At Sunday Mass, believers recite the creed, but do we understand the meaning of this phrase, “I believe in the resurrection of the body” (or I look forward to the resurrection of the dead)?
Faith is the relationship of believers to the Risen Lord. Therefore, the phrase “I believe in the resurrection of the body” should mean “I believe in the Risen Lord.” To clarify misconceptions, a step-by-step analysis is given to understand the importance of this mystery.
Jesus commanded his disciples to go to the world to preach the Gospel and be His witnesses. What they preached was the Risen Lord. The essence of the preaching is that they have experienced the Risen Lord, the recounting of which may lead hearers to be touched by the Holy Spirit and so joyfully accept the Gospel.
During His public ministry, Jesus had performed miracles of raising the dead. Best known is the raising of Lazarus.
﹙John 11：44﹚
Because of this miracle, many Jews believed in Jesus but it also led to his death. “From that day on, the chief priest and the Pharisees decided to kill Jesus”,
﹙John 11：53﹚，「
and “the chief priest decided to kill even Lazarus”.
﹙John 12：10﹚
Another such miracle was the raising of the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue leader.
﹙Mark 5：41﹚
The resurrection of Jesus is entirely different from the raising of Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter. Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus only lived some more years in the world after their return to life, and they still had to accept death. Jesus’ resurrection was not simply having been buried after death, and rising from the dead on the third day; Jesus’ death and resurrection were his entry from death into the life of the Father in eternity, which was of paramount importance. After Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus came back from the dead, they continued their lives on earth. While there are many witnesses to Jesus’ death, the Bible does not record how Jesus left the tomb and how He was resurrected. Jesus’ resurrection is to enter eternity, not to reach a certain place; to enter eternity is to return to the Father. A bible scholar once humorously commented, “If there had been a CCTV in the tomb at that time, it would have been clearly visible!” However, the resurrection of Jesus is a mystery, extraordinary and not visible to the naked eye, and it is “faith”. Therefore, it is easy to believe that Lazarus came back to life, because it is an historical fact that one can see with one’s own eyes the deceased Lazarus, who has become smelly, come out of the grave. And for this, the Pharisees wanted to destroy the evidence, and even to kill Lazarus.
*
When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, she saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. It hardly crossed her mind that Jesus had resurrected, she only thought that someone had removed Jesus’ body, so she hurried to find Peter. Peter went to the tomb with another disciple. They saw only the linen wrappings and the cloth which had been on Jesus’ head. As yet they did not understand the Scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead, so they returned home. Mary Magdalene was left alone weeping outside. At that time, Jesus stood there and Mary Magdalene did not recognize Him. It was only until Jesus called out to her affectionately that she recognized Him, the Teacher. Immediately Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”
﹙cf. John 20：1-18﹚
The raising of Lazarus is a miracle that took place in history. Lazarus came back to life on earth, yet Jesus did not just come back to life; Jesus returned to the eternal Father. The Resurrection of Jesus is quite important for us believers. The Resurrection of Jesus is the source of our own resurrection. To know the Resurrection of Jesus is to know our future lives.
Why does the Bible understand Jesus’ apostles to be witnesses to His Resurrection? Is it because they saw the empty tomb and thus believed in Jesus’ Resurrection? No! The biblical verse quoted above showed that they saw the empty tomb without remembering what Jesus had said to them earlier; however, both the apostles and ourselves are all witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. The Bible tells us that the Resurrection of Jesus is not the resurrection of Jesus Himself, but the resurrection of the Father, the resurrection of God’s own Son. Jesus lying in the tomb was resurrected by the Father.
