Archive for April 21st, 2009

First, I didn’t hear the “go to heaven when you die” line on Easter Sunday. It was refreshing by a long stretch. Let this be said, I don’t mind talking about heaven, and I think it’s part of the overall picture. But (as my friend Tim said to me) when it’s the carrot dangling on the end of the stick, it becomes a problem. So, I didn’t hear the “go to heaven when you die” line at church on Easter Sunday.

However, yesterday (Monday) as I was driving I passed a church sign that said:

Jesus arose from the grave to tell of:

A judgment to come

A Hell to shun

A Heaven to be won

Now, while I think that heaven is part of the afterlife (though, I may not understand it the same way as many do – glowing people with wings wearing white robes, resting on clouds, playing harps, etc.), I don’t think “Jesus arose from the grave to tell of” only (if any) the things mentioned above. That is not the sum of Jesus’ resurrection.

It does validate our salvation, but our salvation is our own resurrection – when the followers of Jesus will be resurrected from the dead in the same way he was and will receive new bodies. Our eternal life is a quality of life that begins now and continues for eternity (hence, eternal).

The reason that the resurrection is important is because it validates everything that Jesus said and did because “a dead Messiah is a failed Messiah.” Everything includes eternal life, but it also includes his emphasis on the poor, justice, healing, and so forth. The resurrection means that death, which is the work of the devil, doesn’t have the last word. It means that relationships can be fixed. It means that the poor do not have to be oppressed. It means that Jesus is King. His kingdom continues in his followers and will be completed by him when he returns.