I
asked the question “Is there life after death?”
This question is not about the existence of life after death, but to
better define how we think about “life after death.” A place to begin the discussion is by looking at what
is unique and special about the resurrection stories? There are four unique features.
Feature
One:
Up
to this point, all four evangelists have drawn heavily upon biblical
quotations, allusion, and echo to make it clear that Jesus’ death was
“according to the scripture.” But the
resurrection narratives are almost entirely innocent of earlier scriptural
references. This is all the more
remarkable when we note from as early as Paul, the common creedal formula
declared that the resurrection too, was “according to the scriptures..” This is probably an indication that the resurrection accounts were
based on very, very early oral tradition, even though Paul's letters were actually "written down" first.
Feature
Two:
The
second strange feature is the presence
of the women.
Women were not regarded as credible witnesses in the ancient world. When the tradition had time to sort itself
out and acquire the fixed form we already find in Paul’s quotation of it in I
Corinthians 15, the women were quietly dropped; they were apologetically
embarrassing. But there they are in all
four gospel stories, front and center, the first witnesses, the first
apostles.
For I handed on to you as of first importance
what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with
the scriptures,4and
that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with
the scriptures,5and
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.6Then he appeared to more than five hundred
brothers, at one time, most
of whom are still alive, though some have died.*7Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. 8Last
of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. (No women)
Third
Strange Feature:
The
third strange feature is the portrait of Jesus himself. According
to earlier prophesies and descriptions in the earlier biblical texts, you would
expect to find Jesus shining with inner illumination. That’s
what Daniel says will happen. That is
what happened to Moses when he came down from his mountain top experiences with
God. We have an account in the
transfiguration. But none of the gospels
says this about Jesus at Easter. Indeed,
he appears as a human being with a body and can be mistaken for a gardener, or
a fellow traveler on the road to Emmaus.
Yet these stories also contain definite signs that his body has been
transformed. It is clearly physical; and
yet it comes and goes through locked doors; it is not always recognizable. No
biblical texts predict that the resurrection will involve this kind of
body.
The
forth strange feature:
The
forth strange feature of the resurrection accounts is the fact they never
mention the future Christian hope.
Almost everywhere else in the New Testament, the resurrection of Jesus
is spoken of in connection with the final hope that those who belong to Jesus
will one day be raised as he has been. And
yet, the original stories of the resurrection contain no mention of this. Even the first written works of Paul contain
this element, but the gospel writers do not.
Remember, Paul was written first.
If these accounts were later written down and formulated by believers,
they would mimic the work of Paul.
Instead they do not. Instead,
the narratives have a very this-worldly-present-age meaning:
Jesus is raised,
so he is the Messiah and therefore he is the world’s true Lord.
The stories are true!
Jesus is raised and God’s new creation has
begun. That
is the “hope” of the resurrection!
Not
just for creation as a whole, but for you and me. It is the hope of
life regenerated, life that is transformed from death.
It is the hope of eternal life.
----Pastor Suzanne
