Fun with Augustine: Hair cuts and Fingernails. . . What does a resurrected body look like?

And here is the sermon I'll be preaching. . .

SERMON: INTRODUCTION
Last week we talked about Augustine and his fascination with the body, particularly the strange things that some people can DO with their bodies. His fascination with the body fills this whole big book.

And I thought it was rather providential that 1 Corinthians 15 was on our “Year of the Bible” reading schedule this week because that is Paul’s masterpiece about the body, specifically what our bodies might be like in heaven or what Augustine would call our “resurrected bodies.”

I wish I could read to you the whole chapter, but it’s too long. So I’m going to break it down into three parts. Hear this first reading from God’s holy word:

#1
1 Corinthians 15:35-40 35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

Some things never change. During time that Paul and Augustine were writing, people wondered what our bodies will look like in heaven. And today, people are still fixated on that very same thing.

Jesus said that not one hair on our heads would perish when we die. And Augustine took that literally when it came to our heavenly bodies: if you were someone who had lost a hand or a foot, Augustine was sure you would be re-united with it. Your heavenly body would have all its limbs intact. If you were blind on earth, you would have sight in heaven. So that led him to wonder about haircuts and fingernails. Would we be re-united with each strand of hair we ever cut off or every fingernail we ever trimmed?

Eventually, Augustine realized we would all look pretty funky so he decided that probably wasn’t right. So he decided that he hoped, because we can’t know for sure, our resurrected bodies would be a snapshot of ourselves in our prime—when we looked our best and when we felt our best. So everyone will be as thin as we once were, and we’ll all have good hair days for eternity, according to Augustine.

#2
But there was a big problem with this whole resurrection of the body idea. Some of the Christians in Paul and Augustine’s time—remember they lived just a couple hundred years from each other—didn’t believe in the resurrection of the body. They thought the body was bad. The flesh was weak and prone to sin; but the soul was good and didn’t want to sin. So they believed that the soul would go to heaven but that the body would stay dead in the ground. Paul points out the flaws in their thinking in the second reading from 1 Corinthians 15:

1 Corinthians 15:13-17
13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

Remember all those people Jesus appears to after his resurrection? They see his body, they touch his wounds, and they watch him eat. They see his soul AND his body which have been made whole again together. Paul says, if people do not believe in the resurrection of the body—not just Jesus’ body but for ALL bodies—then Jesus is still dead in the ground. If Jesus is still dead in the ground, then those who proclaim his resurrection are liars. . . our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.

Paul and Augustine tell their readers “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Either the body and the soul are resurrected together, or there’s no resurrection at all. Needless to say, this was not a terribly popular position for either of them to take. It was a hard line stance about something no one had ever experienced before. And because no one had experienced resurrection, except those who saw Jesus after he had been resurrected, the resurrection of the dead remained a rather mysterious idea which Paul addresses in our final reading from1 Corinthians:

#3
1 Corinthians 15:51-57 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“We will all be changed. . . in the twinkle of an eye.” Paul says that these physical bodies we have now will pass away and we will inherit a spiritual, imperishable, immortal body but it will still be a body. But you can see that Paul’s main point isn’t so much about what our bodies will look like. It’s that we will HAVE bodies.

And more than that, Paul is saying that we will have LIFE—that we also can say, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” God has given us victory over death in Jesus Christ—we will be resurrected to new life just like Jesus was, body AND soul. For Christian believers, death is not just an end, but it is the beginning of something wonderful—eternal life.

CONCLUSION
We all have our own ideas of what heaven will be like. And we probably all a particular picture in mind of what we hope our resurrected body looks like. But we don’t know for sure; we can’t know for sure.

Resurrection and heaven are part of God’s mysteries. I’m glad we don’t know what heaven will be like because I like to think about it—I like to read what other people think about it too. Imagine, Augustine would have only had a couple of pages of stuff to write instead of 1000s if he knew what the answers were.

But I have a theory about what heaven is going to be like, and I’m not sure you’re going to like my picture of heaven, but I’m going to give you my two cents anyway.

