A few days back, Uncle Ken asked me if I would speak today on ‘Resurrection and After.’ Resurrection is very dear to me as is revealed in the name of my younger daughter. While most of you probably know her as Tasha, her name is Anastasia, derived from the Greek word ἀνάστασις (anastasis), meaning resurrection. And I must make it clear here that she is not named after some Russian princess popularized by Disney, but after an event that shook the world when it happened and continues to shake the world. So I was quite happy to have this opportunity to speak on resurrection and its implications for us today.

I am a teacher as many of you know. I teach Mathematics and Physics. In other words, most of my week find me immersed in the sciences.

And it troubles me that when it comes to some matters of faith, especially of the Christian faith, many scientists forget the sciences and unwittingly practice metaphysics. Science works by observing repeatable events and patterns contained therein. As far as I know no Christian has claimed that there are virgin conceptions happening every so often or that if you would only look carefully you would see people being resurrected on a daily basis.

In other words, the virgin conception and the resurrection of Jesus are considered to be singular events, not repeated. I just wish unbelieving scientists would have the scientific fortitude to say that, since these are supposed to be non-repeated events, science can neither confirm not disprove them. That would be the scientifically honest thing to do.

Today we are dealing with a short passage, actually a clause of a sentence, not normally considered very important for the study of the resurrection. Very often 1 Corinthians 15 would be chosen or perhaps some passage from Revelation or maybe one of the accounts in the Gospels. But not the text I have chosen for today. This is unfortunate. It is probably because we are more concerned with what will happen when we are raised than what exactly the meaning of the resurrection is.

Even more unfortunate is the likelihood that we have all but forgotten what the idea of resurrection originally was. So devastating has been the effect of the towering Greek thinking church fathers that for most of us resurrection simply means a return to life. A different life for sure, but simply a return to life.

For most of us resurrection is the precursor to eternal life even though according to John’s Gospel eternal life is knowing Jesus, something presumably we already do.

So if resurrection is not merely a return to life and not merely a precursor to eternal life, what is it? Let us try to unravel Paul’s words in Romans 1.1-4.

[Read text here and pray.]

The clause I wish to focus on is “who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead.” Our thoughts and ideas being dictated to and clouded by the creeds of the past, we are probably unable to appreciate what Paul is saying here.

In fact, this is one of the key verses for a major heresy that I will deal with a few Sundays hence. But the heresy stems simply from a failure to appreciate who is writing these words. And the words were written by a Jewish Christian who used to be a Pharisee.

When we read the words “Son of God” we very likely think of the doctrine that the Son is the second person of the trinity. We probably think of the Nicene or Apostles’ Creeds in which Jesus is declared to be the Son of God. But if we do this, we end up in heresy! That is because Paul is not thinking of the trinity here.

Rather, Paul might have been thinking of Psalm 2.7 in which we read “I will proclaim the Lord’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father.” If we try to interpret the psalm in light of the later Trinitarian doctrine, we once again end in heresy. Rather, Psalm 2 must be interpreted as the Jews would have interpreted it.

Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, recited when a successor to David was installed on the throne. The day the king was enthroned was the day he became Son of God.

This is in line with 1 Chronicles 17.11-14 where Nathan reveals God’s word to David saying, “When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.”

This is explicitly about the coronation of one of David’s descendants, first and foremost Solomon. It can have nothing to do with Trinitarian doctrine.

So when Paul writes, “who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead” he is not saying that the Jesus was raised because he was or is the second person of the trinity. If that were so, then resurrection could not apply to us, because we are not persons of the trinity.

Rather, Paul is saying that the Jesus’ resurrection was the event at which Jesus was enthroned as David’s heir, which is why he mentions the fact that Jesus was a descendant of David.

To us Gentiles, living centuries after these words were penned, this might seem like a letdown. But this is because we do not understand the full import of what Paul is saying.

The Israelites had not had a descendant of David as their king for over six centuries at the time Paul wrote Romans. Yet, they did have their nation and their temple for much of these six centuries. They realized that it was possible to be faithful to God without a descendant of David reigning in Jerusalem.

However, there were promises made to David, like the one in 1 Chronicles 17, where verse 14 states, “I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.”

The promise of a king who would reign forever made the Israelites understand that this promise was not to be a temporary one.

Rather, it was a promise that would be fulfilled when God would decisively deal with everything that was wrong in the world. This promise would be fulfilled when God set things right in his creation.

Keeping in mind the fact that Psalm 2 is a coronation psalm, we can see that Paul is saying that in the event of the resurrection, Jesus was shown to be God’s rightful ruler. In other words, Jesus’ resurrection shows that God has begun to set things right in this world.

Resurrection is far more than just a return to life, even if that life were never to end. After all, if the world were still like it is today, with pain and sickness and evil, who would want to live forever?

But if Jesus’ resurrection is an indication that God is setting this world back to its original glorious purpose, then our resurrection would mean participation in that glorious purpose.

Two years back, my friend Sanjay, who is a licensed pilot, took us flying in a two-seated twin propeller airplane. We took turns sitting next to him and we had loads of fun. He allowed each of us to handle to controls for some seconds.

But only when we were cruising at a safe altitude. Not when we were landing, because landing is very difficult. There are many things to be done and timing is critical and there is no way a person who has never handled the controls before could accomplish the task. But in order to land, the tasks must be accomplished.

Jesus’ resurrection tells us that the destination is in sight and that God intends to bring us home soon. But there are things to be done. We don’t just sit like passengers in a commercial aircraft waiting for the pilot to land us safely. Rather, we are like pilots in training who are being instructed in the procedures to be followed as we approach the landing strip.

There are things to be done. We cannot simply sit back and relax, twiddling our thumbs as we wait for life that never ends. No!

In Jesus’ resurrection, God’s new creation has reached back through time and invaded this creation, slowly but surely recreating us as well. No longer may we say, “This is just the way things are” or “this is how it has always been done.” The way things have been done and the way things are reflect this creation, which God intends to renew. And it may be that many things taken for granted now will have to be done away with.

In Jesus’ resurrection we get a glimpse of how things ought to be, how things will be when God sets things right. And so as recipients of this divine vision, we must live in light of the revelation and work toward its fulfillment.

(Sermon preached at Christalaya, Koramangala on 7 April 2013)