We’re going really big picture this morning with readings that point to ‘the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come’. They’re a scene setter for the dramatic events of next week when we recall the death and resurrection of Our Lord which establishes our future and that of the cosmos. At the heart of Christianity is no theory or doctrine but a happening – Christ’s resurrection. This happening connects with us individually and corporately and has been spoken of by the prophets.
Our first reading takes us to the aftermath of a battle, a valley of dry bones and the prophecy of Ezekiel that these will rise. ‘Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people’. It links to the beginning of faith in the general resurrection of the dead on the last day which our Creed affirms in its last sentence.
In the second reading from the letter to the Romans St Paul presents Christ’s resurrection in relation to the raising up of individual believers by the Holy Spirit, who through baptism gives life to our spirits, but in anticipation of the corporate resurrection to glory of believers on the last day. ‘If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you’ (Romans 8:11). Even if our bodies remain subject to sickness and decay our sense of the Spirit indwelling us as believers renewed today in Holy Communion hints at an inner life that’s immortal. Healings and answers to prayer we experience in our lives over the course of earthly life are further manifestations of that resurrection life
The Gospel from John 11 is read today because it immediately precedes the events of Palm Sunday. Indeed the very sensation of the raising of Lazarus in St John’s account sets in train events which lead to his crucifixion. The story shows us both God’s compassion and power with Jesus weeping over his friend’s passing and raising him from the dead. It is Our Lord’s greatest miracle going beyond two other similar miracles with Jairus’ daughter and the widow of Naim’s son. The daughter had just died. The widow’s son had died probably earlier in the day as Jewish laws require interment within 24 hours. Lazarus had been dead for four days. Before raising his friend Jesus says: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die’. (John 11:25-26) This statement is one of intent. Jesus acts upon it in three ways, praying effectively for Lazarus to be raised, going to his own death and then opening up a permanent resurrection in soul and body for all who live believing in him, individually and corporately. The whole point of Christian faith is this opening of humanity to a dimension of life beyond this world that will be finally revealed in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
Anne and I acted on this big picture of things when we made our funeral arrangements recently, agreeing our bodies be laid to rest after death in St Giles’ Churchyard in Horsted Keynes to await that general resurrection alongside the mortal remains of many friends in that community. Easter could be a time to revisit our funeral arrangements in thoughtfulness to those who will have to act for us after our death. ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to awaken him’ Today’s Gospel shows God’s viewpoint on the grave as a place of sleep, a sleep from which he can and will awaken us. The quietness of our cemeteries continues in anticipation of that awakening.
When we see crops growing in the fields for harvest it inspires a larger thought. What of all the goodness, truthfulness and beauty in human beings? How will that end up? Or the evil and deceitfulness? The valleys of bones in Ukraine? Christian faith sees human history as part of the purpose of God that will climax in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. This climax is the separation promised by Jesus of the righteous and unrighteous to populate heaven and hell.
In Christian tradition there are two resurrections for human beings. There is an individual resurrection of the soul at the moment of death and a general resurrection of the body that is part of the completion of God’s plan at the Lord’s return when the destinies of individuals finally become part of the corporate resurrection when, as Paul puts it again, God will become ‘everything to everyone’ (1 Corinthians 15:28). Scripture witnesses two ultimate destinies, heaven and hell, populated by people in body as well as soul. The catholic tradition affirms an antechamber to heaven where unrepented sins are dealt with called variously purgatory or paradise.
Christianity centres on the body of Christ. Believers are part of that body. They are incorporated by baptism and in an ongoing manner through holy communion. The resurrection body is a fulfilment of this incorporation. Jesus promises that ‘those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day’ (John 6v54). In the same way Paul teaches in today’s passage that ‘the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you… giv[ing] life to your mortal bodies (Romans 8v11). The joy the Lord gives to our spirit is destined to expand and fill the universe in the resurrection of the dead at his return.
Surely heaven is automatic when you die? Some say. No. Life is short. Death is certain and there are two destinies beyond it of joy and of misery. Christ made this clear. He also spoke of joy in heaven over every soul that opens itself to him. ‘There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8v1). If we live life apart from Christ we miss out in this world and the next. Scripture is plain that this life is preparation for the next and has eternal consequences. At the last it will be a case of my will be done or God’s will be done.
As we prepare for Easter and the renewal of our baptismal promises we seek a fuller surrender of our lives to the God and Father of Jesus who has prepared for us good things that pass our understanding. Our priests are available for counsel and confession to serve that surrender. With Martha in today’s Gospel let us make an act of faith: ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are … the Son of God’. May the devout celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection bring death to more of our sins, fresh life in the Holy Spirit and a more confident looking forward to ‘the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come’.
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