Calvin Synod Herald, 2002 (103. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)

2002-03-01 / 3-4. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

5

THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED

The Story of Jesus terrible death and amazing resurrection has been told so often, and in so many ways. Our museums are full of glorious paintings, drawings and sculptures. In our own time there are new videos, to supplement the books and films found even in personal libraries. We have heard it so often - it sounds old. But it was a new story once! And it was more that that - an astounding story! Imagine being in Corinth and hearing for the first time the apostle Paul talking about it. No wonder some were asking, “How are the dead raised?” (1 Cor. 15:35)

What a strange turn of events in Jerusalem. The entire preparatory season leading up to Passover had been marred by Jesus and His radicals. Instead of nice days at the Temple, and the traditional rites and customs of the holy season, there He was with the noisy crowds making a fuss. The Romans had been dragged in and there was a riotous crowd bellowing, “Crucify Him!” Finally they did, and things quieted down. But it didn’t last long. Now there was all this talk about Jesus rising from the dead!

The first people who was Him alive again were also confused, uncertain what to believe, to tell, to do. The women at the tomb - those angels - and just what did Peter see? Thomas wasn’t sure at all that anyone had seen anything. And the disciples walking to Emmaus didn’t have a clue Jesus was with them, until later.

Dead and Buried

In the Apostles’ Creed we profess our belief that Jesus was “crucified, dead and buried,” ending up like every one of us. His death was ugly and absolutely real, His breathing stopped, and His lifeless body hung on the cross. Taken down by those who loved Him, His cold body was washed and entombed in a cave like the dead of His tribe. That was that. Without a living body, there was for Him no today and surely no tomorrows.

Now here was Paul saying something about a “spiritual body” to replace the “physical body?” Yet it got even more perplexing - and amazing! He wasn’t only talking about Jesus, but about them! They heard him saying, “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” Just before he had said, “we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

Today, in the next phrase of the Creed, we too affirm God’s most miraculous work, when we say, “ he was raised from the dead.” But it is in the ending that we dare to assert confidently that we also believe in our ressurrection from the dead - yes, and life everlasting for us too. So today, as in ancient Corinth, we ask, “How?”

The Mystery

Through His creation God gives us insights that help us to understand His ways. One of the useful symbols of the resurrection has been the life cycle of the butterfly, as we see the ugly worm transformed into a beautifully-winged free spirit, and adding lovely color to the flowers in our yards. In it we see a foreshadowing of our own transformation, from our own wicked ways to a new life of righteousness in heaven.

So, the apostle teaches us in his illustrations the way we shall be changed, so we are fit for the presence of God. Yes, we shall all die. No matter that we don’t like to talk about it - we refuse to make our wills or to plan our funerals - we shall be dead and buried, for we are made of what is perishable. Indeed, not only humans, but all things shall pass away.

Our faith informs and consoles us, declaring in the voice of the apostle “we shall all be changed,” as in the prophesy of Ezekiel, “Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, 0 my people.” The purpose of the Son’s coming among us, which we celebrate at Christmas, was not to demonstrate God’s power in raising Jesus from the grave. Rather, He has come explicitly to be the “firstborn” of heaven, to be the first of many whom God will raise up from death to new life, in His everlasting kingdom. Our Christmas song is:

Good Christian men rejoice,

With heart and soul and voice;

Now ye need not fear the grave;

Jesus Christ was born to save!

Calls you one and calls you all,

To gain His everlasting hall.

Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!

This is the work of God, that “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust (Adam), we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (Jesus).”

“Lo, I tell you a mystery,” said Paul. And here he speaks to us today, reflecting the Savior’s own words, that “the Father raises the dead and gives them life.” To accomplish this, Jesus said, was His work, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good the the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.”

As the ugly worm knows by nature how to spin its cocoon and readies itself for the change certain to come, so we who possess the Spirit of God prepare for our change to pass from death to life. “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rev. Albert W. Kovács

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