The Resurrection of Jesus and his associated deeds recorded in the New Testament are the heart of the New Testament. Importantly, the resurrection of Jesus and its associated events differ from the miracles that Jesus performed before. The difference is that the miracles performed before are recorded historical facts, while the resurrection of Jesus was witnessed by no one with their own eyes, that is, there were no witnesses. When the first people arrived at Jesus’ tomb, the stone had been removed and Jesus had been resurrected. What the Apostles of St. Paul preached to the faithful in 1 Corinthians is believed to be the “Creed” with which the early Church was surely familiar with: ‘Christ died for our sins, was resurrected on the third day, and appeared to all’
﹙cf. 1 Cor 15：3-8﹚
Luke also has a record of it: “The Lord has risen indeed.”
﹙Lk 24：34﹚
From the above example, we know that the resurrection and appearances of Jesus are like the two sides of the same coin. The word “Resurrection” describes the great mystery of Jesus’ passage from the condition of the corpse into eternity, into the life of the Father. “Appearance” of Jesus is the active seeking out of believers by the Risen Lord to reach out to them. Those who had seen the Risen Lord accepted the fact that God the Father had raised Jesus. Apart from the fact that the early Church was familiar with and proclaim the ‘creed’, the evangelists had also faithfully proclaimed the Resurrection of Jesus. How do we know this? Matthew narrated the apostles’ disappointment: from the moment Jesus was captured, “all the disciples left him and fled”.
﹙Matthew 26：56﹚
This means that the believers became scattered, and returned to their former lives, seemingly erasing all memory of having followed Jesus or even having lived with Him. The death of Jesus on the cross was also the destruction of the faith of the apostles. A few days later, the Risen Lord took the initiative to reconnect with the scattered apostles, and they quickly accepted the master who had preached to them and performed miracles. Now they have absolute faith in the Risen Lord, a transformation faithfully recorded in the New Testament. It is the Risen Lord who had actively sought them out. This is the same situation in which the LORD appeared to Abraham
﹙cf. Genesis 17：1﹚
“Appearance” is not necessarily something that the naked eye can really see, but it is absolutely convincing. The appearance of the Risen Lord was different from his earlier appearance on the surface of Lake Galilee, when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea.
﹙Matthew 14：26﹚
The appearance of the Risen Lord is filled with the power of the Father to restore courage to the desolate apostles. Therefore, when the Risen Lord commanded them to be His witnesses, they immediately understood what He meant, that they were to bear witness to the new life that the Risen Lord had given them. A new relationship between them and Jesus was now established. It is a relationship of communion, enabling them to live a life of new faith. From the experience of encountering the Risen Lord, they recalled what Jesus had said and done when they were living with Jesus; what they did not understand then, they now immediately understood, and understood completely. The appearance of the Risen Lord to the disciples is truly profound. They fully understood that Jesus the Messiah was resurrected by the Father, who regarded him as “the firstborn from the dead”,
﹙Col 1：18﹚，
meaning that all who follow Jesus would be resurrected like him. The “appearance” of the Risen Lord is not as simple as reuniting with a former friend, nor is it like a meteor that flashes by in a flash. For those witnesses of the Risen Lord, the Risen Lord is related to the past, present, and future in history.
*
In the New Testament, there are two descriptions of the word “resurrection”: one is “awaken” and the other is “risen from the ground”; that is, Jesus was crucified on the cross, died, was buried, and entered the state of death and sleep, and the Father awakened him from the tomb and lifted him up from the burial ground. “That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.”
﹙Romans 10：7﹚
“He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”
﹙Col 1：18-19﹚
The above proves that the early church was very clear about the resurrection of Jesus by the Father, and the faithful in general also know that the Father is the main character in the resurrection of Jesus.
The New Testament is written in Greek and speaks of the Greek concept of the resurrection of the dead: ‘resurrection’ is the state of the soul in the flesh when it is freed from the body. Some of the Pharisees (called Sadducees) did not believe in the “resurrection”. The New Testament is primarily about the resurrection of a man - Jesus Christ, whose resurrection has been fulfilled. St. Paul writes that “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died”.
