Easter Thursday
Acts 3: 11-26; Luke 24: 35-48
Dc. Larry Brockman
There are some things we just find hard to accept, things which seem so hard to believe and impossible to picture that we shake our heads in bewilderment. The resurrection of the body is one of those things.
First, there is the whole idea of life after death. Death seems so final, doesn’t it? Especially when we watch a person lowered into the ground. What could life after death possibly be like? Much has been written recently by people who clinically die and then come back to life. These people claim to have experienced “life after death”. And while their experiences are similar, there are definite differences- important differences; not to mention that these experiences are difficult for even the most articulate person to describe- they are basically indescribable, they are not of this world. And so, reasoning people doubt these experiences as well.
And second, how can we rise with our physical bodies? Our bodies are corruptible. They decay and are gone in a matter of years or decades. Now there are some saints whose bodies have not decayed- we have many stories of that. Certain popes and St. Francis for example. But still, what about all the rest of us? And what function would these physical bodies have in the Kingdom of God? The Resurrection is something that we learn in Religion. But when it comes to living in the real world, our science and reason driven secular society leaves us doubting the Resurrection of our bodies to Everlasting Life.
But wait a minute: What about Easter, and the joy of Easter? You see, we can really begin to understand true Christian joy if we put ourselves in the position of the Apostles on Easter Morning. Because they had just lost the Lord to a terrible death and doubt reigned supreme in their minds. After all, they had all the same natural inclinations that we do to doubt the Resurrection. But in their case, they had gone out on a limb. They had believed Jesus was the Messiah. But rather than conquer the Romans, Jesus had been brutally victimized by the Romans and was dead. How depressing; how final it all seemed.
And then, walla, Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and he is seen by them- in His physical body. Not only that, he eats and drinks with them. He explains the scriptures to them, that all of what happened to him was prophesied so that they could see, once and for all, that everything God had promised had come true. And now- here He was, Resurrected.
Life after death is real, and all who believe, and follow God’s will are heirs to the same Resurrected life in the Kingdom of God. That is the Christian hope for those who believe, I mean really believe. Imagine their joy, and why it lasted for 8 weeks while Jesus was with them. I can understand that kind of joy.
All of us are called upon to believe and to live in Christian hope. We are not eye witnesses like the Apostles were. But the bodies and souls of those of us who believe will rise on the last day. And inherit everlasting life- just believe it.
Tags: Faith, resurrection of the body