Resurrection of the Body
As we find ourselves in the middle of this Easter Octave, we experience a stark shift from Lent - a solemn season of prayer, fasting, and penance - to the joy of Easter. If our sacrifices during Lent prepared us to enter into Christ’s sufferings at Calvary, how then do we turn our hearts towards living as His Easter people? There are many ways to live the joy of Easter, but today let’s call our hearts and minds to the significance of the bodily resurrection.
As the Incarnation of the Word (John 1:14), Jesus did not just rise from the dead in Spirit - He rose in the body. In the same body that was born at the humble Nativity, the same body that was presented in the temple, the same body that performed so many miracles, and the same body that suffered and was brutally crucified. Christ’s bodily resurrection confirms fundamental Truths about the sacredness of our human bodies. While our body is not the only part of our identity - it is an integral part of who we are, for eternity.
While we celebrate the Resurrection, here are a few things to keep in mind this Easter as we pray with the Resurrection of the Body:
Our bodies are good
Our bodies are not only good, but as God declares in Genesis 1:31, they are “very good.” There is a temptation on this earth to reject pieces of God’s creation, including our own bodies. How many times do we look in the mirror and notice first the things that we would like to change? Of course, virtue lies somewhere in the middle between self deprecation and vanity; however, this fundamental truth that we are God’s creation makes us inherently beautiful. This fact should motivate us to treat and honor our bodies with dignity and respect - doing whatever we can to preserve, protect, and honor them.
Redemption includes our whole being
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 15, Saint Paul lays out clear Gospel teachings regarding both Christ’s and our own bodily resurrection. He implores us to consider the seriousness with which we must treat both our bodies and our souls to prepare for this day. Our body has a future, so what we do in it now is not meaningless. As he points out, “in the Lord, our labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). With this in mind, let’s pray that we develop an eternal perspective that guides our physical actions.
Our sin and suffering is not forgotten, but transformed
When Jesus appears to His disciples after rising from the dead, he shows them the wounds from his crucifixion (John 20:20-27). God has the power to fully heal and erase all iniquities, but Jesus kept his scars present on his resurrected body so that others could see and believe in the redemptive power of the Cross and Resurrection. As we think about the painful parts of our past - our sin, our suffering, and perhaps even the physical wounds and scars present on our bodies, let us bring them to the foot of the Cross so that they may be transformed through the glory of God.