By Fr. Joseph B Francis –
The hope of our bodily resurrection at the end of time
The Niceno-Constantinople Creed (381 AD) is slightly longer here: “I look forward to resurrection of the dead.” We believe not only in the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ but also in the resurrection and assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
These twin events give us a concrete hope for our resurrection from the dead. Jesus as the first fruit is risen from the dead (I Cor 15.23). He is the first born from the dead (Col 1.18). But how do we look at the Resurrection of Jesus? Was it a resuscitation of a dead corpse?
Today more and more we would discount such a resuscitation and speak of it as a genuine resurrection i.e., a glorious Risen Body of the Lord, fresh in all its characteristics though it is the same Bodily Self of the Lord. The Risen Body of the Lord points out to what our own resurrection is to be in future.
Many images have been used to project resurrection. St. Paul uses the image of seed and plant (Cf. I Cor 15. 35-38 “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’ Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body”).
An ancient symbol was the legend about the phoenix bird dying and rising again (Cf. St. Clement of Rome FEF 13a [FEF refers to a collection of texts from the Fathers of the Church entitled ‘Faith of the Early Fathers’ ed. by Jurgens]). A traditional symbol has been the Easter egg, symbolic of the new life that bursts through the shell. More recently the image of the butterfly is used. What goes into the cocoon is the ugly caterpillar, a voracious eater of leaves but what comes out after metamorphosis in the cocoon is the beautiful butterfly, flying in the bright sunshine and feeding only on honey!
Resurrection of the “body” or resurrection of the “dead”?
Some creeds call it resurrection of the “body” though others call it resurrection of the “dead”. Resurrection of body could be inaccurate since it presupposes the body-soul divisive anthropology according to the ancient Greek Philosopher Plato. Since resurrection is not a resuscitation of a dead body and we speak of the bodily self as continuing in the interim state, it is more accurate to speak of the resurrection of the dead. The Risen Body has a glorified, new status. The external bodily dimension is restored to the bodily self with its persisting internal body.
Some have spoken of the ongoing process of resurrection wherein the Justified (i.e., those alright with God) have already experienced an initial resurrection through the mystical paschal experience of death and resurrection. This was effected in them by the Holy Spirit at baptism and to the extent that we let the Holy Spirit work in us unhindered, our progressive resurrection takes place, in such a way that this resurrection would be a process which is completed at the Parousia (coming of the Lord). Both John and Paul speak of such a progressive resurrection.
The Witness of Scripture (NT)
At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, so did many simple Jews; Jesus also believed in the resurrection. But the Sadducees who were both learned and rich did not. Their interest was mammon and this life. They too would have laughed at Jesus, even as the Pharisees did, when he spoke of poverty and detachment (Lk 16.14).
The Sadducees asked him about a fictitious situation of a woman who married 7 brothers one after another, according to the Levirate Law. Whose wife would she be at resurrection? This they asked not to learn anything but to make fun of Jesus’ belief in the resurrection and show to the people how foolish and ignorant the young prophet was.
From this, indirectly we gather that Jesus believed in resurrection! Jesus gave them a fitting answer (Cf. Mt 22.23-33). In the answer we notice that Jesus warns them against interpreting resurrection in any grossly biological sense. They should think of the dead as being alive and awaiting resurrection to a new type of life. Note well v. 32 where Jesus tells the Sadducees to look into that part of Scripture, which they accepted, as canonical and find the answer in the fact of the so-called being alive “‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is God not of the dead, but of the living.”
Jn 5.24-29 places the resurrection in the Trinitarian perspective. V 24 tells us that the one who accepts Jesus’ words has already passed from death to life. It is the Father who keeps such a person alive and would raise him up on the judgment day. “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life. Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out–those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation”.
We read in Jn 11.23-26 that Martha thinks of the resurrection as a future event to take place on the final judgment day (v.24) but Jesus corrects her and makes her to think of the present passage from death to life. He who believes in Jesus will never die because such a person continues to be alive (v.26). Jn 6.54-58 tells us that if we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ, we would have life and even if we died biologically, we would be raised up! The early Church therefore continued to proclaim its belief in the resurrection.
Acts of the Apostles mentions the continued opposition of the Sadducees on this score. [Acts 4:1-2] “While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead”.
We also read of the artful way in which Paul escaped being lynched by appealing to the common belief of the Pharisees in the group regarding resurrection and angels: “When Paul noticed that some were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he called out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead.’ When he said this, a dissension began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge all three.)” [Acts 23.6-8].
Note well that there is no controversy regarding the fact of resurrection. That there is to be resurrection of the dead is part of our Catholic, Christian faith. In the understanding of it, there are variations and they could be observed in the answers to the following questions: i) When does it take place?… ii) How does it take place? iii) The Church says that it will be the same body how to understand the sameness of the risen body and the body we had on earth? iv) What are the characteristics of the risen body?