By Fr. Joseph B Francis –
Continuing the series on ‘I Believe’, there is also a Pneumatological (Holy Spirit) aspect to the expectation of our final resurrection.
This can be perceived from Rm 8.15-27 (especially v. 23) + II Cor 5.5 “… but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee”. Cf. also Eph 1.14 where the Spirit is described as the guarantee, a first installment or assurance or like earnest money in transactions wherein the future completion of the whole sum is expected. What transpires from these three texts is the Pneumatological (Holy Spirit) aspect of resurrection. The Justified Christian has received the Holy Spirit as a Guarantee, i.e., the first installment in the process of transformation from death to life; from being a slave to being a son/daughter in the Son.
This is going on day by day according to the measure of our lower level cooperation with God’s Grace, which Grace is always at the higher level. This is the deeper meaning of resurrection as an ongoing process which comes to a completion on the last day.
The same body’s complete resurrection with new properties: If we hold to the opinion of bodily self persisting even after biological death, wherein we still have an internally extended body, resurrection means the repossession of a glorified, external bodily dimension. The sameness of the body was never absent even after the biological death of the person. Suppose a rubber stamp or metal stamp kept aside for a number of years but when rediscovered and used, they produce the very same images that they produced years ago. Some theologians have tried to describe this dominance of the spirit over the body by saying that the risen body would have the following 4 qualities implied by I Cor 15.42-44:
(a) Impassibility: This means that there would be no suffering, sickness, death, pain, frailty, hunger, thirst tiredness etc. for this risen body. There would be no dependent need to eat, drink or sleep though we could do all these things.
(b) Splendour: The risen body would shine like the sun (like Jesus’ body at the Transfiguration Mt 13. 43). It would have beauty and radiance, which would be controllable at will.
(c) Subtlety: This means that the risen body would be docile to the spirit and would be able to move through solids e.g., Jesus in his risen state is able to go through closed doors and walls.
(d) Agility: This pertains to the ability of the risen body not to be restricted to space and time. One could move from place to place with the speed of thought without having to move through successive space.
These theologians are also quick to add that the Lost would have a body at resurrection without these 4 qualities which derive from the Indwelling Holy Spirit and the Lost do not have the Indwelling Trinity! Today many theologians would not waste their time on these questions, which appear to them to be puerile, selfish thinking about oneself and in the words of St. Paul, “stupid questions” (I Cor 15. 36). We should rather remember that human life and eschatology (the last things) are a process. We work to bring about a better world not for oneself alone but for all.
One must also be careful to pay attention to the Gospel resurrection accounts and what they say indirectly about the Risen Body of Jesus.
- It is corporeal. Jesus stood on the ground (Jn 21.4). He is touched by Mary Magdalene (Jn 20.17), Thomas (Jn 20.27) and other disciples (Lk 24.39). He eats fish with them (Lk 24.42-43) etc.
- It is curious that the beholders find it difficult to recognize Jesus. Why is this so? A certain Greek monk suggests that the Risen Lord could appear in any form he wishes. He appeared to the two disciples of Emmaus like a wayfarer because indeed he looked like that. He appeared to Mary Magdalene like a gardener and that is why she could not recognize him. To the disciples at the lake of Tiberias he appeared like an old retired fisherman giving practical tips. All of them recognized Jesus by some characteristic action. The two disciples of Emmaus recognized him by the characteristic way in which he broke the bread (must have been a special style). Mary Magdalene recognized him by the voice and the characteristic inflections he used while calling her “Mary”. The beloved disciple recognized him because he connected in his mind the great catch of fish with the catch of fish they had when they were first called to be his disciples. So, even today Jesus the Risen Lord could appear with any kind of body and one must be ready to accept him if he were to appear as a woman, child, old person, poor or rich person. There is no restriction to his appearance in any form and at any place!
- However, the body was same in many respects without the need for looking exactly the same. How else are we to explain the doubt of those who met him in Galilee in the last scene before ascension according to St. Matthew 28.16-17 “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee… When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted”.
There is a close connection between Jesus’ resurrection and our own.
Jesus’ resurrection not only points out to our own resurrection but also causes it. We can understand this from Pauline use of the Jewish concept of solidarity and the consideration of the Jewish society as a corporate body. He speaks of the Christian being crucified with Jesus Christ, buried with Jesus Christ and rising with Jesus Christ to a new life in Christ Cf. Rm 6.3-11; 8.17; Eph 2.4-7. Jesus’ resurrection is complete in a way and incomplete in another. It is complete in his personal resurrection and incomplete in his corporate resurrection of the Mystical Body. When all of us are risen on the last day then it would be complete. Further, the whole of creation is in travail until the full liberation in its full extension in the whole universe would have been achieved when God would be all in all (Cf. Rm 8.19-23; I Cor 15.28 Cf. also G. S 39.1). Life is changed not taken away. At Christian funerals let us not cry like faithless people but sing Alleluia with the Church because this person who is stiff and silent in death will rise again with a glorious body on the last day!