Continuity & Discontinuity

April 8th, 2008

It seems a fact almost beyond question that the dead Jesus actually came back to life again at the time we now celebrate as Easter. It wasn’t just a few people who witnessed it, but hundreds at different times.

This amazing event has tremendous implications for us all. Jesus explained that his death on a cross as Son of God bearing the sin of all was the only way the ultimate separation between God and people could be restored. Resurrection proved that the rift had been repaired. Further, a new power to break barriers of guilt and hopelessness, poverty and illness was now available.

In considering this whole event again, I find it strange that the disciples didn’t immediately recognise the risen Jesus. He needed to eat fish in front of them to prove he had a real body, as the locked door did not keep him out. Thomas saw the nail marks and the side where the spear went in. I wonder if he also saw a disfigured face or the bruised head where the crown of thorns was rammed on. There was some continuity, yet there was discontinuity.

At his interesting talk on Climate Change last Tuesday, the speaker Dr Meric Srokosz posed the view that Jesus’ risen body was a first-fruit of the renewing that God will do, and that the new earth promised in the Scriptures will have elements of continuity and discontinuity.

My scientific western mind struggles with these concepts. I don’t want to be taken in by naivety, but nor do I want to miss out through scepticism. I find something very exciting here. Taking yet another funeral service tomorrow morning, I am aware that there is a whole realm beyond the grave that ‘no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those that love him’, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 2:9.

Jesus said that these benefits are only gained through belief and trust. Blessed are those who have not seen but believe. Why delay?                                         David Thatcher

Filed under: Thought of the Week