Hello, welcome to this episode of UNFKD, the bonus series of my podcas tFkd Up by Faith, where I explore theological and theology-adjacent ideas which are harmful, or misunderstood, or just plain wrong. I’m Jude Mills.
And today is Easter Monday – or at least it will be easter Monday when this is available to listen to. So it seemed most apt to devote this episode to the topic of resurrection.
Although it has morphed into a bit of a chocolate fest, Easter has managed to avoid the extreme commercialisation of Christmas. And for many Christians, that is a good thing. Because Easter is, or at least should be, the much bigger day, from a theological perspective. And for a long time in the Christian church, that was certainly the case. And that is because Easter day celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. SO whilst we have the whole bit leading up to Easter – we have the period of penitence and prayer that is Lent, and then we have the celebration of the last supper on Maundy Thursday, and the re-telling of the passion – the crucifixion and death of Jeus on the Cross on Good Friday, the dark and quiet of Saturday, when he is in the tomb. It is all leading up to the event upon which Christianity is founded. And that is the resurrection.
There is something truly special and magical about the traditional Easter vigil service. In the Catholic tradition this happens at might time on Saturday, although some churches begin the service in the dark early on Easter morning, and symbolically greet the dawn. There is a fire outside the church, the paschal candle is lit and processed into the dark church and then the lights will be switched on, the priest will declare Christ risen, there may be bells and the whole congregation declares Christ risen indeed. And, for the first time since the start of Lent, we are allowed to say, or sing, Allelujah! The hymns are triumphant, and if you’re lucky you’ll get to sing Thine Be the Glory. It’s that incredible chorus from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus.
This is just my option but an Easter service without TBTG is like a Christmas service without Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Every now and again churches will try a service without it, you know, try something a bit different but someone will always complain.
But of course the reason we play Triumphant music like TBTG is because we are celebrating the risen Christ. As the words go – Thine Be The Glory, Risen Conquering Son. And the thing he has conquered…. Is death.
So before we get into what the resurrection actually means…Let’s hear the version of events from the Gospel of Luke, which was this year’s lectionary reading for the Easter vigil service.
24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body.] 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men[c] said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
There’s a great cartoon by Naked Pastor, it shows the women on one side of the image and the a whole bunch of men on the other, and the men are saying “So ladies, thanks for being the first to witness and report the resurrection. And we’ll take it from here.” I will link to the cartoon on his website in the show notes. Women and the Resurrection Digital Cartoon
All four gospels tell variations on this same story. Either women together, or Mary Magdalen on her own are the first to witness, firstly that Jesus’ body isn’t in the tomb, and in three of the gospels, the first to encounter the resurrected Christ. We also get this idea that the men didn’t believe them. It is telling that the Naked Pastors cartoon still speaks to women in the church today.
MUSICAL BREAK
What do we mean by resurrection?
So, there are different takes on this depending on theological position. And, a topic, like most aspects of Christian doctrine, which has been the subject of much debate, and it still is. To keep it simple, I am going to talk about three ways that we can think about the resurrection event. Bear in mind that within these three broad categories, there are further differences and nuances of thinking.
So Firstly, is the idea that Jesus physically got up from the dead. Reanimated, and started walking around. This would seemingly account for the fact that his tomb was empty, the grave clothes folded, and of course, for the fact the people actually saw him. And in some accounts, actually touched him. So there was some solid physical presence to touch.
There is also the general understanding in this belief that the resurrected body of Christ was changed in some way, which would account for people not immediately recognising him and it was only when he spoke that they realised who he was. When Mary Magdalene encounters him in the garden, at first she thinks he is the gardener, until he says her name.
So if Jesus’ body physically resurrected, why isn’t Jesus still walking around now? Well – that would be explained by the ascension. After forty days of walking around on earth after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven. We hear this account in the Gospel of Luke and in the book of Acts. The ascension is a whole other episode and it’s a topic I have preached on several times, so I might treat you to that when the day comes.
In 2021 Professor Alice Roberts, who was then president of the humanist society, got herself a bit of stick for tweeting – on Easter Day “Just a little reminder today. Dead people – don’t come back to life.” Apart from the fact that it was rude and insensitive, you might be inclined to agree. And, indeed – if she hadn’t said it on Easter Sunday – so would I.
One Christian counter to this would be that it wasn’t just a dead person who came back to life, it was Jesus, who although human, was also God, so the normal biological rules don’t apply. This is further complicated by the doctrine of resurrection which suggests that we will all, at some point, be resurrected with new bodies. I will attempt to tackle this one in a later episode, as grappling with the book of revelation, requires great preparation!