﹙1 Cor 15：20﹚
The first fruits, the fruits of the first harvest, were to be taken to the temple to be offered as thanksgiving. St. Paul also refers to Christ as “the firstborn from the dead”
﹙Col 1：18﹚
and that many people will rise like Christ, but their resurrection will not be a matter of precedence, but a new relationship with Christ. Christ is the resurrection, the life. “For since death came from one man, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”
﹙1 Cor 15：21-22﹚
Christ is gathering the new humanity. The first man, Adam, is from the earth and lives an earthly life, and the last Adam (Christ) lives a life that is spiritual. The Father created a new life for the dead, and the Risen Lord thus became the instrument for creating new life. The Father’s power to raise the dead makes Christ become “Almighty.” God raised Christ from the dead so that He too could resurrect the dead. The above indicates that at the end of humanity, Christ will raise, purify, and give new life to all the dead. Thus the Bible uses the Greek word KYRIOS to describe the Risen Lord. In fact, the Old Testament already uses KYRIOS to refer to Yahweh as Lord.
St. Paul writes to the Romans, “For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.”
﹙Romans 10：9﹚
This indicates that the early Church believed that faith would lead to salvation. The presence of the Risen Lord KYRIOS is in the hearts and mouths of believers. The Lord Yahweh in the Old Testament had the “omnipotence” to set commandments, but Jesus is not called “Lord” because he has the “omnipotence” to set commandments, but because He has the “omnipotence” to redeem. Elsewhere in Romans, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
﹙Romans 10：13﹚
The Lord here refers to the risen Jesus Christ.
*
Jesus was resurrected from the realm of the dead and entered the realm of the Trinity, on one level, He can be said to have experienced a major change. Yet, on another level, Jesus of the Triune God, is the Son, the Word, and was born man. In this way, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ is the true God. The Gospel of Mark records that Jesus “revealed to them in another form”.
﹙Mark 16：12﹚
This “form” does not refer to an external thing, but to an inner “person”, the way in which he exists. The Spirit, who gives life, is able to breathe life into death and so resurrected Him from death. This happened not only to Jesus, the “firstborn”, but will happen to the many who follow Him.
The resurrection of Jesus is not visible to the naked eye, and the crucified Jesus became KYRIOS, an event that has no witnesses, and only faith can make people “enlightened”. The Bible is written by faith-filled believers who explain it to others in different ways. Most commonly, Jesus was “resurrected,” “exalted” or “taken up” and “the Father glorified him.” Because of the great depths of the mysteries, each way expresses a certain perspective. Now what does it mean to be “exalted”? We can try to explain in terms of the contrast between “high” and “low”: the incarnation of the Son of God to death on the cross as a criminal means from “high” to “low”; crucified as a criminal but became resurrected and ascended into heaven, denotes from “low” to “high”. The apostle St. Paul clearly expresses this contrast between “high” and “low” in the Letter to the Philippians: “who, though he was in the form of God: ...... but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. ….he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
﹙Phil 2：6-11﹚
Jesus was “exalted”, his supreme position is thus conceivable. In addition, the Gospel of John has a similar account: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life.”
﹙John 3：14-15﹚
“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
﹙John 3：13﹚
*
The contrast between “exalted” and “high - low” leads to two other words: “humiliated” and “glorified”. The Gospel of John records Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper, and after He foretold his impending passion, He raised His eyes to heaven and prayed, “So now, Father! Glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed".
﹙John 17：5﹚
John’s account shows that Jesus’ crucifixion and ascension to heaven were simultaneous, with “humiliation” and “glory” going on at the same time. Thus St. Paul testified: “Without doubt, this mystery of our religion is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among Gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory”.
﹙1 Timothy 3：16﹚
Luke recounts the glorious moment when Jesus “was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy”.
﹙Lk 24：50-51﹚
The Acts of the Apostles even foretold Christ’s return: “This Jesus, who has been taken up from heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
﹙Acts 1：11﹚
The Old Testament book of law, Deuteronomy, states: “When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed and you hang him on a tree….for anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you for possession”.
