Theme: Life after death
The second word of Jesus from the cross is addressed to one
of the two thieves who were executed with him.
This thief recognized who Jesus was and asked to be remembered when
Jesus came into his kingdom. Jesus
responds with the promise that indeed he will be with Jesus in Paradise after
his death. Let us now turn to our
discussion this week in which we reflect on “Paradise” and also our own resurrections,
which we will see, together constitute life after death.
What do you think
popular culture believes about life after death?
Answers will range from reincarnation; everyone goes to
heaven; total annihilation or escape into nothingness,; the good people (which
everyone seems to be when they pass away) go to heaven to be with God for all
eternity, while those who are evil go to hell; some people become angels and
watch over those they left behind; or maybe just an image of harps, clouds, and
singing comes to mind.
What about
Christianity, what do Christians believe or are supposed to believe?
The answers will of course overlap with what our culture
believes, but an emphasis will be placed on eternal heaven for those who follow
Christ and eternal punishment for those who don’t. Interestingly, if resurrection isn’t brought
up before the question, does it come to mind?
Does the average Christian think in terms of resurrection when we contemplate
life after death? A point of emphasis in both what Jesus says to the thief on
the cross and in the passage we will look at in John is that we will be with
Jesus after we die. Jesus says, “you
will be with me!”
Before we go any farther, a word needs to be said about
“Paradise.” In the Old Testament and in the New, Paradise refers to a garden,
just like we would imagine. It is used
only 3 times in the New Testament, each time to refer the place where God is.
(Here in Luke, 2 Cor. 12:4, Rev. 2:7) It had also taken the notion of being a
return to the Garden of Eden as the primordial and perfect Garden. Paradise was also seen around the time of
Jesus as a temporary place for the righteous dead before the resurrection.[1] This
idea might sound strange, but look at another teaching of Jesus from John
14:1-6.
1 “Do not let your heart be
troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In
My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have
told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And
you know the way where I am going.” 5 Thomas
*said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the
way?” 6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the
Father but through Me.
John 11:24 the story of Lazarus: “Martha
said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live
even if he dies, 26 and everyone who
lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
You might be familiar with the King James Version of these
verses, in which “dwelling places” is translated as “mansions.” Mansion comes from the Latin Vulgate, the
biblical text of the Church for over a thousand years. In the Roman world, a mansion was a stopping
place on the Roman road for officials or those on official business to rest on
their journey. In Greek the word is “mone,”
which was also used to describe a temporary place.[2] Mone were tents which soldiers pitched on
their marches.
If we believe that
our “dwelling places” and Paradise is temporary, what does that say about the
afterlife? What is the Resurrection, not
just of Jesus but our own?
Jesus didn’t talk about the resurrection much. It is not surprising because he disciples
couldn’t even understand that he was going to suffer and die, or that that
Jesus himself was going to rise again.
Thus, Jesus didn’t really teach his disciples that they also would rise
again at the last day. Paul on the other
hand spends some time, especially in 1 Cor. 15.
We are focusing on this series on the teachings and life of Jesus, but
this chapter is crucial to understanding what are own resurrection will be. Paul makes the point that we only have the
hope of our own resurrection because Jesus himself was raised from the
dead. He was the “firstfruits” of which
we will follow. Thus, just as Jesus was
bodily raised, so will we. Also, like
Jesus there will be both continuity and discontinuity with our bodies. Jesus’
scars were present and he was sometimes recognizable, yet he could also walk
through walls, was sometimes unrecognizable, and ultimately disappeared into
heaven, God’s space, at his ascension.
Concluding thoughts:
So what? Does an
understanding of the resurrection or an afterlife at all matter to us in our
daily lives?
1. God is with us, in this life and the next. In both of our readings tonight the primary
emphasis is that we will be with Jesus.
This provides hope to us in the midst of lives trials and hardships.
2. The resurrection implies that the body, earth, and
creation are not bad and will not be destroyed.
This means that in eternity we will not be disembodied souls floating
around in heaven, but in the resurrection we will be matter or physical. See
both Rom. 8 and Rev. 21-22 for examples of the redemption of all creation. In Romans the whole earth is somehow redeemed
through humanities salvation. In
Revelations, the image is of new heaven and new earth and Jerusalem is
descending to earth to bring God’s reign here.
3. Somehow our work here matters. It is a mystery, but the work we do here
today in this life will last into eternity.
The conclusion to Paul’s extended discussion of our own resurrections is
to say, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast,
immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is
not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 15:58) He doesn’t say because we are
leaving this earth we can sit back and relax or what for the new creation,
rather he tells us to continue God’s work, because it isn’t in vain.
Deeper
thinking:
If time allows, or as a follow up study,
explore Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15 concerning the resurrection. The physical resurrection of the righteous
was not a foreign concept to the people in Jesus’ or Paul’s day. (see for
example what Martha says in John 11:24.)
Further reading:
N.T.
Wright, Surprised by Hope
C.S.
Lewis, The Great Divorce
See
page 155 N.T. wright for differences between “physical” and “spiritual” bodies
in 1 Cor. 15:44.
Luke
24:41-43 Jesus eats with disciples after resurrection.
No comments:
Post a Comment