Augustine tells us that God created us to want the very best for ourselves—goodness and happiness and peace. And God is what’s best for us. And since we will be changed and restored to the way God originally created us to be, I think that heaven will be filled with God, which is perhaps rather obvious. But that means it’s not about finding long lost loved ones, it’s not about having dinner with famous people, and it’s not about asking God our long list of questions we want answers to.

I can only imagine that heaven is about worshiping God forever. That seems to be the picture that Revelation paints—the angels and archangels gathered around the Lamb of God who is sitting on the throne, singing and worshiping with the saints of the church from every age.
Revelation tells us this: "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" (Rev 21:3-5).

Thanks be to the God who is making everything new, who gives us new bodies, and who raises us to new life, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful time at whatever worship service you attend today.


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Sat, Apr 11 What Old Testament does the gospel of Mark quote in the first chapter? (Mark 1)
Mark 1:2 2 It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"--

And here's the question of the day:
Sun, Apr 12 Who does the angel of the Lord appear to in Judges 6?


Psalms 93
1 The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
2 your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
4 More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
more majestic than the waves of the sea,
majestic on high is the LORD!
5 Your decrees are very sure;
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, forevermore.

Luke 24:13-35
13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

17And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" 19He asked them, "What things?"

They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him."

25Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

32They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.
34They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Resurrection: Optional or Mandatory?

One of the disadvantages of doing the "Year of the Bible" is that we're not necessarily reading texts which match the liturgical seasons. For instance, as we go through Lent, it would be lovely to be reading through one of the gospels. I imagine it's because the date of Easter bounces around so much that one cannot set a reading schedule to match the liturgical calendar exactly.

So, it's a happy day (for nerdy pastors like me) when what we're reading each day does fit with the church season. So I'm glad we're in Romans as we approach Easter. It's not exactly a retelling of the Passion story, like you'd read in the gospels, but it's a theological "sorting out" of what Jesus' death and resurrection means. But, first things first.

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Mon, Mar 23: How many witnesses is it necessary to have in order to put someone to death? (Dt 17—I know, what a macabre question!)
Deuteronomy 17:6 6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

And here's the question of the day:
Tues, Mar 24: When the Israelite army approaches a city’s gates in order to attack it, what should they do first? (Dt 20)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Romans 4 deals with an issue that for some is mandatory but for others is optional. Throughout history, in the Western world, it has "often been thought quite acceptable, sometimes even desirable, sometimes actually mandatory, that one should disbelieve in the resurrection of Jesus" (Wright, NIB Commentary on Romans). There are many reasons people choose to disbelieve this--mainly for "scientific" reasons concerning the "real facts of the world" (Wright).

Perhaps to address this concern, Paul uses Abraham and Sarah as examples of faithful believers who believed God could defy reality (or what today we'd call "science") and bring new life out of that bodies which were "as good as dead" (v19). But, the new life that Jesus receives, after his crucifixion and death, is "not merely a resuscitation into the same sort of bodily existence as before, but a new dimension of bodily existence" (Wright). Abraham and Sarah were resuscitated, in a way, through the new life of Isaac. But it was the same bodily form. Jesus was resurrected to new life, in a new bodily form.

Wright also points out that, for Paul, it is not possible to be a Christian and to disbelieve in Jesus' resurrection. It simply cannot be. To call oneself a Christian but to deny the resurrection is a heretical hybrid. There is plenty of room for discussion about how it happened and what exactly happened and how we should tell this part God's story to a scientific world that won't believe something until they see it for themselves. But for Paul, to disbelieve the resurrection is to render the rest of one's faith null and void.

It seems especially appropriate in this time of Lent to consider the so-called "impossibility" of the resurrection. This time of year, leading up to Easter, is precisely the right time to ask ourselves this question: do we, deep down in our heart of hearts where we cling to bedrock truths, believe in Jesus' resurrection? Perhaps the better question is this: have we thought about it enough to realize how "impossible" such an event is and how silly (and daring) it is for us to believe in it?

It is easy to pay lip-service to Jesus' resurrection, to glibly agree without much thought. To do this is almost as bad as to deny the resurrection. But it is not just to the deny the resurrection; it is to deny the One "who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (v24).

So, when was the last time you thought about the resurrection? Might it be time to think about it again?

Allison