We are living in trying times. The coronavirus is frightening for many of us. Many have contracted the virus and many have died from it. And the death toll continues to rise every day. Mass grave sites are being dug in New York City. Hospitals are transferring bags of bodies into refrigerated trailers due to shortage in space. Lawyers are seeing a doubling in the volume of calls about requests to write their last wills. The threat of death hangs in the air and we are all forced to reckon with our own mortality.
Amid fears, Christians have a hope beyond the grave. A few days ago we celebrated the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And the resurrection is good news because everyone joined to Jesus will one day receive a body like his glorified body.
In 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, Paul describes what that future resurrected body will look like. Some in the Corinthian church ridiculed the idea of a bodily resurrection. They were influenced by Greek dualism which taught that the spirit was good and matter was evil. In this view, the goal of life was to liberate the soul from the "prison-house of the body." For them, the resurrection meant nothing more than a reanimation of a dead corpse. So they mock him: "How are the dead raised. With what kind of body do they come?" (1 Cor 15:35). Paul answers their objection using three different illustrations from the created order. But for our purposes, we will only look at the first of the three. From this analogy of sowing seeds, we can learn three things:
First, our resurrected body will be different than our present body. When a seed is sown and dies as it were, it undergoes a radical change and becomes a plant or a tree. Some transformation takes place. In the same manner, at the resurrection, God will transform our bodies. In our present bodies, we age. We can get sick. We can take all our vitamins and go all out on organic products but eventually, our bodies break down. But praise be to God! One day we will be given bodies that are longer liable to decay, disease and death. And that is glorious news!
Second, our resurrected body will also be the same as our present body. That is why Paul says in verse 38, each kind of seed is given its own body. When the risen Christ appeared to his disciples, he appeared in recognizable form. Though in his resurrected state, his body was glorified, he was nevertheless the same Jesus. So it is with our resurrected bodies. It is your body that will be transformed, not somebody else's.
Third, our resurrected body is the sovereign work of God. Notice in verse 38, Paul states that it is God who gives it a body, as He has chosen. The seed cannot transform itself into a plant. It is left to forces outside of its control. It needs sunlight and water. Likewise, it is God who gives us our present bodies. It is God who gives us our resurrected bodies.
Our resurrection hope should lead us to more devotion to our risen savior. It ought to embolden us to serve our neighbor even in the face of danger. It ought to drive us to extend resurrection hope to others in a world desperately looking for hope during this pandemic. We confess with the church universal, "I believe in the resurrection of the body." Let's live as those who truly believe this confession.
Written by Elder Soo Bin Lee