The Resurrection of our Lord
Luke 24:1-12

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Since the ancient Enemy was not able to destroy Jesus, to crush the Church out of existence, to silence the proclamation of the Gospel, he relies on another strategy: the lie. One of the most dangerous of these Satanic lies looks rather innocent.

How often have we heard people explain that they believe in life after death, but when asked to explain, they tell you that they mean only the spirit and not the body.  Why is that bad?  Because it denies Easter and distorts the creation of the universe.

God created some creatures to be pure spirits.  They are called “angels,” and they have no bodies.  God then created other creatures of flesh and blood, animals, which He animated and brought to life.  Finally, he created the pinnacle of creation, human beings.  Man is like an angel, in that he is a spiritual being, but he is also like an animal, since he has flesh and blood.  But man is something more: he was made in God’s image.  So, mankind is above both the animals and the angels, especially since God became man in Christ Jesus.

Since we have physical bodies, we can physically touch one another. We can feel the warm sunshine and the cool breeze. We can move around in contact with God’s good earth, as our spirits are joined with our God-given bodies. We can eat, we can see and hear, we can appreciate beauty. We can sing and enjoy music. Some can even create things of beauty–reflecting the creativity of God in whose image we have been made.  The physical body is a glorious and good thing.

But how many times have you heard the lie that Christianity hates the body, condemns pleasure, and is against anything that feels or tastes good?  How many times have you heard the lie that when we die, we cast off our bad old bodies in exchange for a better “spiritual” existence?  Some even falsely say we become angels.  There is an underlying assumption in all of this that the spirit is good, and the body is bad.

Nearly every false religion of the world teaches this.  The Eastern religions of today say that the goal of religion is to shed off the body and live as pure spirits.  Science fiction likes to fantasize that human consciousness can exist in a computer program–without a fleshly body.  Pop spirituality says that we can transcend the limitations of our bodies with lucid dreaming, affirmations, and visualization.  But none of this has anything to do with the Christian faith.

For in the Book of Genesis, God creates a physical world, blesses it, and calls the whole creation “very good.”  And then when we had fallen into sin, He reaffirmed the goodness of creation by taking on our flesh and blood to redeem our bodies as well as our souls through the cross.  And today, we celebrate the fact that after Jesus died bodily to win our forgiveness, He didn’t just cast His body aside, leaving it in the grave.  He rose from the dead–bodily, literally, tangibly, in the flesh, to restore and renew us and all creation.

But still, even many who want to be thought of as Christian have bought into the lie that divides spirit and body.  How else could it be that someone could claim to be “spiritual” but rarely if ever go to church?  Because they separate the bodily act of remembering the Sabbath in God’s house from their hearts and spirits.  How else could it be that someone could talk about believing in Jesus and then engage in immoral behavior without it ever really bothering their conscience?  Because they separate their outward behavior from their inward faith.  And after all, it’s only what’s inside that counts, right?  What I do in the body doesn’t really matter.  So I like to party a little bit.  So I’m having sex outside of marriage.  Hey, my heart’s right with God.  Don’t judge me. . .  Of course, it’s not my judgment but God’s that you need to worry about.

In the end, those who promote the separation of the spirit from the body are really only promoting one thing: death.  If we hold that the physical is useless or bad and is best gotten rid of, well, death fixes that, doesn’t it? Do you see how perverse this is? The false dichotomy between body and spirit is a satanic lie of the worst sort.  And it is one of the foundational elements of our culture, where death is often seen as the solution to the problem rather than as the curse of our sin.

But there is in fact only one death that is the solution to our problem, and that is the death of Christ.  For by His death He destroyed death.  By the shedding of His blood He took away our sin.  And if our sin is taken away, so also is the fatal curse of sin.  Through the cross, death has been undone.  And the living proof of that is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus.  With literally earth-shattering strength, He broke the power of the grave and showed forth the victory of the cross.

As St. John Chrysostom once proclaimed, “Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again; for forgiveness has risen from the grave.  Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.  He has destroyed it by enduring it.  He destroyed hell when He descended into it.  He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh. . .  Hell was in an uproar because it is mocked, it is destroyed, it is now made captive.  Hell took a body, and discovered God.  It took earth, and encountered Heaven.  It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.  O death, where is your sting?  O grave, where is your victory?  Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!

Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!  Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!  Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!  Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead; for Christ having risen from the dead, has become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

That is the sure hope that we rejoice in this day.  Not only has Christ risen in victory over death, but His victory belongs to us as well, for He rose in our flesh!  We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and death and hell have no power over us.  Jesus is the first of many more to rise–bodily–through His Easter triumph.  Foreseeing this, Job testified already in the Old Testament, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth, and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God.”  It had been revealed to Job that we will be resurrected bodily ourselves–not reincarnated over and over again, not simply living on in the thoughts, memories, and hearts of those left behind, but real resurrection.  It is written, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.”  There is no separating body and soul with Christ our Redeemer, for that is death, the ugly, unnatural curse of sin.  But Christ is our Life, the majestic, supernatural Conqueror, who gives us the victory and delivers us from these bodies of death to give us renewed bodies that are immortal and imperishable.

And our Lord gives us this gift in a way that is both physical and spiritual, as it is written, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  With the real, physical water of baptism, we are given the Holy Spirit and are reborn to everlasting life.  We are baptized into Christ’s death, which has fully atoned for our sin, and so we will also share in His resurrection to life and glory when He comes again on the last day.

And we also dare not forget that we celebrate this day as a “feast” day.  In our liturgy, we sing “This is the Feast of Victory for our God.”  It’s not merely a celebration.  A feast is only a feast if we’re eating a meal!  We humans can feast because we have bodies.  The angels can’t feast.  They don’t know the sheer pleasure of a glorious meal, the fellowship and contact of eating with others.  They don’t know what it’s like to taste, to dine, to drink as we humans do.

Our eternal existence in heaven is described by Scripture as a feast that never ends. But one can’t feast without a body.  This is why we Christians treat the dead with reverence and respect.  A Christian’s body is a sacred relic, holy, sanctified by baptism and by eating and drinking the Lord’s body and blood.

And that is precisely how our risen Lord comes to us, becomes part of us, has physical contact with us–in this feast we call the Lord’s Supper.  Our blessed Lord comes to us in a meal–not only spiritually but also physically. Although we are mortal because of our sin, we have a physical Redeemer who physically restores us through being with us in physical elements of bread and wine, which are truly his risen body and blood.  So it is that the Psalmist implores us, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

You can’t get these benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection remotely.  They can’t be sent to you as an e-mail attachment. You can’t watch it on TV. You get the benefits of our Lord’s sacrifice concretely, as He puts His resurrected and perfect flesh into your mortal and sinful flesh.  By this encounter which we can see, smell, and taste, we are both spiritually and physically renewed and prepared for the resurrection of our bodies.

Death is our enemy, the separation of body and spirit.  But “by Jesus’ death, He has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again, he has restored to us everlasting life.”  Thanks be to God!

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

(With thanks to the Rev. Larry Beane)