Possibilities

Possibilities

Two weeks ago I preached the Good News, or Gospel, from Saint Paul of the “raising of the corpses,” the less delicate version of the “resurrection of the dead.” What Paul preached to those Corinthians who doubted the raising of the corpses was the physicality of the resurrection. Today, he responds directly to their, and perhaps our doubts.

First, he uses the same metaphor that Jesus uses in John’s Gospel of a seed that must die to being a seed so that it can be transformed into fruit. Just because the seed may no longer be visible to the naked eye doesn’t mean that its properties aren’t contained in the fruit. Similarly, Jesus’s resurrected body could just appear in a locked room, or not be recognized by two disciples who walked with him all afternoon on the road to Emmaus. And yet he could tell Thomas to stick his finger into his open wounds, or eat a piece of broiled fish. The body his disciples had seen and touched for three years was clearly different after the resurrection, yet still physical. The great Anglican biblical scholar N.T. Wright describes his resurrected body as transphysical, no less physical but transformed.

Then, Paul describes the resurrected body that we too shall share with Jesus in a way that most English translations of the Greek miss — It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body — Does that sound like Paul is contradicting everything I just said he’s saying? The Greek word that the NRSV mistakenly translates as “physical” is psyche, from which we get “psychology,” the science of the human mind, or in the original meaning of psyche, the soul, which is not the same as the spirit. Spirit belongs to God, the soul is our small share of that Spirit. And inevitably, our physical bodies must let go of that soul, which returns to its divine creator until that day when soul and body are reunited in a resurrection transphysical.

The original Jerusalem Bible, a Roman Catholic translation in which J.R.R. Tolkien collaborated, has the best translation of verse 44 — When it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit. If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment — The distinction isn’t between a physical body and a non-physical spiritual body, but a physical body animated only by our souls, and a no less physical body that shares in the One eternal Spirit.

All this means that what we do with this body matters, because this is the body that will share in the resurrection of Christ Jesus, if as Paul writes elsewhere, we share in his sufferings. We may be tempted to try and escape the sufferings of the present time by retreating from the world around us and wait for the resurrected Jesus to take our disembodied souls into heaven, like the country singer Merle Travis wrote about coal miners — I hope when I’m gone, and the ages shall roll / My body will blacken and turn into coal / Then I’ll look from the door of my heavenly home / And I’ll pity the miner digging my bones.

But if we don’t retreat, then we need to live like the resurrection people that Jesus calls us to this day — Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you … for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

There are two kinds of people who use Latin: lawyers and debaters. Using Latin can be one way of making your argument sound more convincing, not that I’ve ever done that … Perhaps that’s why our Vice President used the phrase of St. Monica’s son St. Augustine — ordo amoris or order of love — to buttress his argument that our government has spent too much time and money on the needs of non-Americans at the expense of our own citizens.

I’m not opinionating on the issue. But Christian theology I can comment on. And here’s how Augustine himself explained the concept: “all men [and women] are to be loved equally. But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.” That may have included family, or villagers, or just someone passing through. A few centuries later, commenting on the concept of ordo amoris, Thomas Aquinas wrote: “one ought, for instance, to succor [that is, aid] a stranger in extreme necessity, rather than one's own father, if he is not in such urgent need.” So, in the Christian order of love, our first priority should be to the person next to us in the greatest need, regardless of their prior relationship to us.

But then, when Jesus tells us — Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven — Is there anyone you might work with, or anyone you’ve heard about from a friend, find yourself next to on the Metro wearing a certain hat, or find your car next to someone else’s with a certain sticker, or maybe someone you’ve seen on the local news, how would what Jesus said apply to you? Living like you’re resurrected is hard. You can at least pray for those who use hatred and curses to dehumanize those to whom they feel superior. And not just pray for them to repent, but for their well-being, and the well-being of those they love and who love them. Perhaps you might gain some sympathy for them, and the destiny they might be sharing with the evildoers of Psalm 37.

Our psalm was too long this morning. And I quibble with the selection of verses, because the psalmist’s message is blunter than the verses we chanted — The wicked draw their sword and bend their bow to strike down the poor and needy, to slaughter those who are upright in their ways. Their sword shall go through their own heart, and their bow shall be broken … I have seen the wicked in their arrogance, flourishing like a tree in full leaf. I went by, and behold, they were not there; I searched for them, but they could not be found. (Psalm 37:15-16, 37-38)

How we balance our righteous anger with Jesus’s command to love those with whom we’re angry is something that each of us has to find. But to believe and trust in the resurrection of the dead, is to trust that your enemies will not have the last word, and that if resurrection is possible, then, even repentance and reconciliation are also possible. And if all you can do today is pray for that, I think that will be enough for Jesus.

Seventh Sunday After Epiphany

The Rev. David Kendrick

Feb 23 2025