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Meet Father KempTrinity 23 – 15 November 2009
My children love coming to church, but I often wonder how much they understand. They love to sing, but do they just like to be heard, or do they have some understanding that we worship our Lord through the beauty of music? They love all of their church friendships, but are they just selfish children hoarding the admiration of adults or do they have some understanding that our earthly relationships mirror the eternal triune relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? They love to come to altar for their blessing. In fact, this week Gunder found an old, dirty and unusable surplus (the white, linen garment priests, deacons and acolytes wear) I left at home and put it on said to Emily, “Mommy, come over here, I’m going to ‘upon You’ like Daddy.” He then proceeded to put his hands on her head saying, “May the blessing of God be ‘upon you.’” He then did the same to Edith and Shirley. Yet, do they just like their blessing because everyone is watching them, or do they understand that their blessing is somehow a mysterious means of God’s gracious blessing their lives? I suppose that I am a typical parent overanalyzing the thoughts, words and deeds of my children, but I do think it is worth asking how much our children understand. Furthermore, I know that it is a good question for us to ask of ourselves.
I was forced to ask this question of myself this past week when I read over our Epistle Lesson. St. Paul’s word ran through my mind like the refreshing waters of a hidden mountain stream: “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed unto the body of his glory.” I have been a Christian as long as I can remember, I have been faithfully attending church as long as I can remember, when I was an infant my parents dutifully read the scriptures to me and when I could read I read the scriptures dutifully myself, yet I never really understood the meaning of St. Paul’s words, “the Lord Jesus Christ…shall change the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed unto the body of his glory.” What frightens and humiliates me is that even though I have grown up in the Church, in the Christian faith and in the Scriptures, I did not understand this passage about resurrection, and resurrection is a basic and fundamental Christian belief. A belief we just affirmed in the Nicene Creed with these words, “I believe…[Jesus] rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…and I look for the Resurrection of the dead.” My desire this morning is to remind you and me of this basic and fundamental Christian belief,
When the writers of Scripture used the word “resurrection” they meant “an act of new creation, accomplished by the Holy Spirit” in which the old body is transformed into a new and imperishable body.[1] For example, Jesus’ resurrection was not a mere resuscitation of his body; it was not a resurrection of his soul while his body remained rotting in the tomb. His same body, which perished upon the cross, was remade into an eternal, incorruptible, imperishable body that ate and drank, a body that could be touched and a body that still bore scars from the wounds he received upon the cross. Concerning our future resurrection, which will be like Jesus’ past resurrection, one great preacher said, “[Jesus] will take your decomposed body and raise it from the dead. No longer to be sick or disabled or frail or mentally ill or addicted or weary or tempting or tempted, but rather it will be like his glorious body…If you belong to Christ by trusting in him, he will give you a new spiritual body, and you will be recognized by your friends and you will eat and drink with him in the kingdom of God (Matthew 26:29). Marvel therefore that Christ will use his infinite authority and power to raise you from the dead and give you a body like his.”[2]
When we affirm our belief in the future resurrection of God’s people, we believe that your body and my body, this very body of humiliation that you see standing in front you, will be remade into an imperishable, incorruptible, eternal bodies that we will inhabit through all eternity. Is not this belief marvelous? Is not this belief life changing? Is not this belief immense, mysterious and beyond complete comprehension? I feel like a child trying to stretch my arms around a giant Sequoia tree.
Yet, there is something even more mysterious, more profound, more breathtaking and more stunning. When St. Paul said the Lord Jesus will change the body of our humiliation, he used the Greek word metaschematisei, which means “to change the outward form of.” This word comes from the word family schemati, which frequently was used to contrast another word family morphe, which means a form that is intrinsic and essential. We can see these words in action in Phillipians 2, just a few verses before the verses in our Epistle lesson. St. Paul said, “Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature God (the very morphe God) did not consider equality with god something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man (being found in schemati as a man) he humbled himself.” Jesus’ intrinsic nature, his essential form was God yet he humbled himself taking upon the outward form, or appearance, of a man.[3]
Putting this together, when St. Paul says our bodies of humiliation will be changed, metaschematisei, he meant the Jesus will one day change just our outward bodily appearance, our bodily form. That is great, but, personally, I need a bit more than just a bodily makeover, my whole being, my intrinsic nature needs to be changed too. So why did St. Paul not say Christ will change or morphe our entire intrinsic nature? Because for those in Christ, their intrinsic nature has already been changed as St. Paul said, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” That means right now, our essence, our intrinsic form has already been changed through Jesus Christ and when he returns our outward bodies will be changed to truly reflect our essential and intrinsic nature as children of God. Let me put it differently. Right now, all those who belong to Christ, have all ready had their intrinsic nature or to use St. Paul’s words “citizenship” changed. We are a new creation, a new creature, we are right now in the present sitting next to God the Father in Christ Jesus. The redemptive work of Jesus Christ begun at his death and resurrection has already begun in our lives. We are right now citizen of heaven patiently waiting for these bodies of humiliation, which do not reflect or reveal our true and essential nature or our citizenship, to be remade into heavenly bodies.
What does this mean, how does this apply to our lives? Well, there are numerous applications. For instance, this means that heaven is not just a far off, distant ideal. Heaven is not a desperate wish of a depressed person. It is something that we can now experience, albeit not in our bodies, but in our souls, in our essential and intrinsic being because of the transforming redemptive work of Jesus Christ, who has already taken children of this world and made them sons and daughters of God. It means life is not just a matter of getting in touch with our inner self, it is about getting in touch with the one who transforms us: Jesus Christ. It also means life is not simply a matter of keeping the laws and commands of a distant and unloving god, it is about seeing how Jesus Christ is a near and loving incarnate God who has fulfilled all things necessary for us, on our behalf. The resurrection means life is not about finding and creating our own distinct identity, because through Christ, we have been given a new identity, a new citizenship shaped by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Finally, it means that even though I do not know what my children understand in Church, even though I do not know what you know and understand in Church and even though I do not know what I understand and comprehend in Church, we can know that Christ has now become for us our wisdom as St. Paul said in I Corinthians 1:30, “Christ Jesus…has become for us wisdom from God.” So to those whose wisdom is foresighted and murky, the power of Jesus Christ’s resurrection through which he will transform us into his likeness, is good news because it means that we can rest from our labors knowing that he will one day transform our souls, our minds and our bodies to be like his.
[1] N.T. Wright, Jesus’ Resurrection and Christian Origins, Originally published in Gregorianum, 2002, 83/4, 615–635. Wright said, “In early Christianity, obviously in Paul but not only there, resurrection will be an act of new creation, accomplished by the Holy Spirit, and the body which is to be is already planned by God. This will not be a simple return to the same sort of body as before; nor will it be an abandonment of embodiedness in order to enjoy a disembodied bliss. It will involve transformation, the gift of a new body with different properties.”
[2] John Piper, All Things Subject to the Risen Christ, Easter Sunday, 7 March 2005. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/34/208_All_Things_Subject_to_the_Risen_Christ/
[3] Homer A Kent, Jr. Philippians, “The Expositor’s Bible Commentary” Vol. 11 ed. by Frank E. Gaebelein, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978. Pgs 120-127,146-149.
