Jump Start # 3549
1 Corinthians 15:4 “and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
I have to admit there are things about the resurrected Jesus that I don’t understand. He seems very human and physical. He’s talking. He’s walking seven miles to Emmaus. But, there are other times, He seems very different.
When talking with the two at Emmaus, Luke says, “He vanished.” John’s Gospel leaves the impression that Jesus walked through a locked door and appeared to the disciples. He’s breaking bread in Emmaus and frying fish with the disciples along the sea side. Yet, his hands and side still showed the signs of a crucifixion. I assume that the hands were not oozing blood out of them. When Lazarus was raised, whatever led to his death was miraculously healed. The same for the twelve year old daughter of Jairus. It did little good to raise them if they still had a fatal disease that was going to kill them. They were raised cured. They were healthy. Yet, our Lord kept the signs of crucifixion. When Jesus spoke to Mary, she recognized His voice. Some things were the same. Some things were very different.
There are many things about all of this that is just hard to understand. And, that leads us to some things we need to realize:
First, there are aspects of God that we will never fully understand. That can bother us. We want to be able to explain everything. We are extremely limited in our knowledge and it is puzzling for the finite to grasp the infinite. It’s not from a lack of study that we declare, “We do not know.” That’s just the truth. It is much better to be honest and say that than to take a guess which could be way off.
What did Jesus do for those forty days between the resurrection and the ascension? Where all did He go? The post resurrection appearances in our Bibles are sketchy and few. They do not cover forty days. Speculation and guesses can lead to ideas that are simply in our minds and no where else.
It makes sense to show the nail prints to give proof that it was Jesus and that He was alive. But how did those open places not bleed out? Or, did He have blood any more? How was His life different now that He was raised? Did He sleep? Did He need to sleep?
Second, when John wrote in His first letter, “…we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (3:2). And, just what will that be like? Paul’s description of the resurrection body leads to the concept of a better and glorified state. Perishable and imperishable. Dishonor and glorified. Natural and spiritual. Those are the contrasts Paul makes between how we are now and our resurrected state. And, since Christ is the first fruits of that resurrection, we conclude that His resurrected body was spiritual, glorified and imperishable. Had the Romans caught up with the resurrected Jesus, they would not have been able to put Him to death a second time. He was unable to perish. He was imperishable.
That is one of the great differences between the resurrection of Jesus and Lazarus. Lazarus was raised only to die again. Jesus was raised to never die again. Jesus resurrection proved who He was. His resurrection was the death blow to Satan.
Third, the fact that we will be raised one day only makes the future brighter and better for us. It doesn’t matter how dark the days are here, the sun will soon shine. It doesn’t matter the problem, because those problems stay on this side of life. One day we won’t be earth bound with all the limitations that come with that. One day we will be glorified, imperishable and with the Lord.
Because He lives, the hymn reminds us, we can face tomorrow. Because He lives, I know I will be ok. I may not fully understand. I may not get all that comes with that. I may not be able to explain it well. But, I know, because He promised, it will be great.
Roger