Resurrection vs Resuscitation | The Rev. Chad E. JarnaginLuke 24:1-12 (ESV)24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.Our faith is an ancient faith, yet vibrant, not dead. No matter how we like to imagine new innovation and creative ways of worshiping, it isn't new. It is tethered to the past, present, and future. It transcends space and time. That should be an amazing comfort for us.Those following Christ are people of resurrection not simply resuscitation, and our hope in Jesus brings about a bigger picture in a new creation, not simply an eternal evacuation. Jesus was resurrected, not resuscitated.To be resuscitated means to come back to the same body, same problems, same tensions... with the same inevitable ending. Resurrection means to defeat and complete death. Our human death is but a channel into eternity.From Good Friday: The Way of Jesus cannot be understood apart from loss. The deeper the loss and lament, the greater the tremors of hope. We are a part of the new creation... a new way of living...“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.”― N.T. Wright, Surprised By HopeHope always remains, even in the very face of despair. May we always remember that our hope is not in evacuation and resuscitation... but in the Christ of renewal and resurrection.
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