6^th May 2012

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 22 April 2012

Lessons -- Psalm 4; Acts 4:1-4; Luke 24:36-48

And Jesus said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise
in your minds? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself! Feel
me and see; ghosts have no flesh or bones as you see that I have.'
(Luke 24:38,39)

It is hardly surprising the disciples had doubts! The person they had loved and followed had been crucified. Evil had won. Hope was extinguished. No wonder they were unsettled by his 'appearance'.

Luke insists that Jesus was no phantom but the person whose controversial ministry had puzzled and enthralled them. No effort is spared to show the difference between Jesus and a 'disembodied spirit'. He 'stood amongst them'. His physical presence is underscored by references to 'hands and feet . . . flesh and bones'. His humanness is confirmed by eating cooked fish in their presence. He is the 'flesh and blood' person, the 'Word who became flesh', who had embodied fullness of life in the midst of life.

Luke is engaged in a fierce battle that has raged throughout the centuries. From earliest times, the Church insisted that the Risen Jesus was not a ghost but the Lord of life who was fully present with the disciples. As we have seen in the study group, the New Testament deliberately rejected belief in 'spiritual resurrection' and 'immortality of the soul'.

In stark contrast to the persistent Greek idea that our (inferior) 'material bodies' decay at death while our (superior) 'immaterial souls'
survive, they argued that genuine hope must take account of the whole person. Survival of a disembodied soul does not constitute hope for us in a world where people's bodies, minds and souls are scarred by sin, evil, affliction and death!

In the 2nd Century, Tertullian declared belief in the 'salvation of the soul' to be heretical because it did not do justice to what God had done for 'everybody' in Christ's life, death and resurrection. What is raised is 'this flesh, suffused with blood, built up with bones, interwoven with nerves, entwined with veins, (a flesh) which . . . was born, and . . . dies, undoubtedly human'. (E Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels, p4.)

This was just as controversial then as now! Belief in the 'resurrection of the body' is held in contempt by many atheists and church members. Belief in the 'resurrection of the soul' or the 'revitalisation of the personality' is thought to be more 'enlightened' by those who believe in an after-life. We see this in the Gospel of Thomas, which does not mention Jesus' resurrection or crucifixion but is accepted by many as the 'fifth gospel'.

This kind of thinking is not 'modern'. It was present from the beginning. That is why Luke speaks so concretely of the 'flesh and bone' of the Risen Lord. He is no disembodied spirit!

But neither is Jesus simply a resuscitated corpse. Luke shows that Jesus is not exactly as he was before the crucifixion. Jesus asks the disciples to remember what he said 'when (he) was still with (them)' (v44), as if he were 'not with them' in the same way now. In this way, Luke skilfully points us to the incomparable wonder of the resurrection which cannot be understood within our normal ways of thinking!

There have always been sceptics about the resurrection. The honest ones reject Christianity; the dishonest ones ditch this 'core value' of the Church while promoting (what they regard as) Jesus' 'enlightened' wisdom free of such 'primitive' beliefs.

It is not necessarily a bad thing to doubt the resurrection. Indeed, as we saw with Thomas last week, the refusal to be comforted by wishful thinking can lead to a profound faith that compels worship of Christ as 'My Lord and my God'. However, when doubt does not erupt in praise but gives way to cynicism, then hope for a new heaven and new earth, in which our personal-bodily-communal life-together will be completed, is extinguished.

If there is to be hope for our flawed humanity and our strife-torn world, then the full humanness of the Risen Lord must not be compromised! We must affirm that, in the unity of his body, mind and spirit, Jesus was 'crucified, dead and buried' and that he himself, not simply a spiritual part of him, was raised to life by his Father as the sign of hope for humanity. Jesus is not a 'spirit' who survives a decaying, crucified body, but the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- who triumphs. 'It is I myself (the whole me).' What is at stake here is the renewal of humanity!
Because God has created us in the unity of body, mind and spirit, hope for 'us' must involve the whole person. Christ crucified-and-risen is the sign of hope for the whole person -- not just the soul -- because 'he himself' -- not just his spirit -- has defeated the dread power of sin and death for us.

We are confronted by a profound mystery -- one that can be compared only with the creation of the universe itself. Both are utterly beyond ordinary comprehension. Just as we cannot conceive how the universe came into being but know it to be real, so too is the reality of Jesus' resurrection.

Therefore, what happened to the crucified-Jesus in 'being raised from the dead' becomes the occasion for inexpressible praise if we let him shatter our ideas of what is reasonable. If we too are 'startled', 'frightened' and 'sceptical' at his risen appearance, then we will we share in the ecstasy of the first disciples who 'disbelieved for joy' (v41). Only then will we be able to say, 'It is so wonderful, I cannot believe it.' 'I can't believe it, but I know it's true!' It makes sense! In the face of the dread powers of sin, affliction and death that scar our bodies, minds and spirits, we may face the present and future in hope.

Do not stop being puzzled by Jesus' resurrection! An event without historical parallel should stimulate our imaginations and unsettle our certainties (of belief or unbelief!). Better to let passion for God's purpose for the world and creation lead us to doubt shallow or comforting answers that fit our 'small world of fact' than to become apathetic or cynical about hope.

The recent debate between Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and Cardinal George Pell on 'Questions & Answers' showed the stark difference between hope and cynicism. When asked what happened after death, Dawkins said that the disintegration of the body occurred differently depending on whether you were buried or cremated. Pell spoke of the resurrection of the body. One saw death as the end of life; the other saw fullness of life on the other side of death! The gulf between cynicism and hope was exposed when Dawkins was asked what purpose he saw in life. He said, 'The question of purpose is not only meaningless, but silly.'

On one hand, we had a rationalist trumpeting faith in a purposeless universe without a future; on the other, a man of faith espousing hope for humanity in the face of evil and death. On one hand, a representative of disillusioned folk for whom life is meaningless; on the other, a representative of faith that finds purpose in this world and the life of the world to come.

At a time when many 'rational' folk regard the beliefs of Christians as primitive, we must ask whose interpretation of reality is more 'reasonable'? Is it the one that explores connections within the world but denies the existence of any overarching purpose? Or, is it that which dignifies our flesh-and-blood relationships and looks forward to the future fulfilment of our flawed and incomplete lives?

The resurrection of the crucified Jesus is God's startling answer to the question of purpose. A world that God has created to be 'very good' (Genesis 1:31) we spoil when we trash the environment, trample on human dignity, abuse our own and others' bodies and wreck our flesh-and-blood relationships. The resurrection of Jesus is the sign of hope for the world!

If sin and evil, affliction and death are powerless to thwart the good purposes of God, there is hope for us and all humanity! Our lives, which are so small in the great scheme of things and so fractured and unfulfilled in so many ways, have meaning in God's grand purpose for heaven and earth. Our 'reasoned certainties' are powerless to create such a hope in us. But when we 'disbelieve for joy', cynicism is expelled, our 'small world of fact' is exposed and we are 'enlightened' by God's good purposes for the world, humanity, bodily life and the creation.

To believe in Christ's victory over evil, affliction and death enables us now to live by hope. Knowing that our personal and humanity's future is assured -- new heaven and new earth -- frees us to live in the present: by upholding human dignity, supporting those whose bodies are frail, disabled or disfigured and protesting against mistreatment of those whose bodies have been and are being abused, tortured or killed.

Might not the resurrection of Jesus therefore be the most humane, reasonable and hopeful event in history -- one that transforms our broken, strife-torn world and enables us to enjoy this life and confidently await the future?

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.