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The second idea of resurrection is that it was not as a literal physical, biological reanimation, but a spiritual event. That is Jesus DID appear to his disciples. We have many accounts of this happening. In some of those accounts, he seems to just appear, and then disappear again In John chapter 20 Jesus appears to his disciples when they had locked themselves in the house. In Luke Chapter 24, he appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They don’t recognise him at first, but when the eventually do, he disappears.
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32
So, was it a ghost? One counter to the spiritual resurrection idea is that he was physically tangible, solid. In John 20 we see Thomas physically touching his wounds, and in Luke 24, he eats some fish. And then of course, we have the account of the empty tomb. But bear in mind this same seemingly solid body was able to appear in a locked room, and disappear. Theologians, historians and philosophers have tied themselves in knots over the centuries, trying to explain every part of the conundrum. One significant aspect that we need to take into account is that at the time of Jesus death, the general belief was that life required a physical body. Later philosophical thought brought the concept of a soul that might exist separately, and even survive death.
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A third view is that what we understand as the resurrection event occurred more in the minds of the disciples than in physical reality. Some have suggested that the disciples experienced visions, or even kind a of hallucinatory event, perhaps caused by grief. Others that there was a scriptural precedent – the disciples believed Jesus to be the messiah, and expected it – therefore when Jesus was killed, they assumed and believed that was what had happened to him, and that the stories of the empty tomb etc were written to put some explanation around what they already believed. Others have suggested that the resurrection accounts followed other mythologies featuring deities that have come back to life. The difficulty with many of these attempts to explain something, is that they start from the premise that what the event in question is improbable and try to find answers that fit the improbability. And as I’ve said, they rather tie themselves in knots in the process.
There is a fourth view, – yes I know I said I would be presenting three- but indulge me. And that is that maybe the historical facts of what happened matter less than what they represent. We know that Something happened. A while movement grew up out of this event. My own view is that the disciples did encounter Jesus in some form after his death. It was enough of a big thing for the story to survive. What this represents to me is much more important than the ins and outs of what happened to his body, although I know for some Christians, the body bit is fundamental to their belief in the resurrection.
So whether you believe that Jesus physically got up and walked around, or whether you believe that he appeared in some other, spiritual form, or whether he appeared in visions, or that actually the stories are entirely metaphor. What they represent is what is often referred to in Christian language as Christ’s victory over death. This is pretty central to Christian belief which is the hope of eternal life. In John’s gospel we hear the words 16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
What we mean by eternal life is of course, also open to very vigorous debate. For many this relates to life after death, or the existence of a heaven or an afterlife. For many it means that we will all, at some point, following Jesus’ return, experience a resurrected life. For a long time, and still in some traditions, cremation was not allowed, because there was a worry about how people’s bodies would be reassembled when the time for resurrection came. There are of course those who believe that when the body dies, that’s it, lights out, we cease to be. However, in my anecdotal experience as a hospice chaplain, I’d say most people I have met, whether they have been religious or not, think some version of this, that the soul of a person survives bodily death and goes on.
Personally, my theology is more rooted in the mystical view which is that our soul’s journey is from, and in, and indeed back into unity with God, something which in the Orthodox tradition is called Theosis. And I very much doubt the bodily resurrection part is necessary in the equation. Call me a heretic, if you will. I wear the badge with pride. But for me, this is what the resurrection story points to is Jesus eternal union with God. We hear this in the words of Jesus. In the Gospel of John he says “I and the Father are one” [John 10:30]
And this is also our journey. These words are from Julian of Norwich
“Our soul is oned to God, unchangeable goodness, and therefore between God and our soul there is neither wrath nor forgiveness because there is no in between.”
REFERENCES & LINKS
The Easter Liturgy in the Church of England https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-6
The Gospel of Luke chapter 24 verses 1-23, 13-32 and 42
The Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 16; chapter 10 verse 30 and chapter 20
Naked Pastor “Women and the Resurrection” cartoon https://nakedpastor.com/products/women-and-the-resurrection
Passage from Julian of Norwich from “Meditations with Julian of Norwich” by Brendan Doyle p. 77
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Thine Be The Glory on the organ https://www.smallchurchmusic.com
Introductory Music “Better Day” by Penguin Music on Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/penguinmusic-24940186/
Incidental Music – “Desert of Mind” by Harumachi Music on Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/harumachimusic-13470593/