see it, Peter!” This stone has been moved for our benefit. John was ready to sing with Mariam “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea” (Exodus 15:21). That enemy was death, and Jesus had defeated him!

Remember What He Said

 

Last Sunday, as I was walking out of the church, my granddaughter, Madelyn, lost her balloon. I took off after it in an attempt to retrieve it for her, but the wind blew it away. Every time I reached out for it, the wind blew it off again. Time and time again, I was inches from having it in my hand, but it was whisked off. Then finally, it was within my grasp, and as soon as I touched it, it popped. Such is the quest for happiness in this life. We run with all our energy to catch that allusive happiness, and just when we think we have it, something whisks it off from us. Then when we finally catch it, it disappears. Pursuing happiness without knowing your purpose in life is futile.

What really changes our life is meeting Jesus. Jesus is the only person who has ever lived who has met death and conquered it. He was crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. He promises us that if we put our faith in him, we too will experience resurrection one day. Each of the four Gospels presents Jesus differently because they wrote to different audiences from different perspectives. However, they all wanted everyone to get to know the Jesus they had known.

Matthew presents Jesus as Messiah, connecting the dots with Old Testament prophesies. He describes Jesus as the fulfillment of those prophecies. He wrote to Jews to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah. Mark presents Jesus as a man of action. He wrote to a non-Jewish audience. Matthew emphasized the words of the Lord, while Mark underscores Christ’s deeds. John presents Jesus to everyone offering evidence of certain signs which prove that Jesus is the Son of God. John confines his scope of Christ’s ministry to mostly about 30 days, and seven chapters are dedicated to only a twenty-four-hour period.

Luke was a physician, and his attention to de
tail shows. He joined Paul on his second missionary journey. He writes to Gentiles and presents Christ as the perfect example of humanity. In chapter 24, he tells three stories, first the women who went to prepare Jesus’ body, then the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and finally, the disciples together in Jerusalem. In each of the stories, Luke structures the stories with these elements: confusion, rebuke, direction, and transformation. In each instance, all are told to remember God’s Word. They did remember and how it changed them.

 For example, the women are first to arrive at the tomb, and though confused, they have come to honor Jesus’ body for burial. Angels confronted them with a rebuke of “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). The angel rebuked them, asking, is this really where you expected to find Jesus? Then follows some direction, “He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” (Luke 24:6-7). Then “They remember his words.” What follows is their transformation as they become witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.

 It is evident in Luke 24 that Luke, like the other gospel writers, tells what happened. They never saw the resurrection, so none of them describe it. They tell what they saw, or others saw. Placing the women in the story as witnesses is proof they were not fabricating the story because women were not considered reliable witnesses. The story of the resurrection happened, and it changed them as it does every person who believes in Jesus.

(Parenting with a Long View) https://bovdbrooks.com/