We Celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and Look Forward to Our Own
By John Jelinek
In this Easter season, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and look forward to our own. What a glorious thing to celebrate! Through the pascal mystery, Jesus has conquered sin and death and opened the gates of heaven to us. “For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life.” (1 Cor 15:22).
The resurrection is also definitive proof of Jesus’ divinity and testimony to the authenticity of His teaching. St. Paul spends a great deal of time on the resurrection with the community in Corinth. They believed Christ had risen from the dead, but struggled to believe that they personally would be resurrected.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church articulates this persistent error by saying, “It is very commonly accepted that the life of the human person continues in a spiritual fashion after death. But how can we believe that this body, so clearly mortal, could rise to everlasting life?” (CCC 996). To this error, St. Paul is clear: to deny our own resurrection is to deny Christ’s, and empty the Gospel of meaning. (1 Cor 15:13-14,16-17).
We can have certitude in our resurrection, despite its astounding nature, because of Jesus’ testimony, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (Jn 11:25-26).
Jesus came to save the whole person, and a person is a body and soul. The body is not just a vessel that the soul rides around in or something the soul eventually transcends. In the creation account, “God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life.” (Gen 2:7).
We are a unique creation that God willed to be both material (body) and spiritual (soul). “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body … spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.” (CCC 365).
This unity is temporarily disrupted by death. Death, the separation of body and soul, is an affront to God’s design for humanity and, without the resurrection, the human person would be incomplete. Through baptism, we are united to Christ in His death and promised a participation in the resurrection (Col 2:12). Death is the consequence of sin; and so, when Christ conquers sin, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” And we can sing, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55).
Our resurrection will be “at the last day” (Jn 6:39-40) when Christ comes again (1 Thess 4:16). The resurrection and eternal life are so good and beyond comprehension, it “has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love Him …” (1 Cor 2:9). However, we see glimpses from the resurrected Jesus. He has real “flesh and bones …” (Lk 24:39-43) which still bear the marks of His passion. He eats food with the Apostles and invites Thomas to touch His wounds. His body is also glorified, able to appear in locked rooms and disguises His appearance, as on the road to Emmaus. Like Jesus, we will be “raised incorruptible.” (1 Cor 15:42). We will not suffer sickness, pain, decay, or death.
These are the consequences of sin and will no longer have power over us.
Of the greatest goods to come from our resurrection will be the manifestation of God’s glory. God took us wretched sinners, who “were dead in transgressions” (Col 15:12) and lavishly poured out His love on us. In Christ, He makes us His children and invites us to enter the eternal love of the Trinity. Such mercy is worthy of an eternity of joyful praise.