Dear Christian friends:

On Monday of this last Holy Week a deaf man came to our house and asked me to conduct graveside services for his mother who had died on the Friday before. The service was scheduled for Wednesday, but it rained so hard that day they decided to have the service indoors attended only by a few relatives and friends.

The deaf man asked me if I would be willing to conduct a committal service the next day weather permitting, which I agreed to do. The weather permitted and so I drove to the cemetery at the appointed hour, but only the deaf man was there. So I read the rites, somewhat informally emphasizing the resurrection of the body. After the brief service we talked a while and in our conversation I gathered that he did not realize or believe that the body will be raised or believe that the body will be raised when the Lord returns. He thought only the soul lives on after death.

This is not unusual. It is also not Biblical and Christian. Our text tells us that Jesus was raised with his body. It is necessary to believe in:


When faced with the crucified and risen Lord men from the very beginning tried various means of escape. It seems to be man's nature to resist the risen Lord with the strangest theories just to evade this miracle, which alone gives life. The bolder ones speak for all of us who secretly doubt.

Those who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus suggest that the disciples that first Easter evening may have been right when they supposed that they had seen a ghost when Jesus suddenly appeared and stood among them and greeted them. They argue: "If Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light, and according to 2 Corinthians 11:14, he can, then he can easily create the illusion of being Christ himself." So what they are saying is this: that it was the devil disguised as Christ who appeared to the disciples, not Jesus.

Those who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus have also suggested that the disciples may have had an apparition which was produced by the longing, tortured hearts of the women and the disciples. They argue: "Who knows his heart and the hidden escape mechanisms of the soul, which at any cost would transform despair to joy and disappointment into triumph so that we are able to live even if by deceiving ourselves.

But the risen Lord opposes these strange arguments of us humans as he says, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet."(Luke 24:38-40)

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! He is risen indeed! He is risen boldly! This refutes all the theories and arguments of unbelieving men who think or say his spirit arose, but his body did not. This refutes all those who think or say that their is no resurrection of the dead.

What does this mean: He is risen bodily? The body of the risen Lord is not like the body which lived from the manger to the cross. Our text tells us that suddenly the risen Lord stood among his disciples that first Easter evening. Through closed and locked doors the risen Lord steps into the room. Entering mysteriously and again disappearing just as mysteriously, not immediately recognizable and yet recognized beyond a shadow of a doubt, hidden in the resurrection body and yet in the same body as before, intimate and yet distant. Thus the risen Lord walks the earth for forty days until he bodily ascends into heaven.

However, at the same time it is true that the body of the risen Lord is the same body which lived from the manger to the cross.

He bears the prints of the crucifixion in his hands and feet and shows the scar of the spear in his side. It is the same beaten, tortured and disfigured body which only three days before hung on the cross and now is risen and glorious.

"He remains the same and yet does not return to the former mode of life, but has become new. He controls space as we do not now control it; he is here and there as he wills. He passes through what we cannot now pass through and therefore stands in a different relationship to nature than we now do. Yet he remains a being within a body, and what he had in his body before dying continues to live in him. We face a miracle here which is completely unfathomable to us." (Schlatter)

The resurrection of Jesus is different from the raising of Lazarus at Bethany and of the young man at Nain. Unlike these two, Jesus arose of his own power. "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again." (John 10:18)

Also, the resurrection of Lazarus and the others was only a continuation of the earthly life, a continuation of life in death, a raising for another death. But the resurrection of Jesus ends death. It is a rising of the spiritual body for life eternal. "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him." (Romans 6:9)

But Jesus Christ did not overcome sinners and the world to leave them behind. He did not rise only for himself.

As soon as he had triumphed over death he turned to those who had killed him and had forsaken him, as we see him doing here in our text. After he had frustrated the world and its enmity the risen Lord extended his hands to offer himself and his resurrection to the world.

Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of many new men. The human race, subjected to death by sin, receives life through the risen Lord.

The bodies which here on earth grow old, die and decay, shall rise through him in the likeness of his glorified body. St. Paul tells us, "And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man (Christ). (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Hear this, especially you who are miserable, weak and ill, groaning and sighing under the burden of your now dying body. Believe this message, you who are homely, and disfigured, who feel your body to be a constant disgrace before the world. The Christ who rose with a glorified body is comfort and salvation even for your body!

Be warned all you who are young and healthy and have beautiful bodies now. Don't base your hope and happiness on youth and health! If you do, you will be deceived and disillusioned. In spite of all your aerobics and jogging, you will grow old too. Or you could suddenly lose your health and beauty through an accident or illness! Base your hope and happiness on the crucified Lord who has risen with a glorified, eternal body and you will not be disappointed ever. He gives eternal youth, health and glory!

The resurrected Lord does not keep his resurrection as a prize for himself. This is shown by the fact that he appeared to these men that first Easter evening to let them see him and touch him. This is also shown by his calling them, "brothers."

But it is chiefly shown by his eating before them, although He surely did not need to eat since he is life itself. He said to them, "Have you any food here?” So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence." (Luke 24:41-43)

The reality of this eating is the reality of grace. So low stoops the risen Lord to men, who are dust and ashes. Christ, the new Man, is not ashamed to eat with men of the old world. Thus he receives the old creation into his new life. He draws if after him.

Amen.