Body Talk

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (NIV)

There’s a pastor in the neighboring Presbytery who preached yesterday that he believes Christ’s body decayed like any other human being’s. In other words, he doesn’t affirm the Apostles’ Creed, nor does he subscribe to the faith point that Jesus’ crucified body was actually raised from the dead by God. I guess he won’t be preaching about Thomas’ disbelief and the nail prints in Christ’s hands next week either.

I feel sorry for the guy because I think he has lost his faith in Christ, in the scriptures, and in God. He’s preaching an old message that was rejected by the Church sixteen centuries ago, which was called Docetism. The Docetists believed that Christ’s body never existed during the crucifixion and that His resurrection was a spiritual one. Strangely enough, that’s what Muslims believe about Jesus today.

The resurrection of Christ – the bodily resurrection of Jesus – is central to our faith. If Christ’s body hadn’t been resurrected by God, then only His Spirit would have been raised. That happened to Samuel way back in the Old Testament when King Saul got the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) to raise his spirit from the land of shadows. If it was just Christ’s spirit alone that had been raised, then God would not have been doing anything new.

But the Gospels make it clear that it was Christ’s body that was raised from death. And this sets Christ apart from any other human being in history. This is what makes Him uniquely our Lord and Savior. This is what puts Him above all the other historic religious leaders – Christ was raised from the dead – body and all.

Easter is a beautiful time of year, not just because it is full of new life all around us in creation, but because a human body that was mutilated, maimed, and murdered was raised to life again. This is what we mean when we say “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” and this is what Christ Himself means when He says to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20:27)

If we say and believe otherwise, we’re calling Christ a liar. And that’s heresy.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we can get trapped into thinking that our own thinking is more sophisticated, knowledgeable, and superior to the first Gospel writers. We forget that they were heavily influenced by people who had first-hand experiences of all that the Gospels express. Keep us free from those who would pervert and subvert Your words and Your ways. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.