﹙Deut 21：22-23﹚
In this context, it becomes clearer that Jesus, with his disciples scattering after his arrest, became a condemned criminal, was crucified and spurned by the people. Jesus’ resurrection is God’s righteousness perfectly rehabilitating him. His crucifixion is not cursed by God, but accepted and blessed by God. Revelation says that Christ is “the living one”.
﹙ Rev 1：18﹚
“We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.”
﹙Romans 6：9﹚
Jesus is the source of life, and this overflowing fountain of life nourishes the whole universe, and for believers who believe in the Risen Lord in Christ, their lives should be likewise, full of the life of Christ and overflowing to others. As 1 Corinthians says, “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body”.
﹙cf. 1 Cor 15：42-44﹚
*
In the past, many Christians used the empty tomb to prove Jesus’ resurrection. Biblical scholars point out that after Christ’s resurrection, his disciples went forth with their evangelization, and that nobody paid any more attention to the empty tomb. They do not need to produce any evidence of His resurrection. The Gospel of Mark was written between 60 and 63 A.D., his account of the resurrection went like this: When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and other women went to the tomb intending to complete the Jewish funeral rites for Jesus. They found that the huge stone at the entrance to the tomb had been rolled back
﹙cf. Mark 16：1-4﹚
Around 500 B.C. the Israelites were exiled to Babylon living a life of slavery in the land of the Dead. At that time, the prophet Ezekiel said to them on behalf of the LORD: “I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land.”
﹙Ezek 36：24﹚
God brought the Israelites out of the land of the Dead. After Jesus’ death, the people placed Him in the tomb and then blocked the entrance with a large stone, so that no one could enter or leave the realm of the dead, but God opened the tomb, resurrected Jesus, and led Him back to His own realm. The women were shocked to see that Jesus’ body was missing, and they were so frightened that they fled from the tomb
﹙cf. Mark 16：5-8﹚
Luke and John were written later than Mark, and so after these many years, a new generation of believers was full of doubts about Jesus’ resurrection. Thus, both Luke and John emphasized Thomas’ questioning of Jesus’ resurrection: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
﹙John 20：25﹚
Luke, describing Jesus’ appearance to the two disciples of Emmaus, pointed out: “But their eyes were kept from recognizing him”.
﹙Lk 24：16﹚
Until they sat down at table with Jesus, Jesus repeated the action of the Last Supper, “took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him”.
﹙Lk 24：30﹚
Several verses later, Luke even added that the disciples gave Jesus a piece of broiled fish, “and he took it and ate it in their presence”.
﹙Lk 24：43﹚
Luke and John specifically and truthfully describe the presence of the Risen Lord among believers. The Risen Lord will continue to be present amongst humanity; every generation yields believers, who become baptized and evangelizers. In their hearts there is the Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord, and even though they have not seen the resurrection of the Lord, they still believe. Only by accepting the Holy Spirit given by the Resurrection of the Lord can one read the Bible. The evangelists have experienced the Risen Lord. Basically, one cannot understand the Bible without faith. Only by believing in the Risen Lord will it resonate when reading the Bible. When the stubborn Thomas recognized Jesus, Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe”.
﹙John 20：29﹚
St. Paul said: “yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist”.
﹙1 Cor 8：6﹚
God is our Father, so everyone in the world is brother and sister. At the same time, we have only one Lord, Jesus Christ. The Risen Lord sent the Holy Spirit into the world, in the Church. The resurrection of Jesus is a mystery of the participation of The Holy Trinity of God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Risen Lord leads us into the life of the Triune God. St. Paul reminds us, “not (to) become slaves of human masters”,
﹙1 Cor 7：23﹚，
and that “whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord”.
﹙1 Cor 7：22﹚
We would rather be slaves of Christ than slaves of men; to be slaves of men is to lose our freedom, but to be slaves of Christ makes us truly free.
