The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, March 9th: Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11:1-45)

RESURRECTION IS THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY

The theme of each Scripture reading this week is very simple: rising from the dead.

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel spoke the word of the Lord: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them, and bring you back to the land of Israel.”

In the second reading, St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also.”

And finally this week, we hear the long story from John’s gospel about the time Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead.

So, as I said, the main theme this week is very simple: God has the power to raise His people from the dead. The message is very simple; the message is very clear; and the message is a massive stumbling block for many, many people.

Why is the hope of rising from the dead a massive stumbling block for so many? Well, for starters, the idea of a dead person coming back to life flies in the face of everything we know about our natural world.

Science and biology tell us that when an organism dies, it stays dead. Medical researchers have never chronicled a single case where a dead person came back to life. The cemeteries in our communities are the quietest places in town—except occasionally on Saturday night when the high school football team decides to have a keg party among the grave stones. But in these instances all the noise comes from living human beings, while the permanent residents of the cemeteries remain, as always, subterranean and silent.

So, modern science, the historical record, and our own personal experience tell us the same thing: resurrections don’t happen.

Now, there are two key points to understand about the idea of rising from the dead. First, the concept of resurrection is the heart of Christianity. If rising from the dead is impossible—if resurrections have never occurred and will never occur—then the Christian faith is stripped of all its meaning and relevance.

Which is why I can’t help but laugh when certain “progressive” theologians, such as some in the Methodist, Congregationalist, and Episcopal churches, along with most colleges run by Jesuits, have abandoned a belief in bodily resurrection—preaching that Jesus did not rise, nor will we—and yet still believe Christianity is a dandy philosophy for living our lives here on earth.

Sorry guys, if there is no hope of resurrection, then I can think of a bunch of different philosophies I’d rather follow, and a bunch of different ways I’d rather spend my time and money on Sunday mornings.

Without a hope in resurrection and the possibility of eternal life, then Christianity is, frankly, a waste of time. Now before you get angry, that’s not my idea. St. Paul realized this fact long before I did. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “How can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?…For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all” (1 Cor 15:12, 16-19).

Paul was quite clear: those who follow Christianity but do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, are wasting their time and should be pitied. The rank and file members of the aforementioned religious groups understand this fact and are leaving those religious organizations in record numbers, while the egghead theologians calling the shots have yet to figure it out. I guess they’ve been spending too much time reading Karl Marx rather than St. Paul, and Planned Parenthood propaganda rather than the Gospels.

The second important point to understand about the idea of rising from the dead is the concept of anti-supernatural bias. All of the evidence against the possibility of resurrection—the medical science, the historical record, the silent cemeteries, our own personal experience—is based on natural observations. Since a resurrection is, by definition, a supernatural event, we should not expect any of our natural methods of observation to indicate a resurrection is possible.

However, many people (including many egghead theologians) have developed an anti-supernatural bias, the idea that the natural world is the ONLY world. The thinking goes something like this: “Since I’ve never seen a miracle, that proves they cannot happen.”

If we believe the natural world is the only world, in other words, if our starting point for understanding reality is the declaration that miracles are absolutely impossible, then of course a miracle such as a resurrection cannot happen.

But if we expand our understand a little bit, if we acknowledge that there just might be a supernatural dimension to reality above and beyond the natural dimension, and therefore miracles, though extremely rare, are possible, then we can rationally and reasonably believe that rising from the dead can occur.

If you would like some powerful evidence that there is a supernatural dimension to reality, then spend some time studying the genetic code. The data encoded in our DNA is more sophisticated and complex, and less prone to glitches, than the most advanced computer software ever written by the most brilliant minds at Microsoft. If you think such an immense collection of intricate information and instructions just formed itself by accident without any outside supernatural guidance at all, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell to you.

Admittedly, believing that resurrections can occur is kind of challenging. But once we come to understand that God is real, and that He can perform miracles, a hope in resurrection transforms a curious philosophy into a life-altering, joyful faith. God’s promise that He will raise our mortal bodies allows us to look death right in the eye and laugh, just as St. Paul did. “Where, O death, is your victory?” he mockingly wrote. “Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55).

Resurrection is the heart of Christianity. And resurrection is exactly what we look forward to during this Lenten season.

©2008