Some Kind of Zombie

My husband has just finished reading Surprised By Hope by N. T. Wright. I have just finished the introduction so far, but am intrigued by what his premise is, as well as the discussions my husband and I have had about it.

N. T. Wright claims that modern Christians have deviated quite drastically from the early Christian belief in the "resurrection of the body". Back then, it was something accepted, that when we are resurrected, it will be in full bodily form. Modern Christians seems to have slackened, and now don't really know what we believe. I think Wright is right (horrible pun, I'm sorry) in this instance. It's common to hear about "going to heaven", or "living forever with Jesus", or even about how death is not the end for us. But what exactly is the life after death? Many Christians will waffle on this point. Is it fluffy white clouds? Indiscriminate beings of energy eternally worshipping God?

Wright claims that the early Christians (read: Church Fathers) believed in the full bodily resurrection. Meaning that we will be resurrected with the exact same body we have now, just perhaps . . . completed? Perfected? Fulfilled?

For instance, consider Jesus. He was resurrected with the same body He died in. The tomb was empty. His hands still bore the nail scars. His side still bore the spear wound. He was "himself" enough to pass as a regular human. So much human, that they didn't recognize him at first -- they thought he was the gardener! And yet, He could walk through walls (or at least get into a locked room). His physical body, that only three days ago was as limited as the rest of us, suddenly seemed better. It's a common line in theology that Christ is the most authentic human. If that is true, then is His resurrected body what the human form should be? What it was meant to be?

But that also brings up logical questions. Wright seems to believe that God will actually remake us with the same "stuff" that made up our body. But it's impossible to reclaim the exact physical make up of our postmortem bodies. Bodies take only a few months to decay. Once they start that, their chemical properties are changed. Our bodies are no longer what they were. And what of cremation? Or those who were martyred at the stake? They don't even have a body left to be remade.

On the other hand, that is linear human thinking. We need to think vertically. We need to think like God. I have heard (though I'm not sure of the veracity of it) that our body chemically changes and sloughs skin off and such so much that every ten years, it's like we have a whole new body. So maybe the important thing in the resurrection is that we are more than physical. It's the age old question: where does the soul reside? The brain? The heart? As some societies thought, the spleen or kidneys? It is clear that there is something more going on here.

The difference is, then, that there is not a man, but a God behind this curtain. And we certainly need to pay attention to Him! He is the crux. He is the defining rod that make us more than animals. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and irresistible. No matter what you think of the resurrection (be it bodily or not), we need to trust that whatever happens to us in this life, our God knows us beyond a shadow of a doubt. He can separate every single one of our molecules out from every other molecule on earth. And, I suppose, after I disintegrate into my grave, I suppose He, above all, would be able to tell me from the dirt. Maybe it's a bit morbid, but that is certainly a comforting thought. For me, at least.