SERMON BY THE REV
WAYMAN HENRY
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT
MARCH 04, 2007
When we talk about life
after death, we usually say that the soul leaves the body behind and goes to be
with God. Perhaps that’s right as far as
it goes – I wonder, does it go far enough?
Remember how astonished the disciples were when Jesus
appeared to them after his death? And
they immediately knew who he was.
Remember the two men walking the road to Emmaus? They finally recognized Jesus after he
blessed and broke the bread at their evening meal.
And this morning Paul is trying to help the church at
What does it mean to say that even though we die, we
shall live again? Can we understand the
“resurrection of the dead”? What do we,
as Christians, believe about life beyond the grave?
The first thing we need to understand is that we are
whole persons. We are not divided into
parts, some good – some bad. There are
those who will say that the mind is more important than the emotions and the
body.
There are those who will argue that emotions are more
important – and still others who contend that the body is the only part worth
worrying about. It’s as if the person
was a machine and all the parts functioned separately and independently.
We know that’s not true.
We know the body affects the emotions.
The emotions affect the mind. We
know that if one aspect of our life changes, it affects other aspects as well.
For example – our mind might tell us we are
overweight. Our spirit determines to
make things different. Hopefully we diet
and exercise and that causes a change in our bodies. Body, mind, spirit – all affect each other.
We are complex – intricate – integrated persons. We are whole persons. We can not be divided up.
SO WHAT?!?
Our understanding of life after death has to do with the
whole person. We Christians believe that
after death we are resurrected to new life – as complete persons. Not just our souls – the whole person. We are not divided – body and soul.
The idea that we are divided into body and soul is
Greek. The body – bad, the soul –
good. The body was something the soul
had to put up with. The sooner the soul
was set free, the better.
That’s not the Christian understanding. When Paul talks about life after death, he
talks about the whole person. He says
that Jesus will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body.
Not that a part of us lives on after death – rather – we
will be transformed as whole complete persons.
One way of explaining the resurrection is the caterpillar
that goes into a cocoon and comes out a butterfly. Jesus talked often about the seed buried in
the ground and came up as a plant bearing fruit.
We know that Jesus’ body was not destroyed – it was made
new. He is our example of what the
resurrection of the body means.
Jesus’ resurrection was not a vague, invisible soul which
soared off to heaven. Instead – he
appeared to his disciples, to other believers, to Paul. He was visible – touchable – he even shared a
meal with them beside the lake.
Obviously his body was not the same as it had been. It was different some how. Remember how he suddenly appeared in the room
behind the locked door? No one opened
the door. He was just there. He had not done that before. A different body – a transformed body.
Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we will also be
raised. Because he was transformed, we
will also be transformed.
The gospels tell us that our transformation does not
begin at death – It begins now. It
begins with our priorities – our decisions – our actions – right now.
If
the seed planted in the ground is dead – no new life will ever grow. No matter how much water, how much fertilizer
– nothing is going to happen. The plant will grow only if the seed is alive.
We,
you and I, have been changed by the Christian faith in our life time. We have turned from the old life to a new
life. We have been recreated in our own
lives. In a like way our bodies will be
changed – made new – recreated – on the other side of death.
That’s
about all we really know about that – the Lord Jesus Christ,… will change our
lowly bodies to be like his glorious body…