Rolling the Stone Back

On Good Friday, I dropped a shoe on what is probably the most fundamental belief in Christianity. Easter Sunday is an appropriate time for the other shoe to drop. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which most Christians believe necessarily followed his death as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. However, if one concludes that God did not require a blood sacrifice to atone for those sins, then one is similarly free to conclude that God did not require one resurrection to become the means for all other resurrections.

In other words, we are not required to accept Jesus Christ as the only means by which we are saved from sin, resurrected, and permitted to return to the presence of God. There – I’ve said it out loud. I’ve never been in the public end of this pool before. There will be candles lighted in my behalf quite shortly, I’m sure.

It’s a common belief in Christianity that each of us is comprised of body and spirit and that when the body dies the spirit returns to God. It’s also a common belief that our individuality, what truly makes us who we are, is embedded in the spirit, not the body; that the body is merely the glove into which the hand is placed, the temple in which the spirit dwells. Given these beliefs, then in my mind the return of that spirit to God at the time of death is the resurrection! I find peace and hope in that belief. I don’t need to go beyond that to a belief in a subsequent resurrection of the body.

I believe I was present at the moment of resurrection for my mom in 1999 and for my stepson in 2002. I believe others will be present at the moment of my resurrection, which will occur instantaneously upon my last breath.

For me, there is a sense of liberation in the thought of a spiritual resurrection for every person at the moment of death as opposed to a bodily resurrection only after swearing allegiance to some denominational flag. I accept the idea of being resurrected as a form of pure energy and light as opposed to some form of reunited body and spirit. Jesus said, “I am the light.” That is more than enough for me.

I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was similarly resurrected at the time of his death. But, I don’t see why that resurrection had to be a prerequisite for mine, or a prerequisite for the countless people who died before Jesus or who will die after him. I’ve wondered about his curious declaration to Mary Magdalene when she saw him in risen form. He says to her, “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my father in heaven.” I see that statement as an indication that his resurrection occurred upon his death, was spiritual in nature, and that there was no body to be touched. It’s meaningful to me that there are thousands of accounts of other people being seen in similar form after their death, including Christians, non-Christians, and people with no belief in God, Christ or any other form of deity. What few shards of evidence, if we can even call it that, we have regarding the afterlife does not sustain the supposedly requisite connection between the death and resurrection of Jesus and that afterlife.

Yes, I know that the Bible says the tomb was supposedly empty; that Jesus supposedly appeared to his disciples in bodily form; that he supposedly ate with them; and that he supposedly had Thomas touch the wounds in his body. I don’t profess to have it all figured out. But, I don’t believe that any other person professing this or that belief on the subject, now or in the past, has it all figured out, either. After all, the Bible says a lot of things that, except for a few fundamentalists, most Christians don’t consider to be literally true.

Against this background, it would be fair for someone to ask me, “What does this leave of your Christianity, Jonathan? If sins don’t have to be atoned for through shedding the sacrificial blood of the Son of God, and if our resurrection isn’t dependent on his sacrifice and resurrection, then of what does your faith consist?”

I have faith in Jesus as an embodiment of God’s grace and mercy and truth; as a reflection of God’s love and unconditional forgiveness; as a model of selfless service and surrender; as a messenger of hope and joy; as a shepherd to be followed; as an exemplary way to be walked; as a denouncer of pharisaical judgment and arrogance; as a slayer of fear; as a voice that calls me out of the past and the future and bids me be present with him here and now; as a source of light when shadows cross or darkness descends; as a comforter, night and day; as a tree that bears the fruit of the spirit for my spiritual sustenance and well being; and as a prince of peace in the kingdom of God on the earth.

That is more than enough for me; because that is all that matters to me; because that is all that is needed for me; because that is all that is. My pastures are green; my waters are quiet; my path is guided; my comfort is at hand; my table is prepared; my head is anointed; my cup overflows.

In short, I am followed by goodness, mercy and love; and I dwell in the house of the Lord already.

That is more than enough for me.

Will any of God’s children join me in saying, Amen?