Jesus Resurrection Of The Body

A sign of hope

From the very Sunday when Jesus Christ rose from the dead, Sunday has been established as a significant day in the history of the Church for more than 2,000 years. Today, in the early years of the third millennium, it is still the definable and indispensable element in Christian identity. Every Sunday remembers and celebrates the new creation of the world in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

“I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to God. That is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people. Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and mature.” (Romans 12:1-2)

Can we say that we are sensible people as expressed by the writer in Romans? We see the rapid decline of morals and values, especially in young people throughout the world, which begs the question, “What happened?” However there is much to be hoped for, if we are to judge by the hundreds of thousands of young people at the closing mass of World Youth Day 2011, in Madrid, Spain, last Sunday. If you are a reader of the Sunday Guardian, you will be familiar with the weekly articles that focus on the Catholic Church Synod 2009 Pastoral Priorities. The current focus is on ‘Catholic Culture and Identity: My Church, My Parish, My Family’.

In today's article we look at Sunday as an indispensable element of our Christian identity. Can it be assumed that the cause of the decline of morals and values, as mentioned above, is due to the abandonment of the ‘Sunday obligation’? The mind of the young person is filled with so much information from varied sources that sometimes the decisions that are made are to the detriment of that young person. How many young persons attend weekend Mass on a regular basis? The Mass is the heart of Sunday. It is the celebration of the presence of the living Lord in the midst of his people.

Resurrection of the Body

Dave Curtis, a Full Preterist (and friend), wrote, “Unless Jesus’ body had been resurrected, His disciples would have had no assurance that His soul had been to Hades and had been resurrected. The physical resurrection of Christ was essential to verify the spiritual to which it was tied. While the physical resurrection of our bodies would have no point since we will not continue living on this planet, breathing earth’s oxygen and eating earth’s food, after we die physically.”  This is a typical Full Preterist argument.

According to Curtis, Jesus’ resurrection of the body served only one purpose: “verification.”  It was, in and of itself, non-salvific.  The only aspect of salvation entailed in His resurrection was His coming out of sheol in his spirit.  That’s it.

But, then notice that Curtis states that the resurrection of our bodies would serve no purpose (anymore than Jesus’ did) since we will not live eternal on this planet, breathing in the elements of the air required for a physical body.  As I have pointed out, this otherwise on-the-surface argument runs right into the problem of the resurrection of Jesus’ body and his ascension, and his glorification bodies being raised.  Full Preterists, like any good hitman, have to “get rid of the body” of Jesus because it counters their objections of a resurrected body of flesh (which has been glorified) in heaven.