April 5, 2010 - Monday of the Week of Easter
Today's Reading: Job 19:23-27
Daily Lectionary: Exodus 15:1-18; Hebrew 9:1-28
For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, (Job 19:25-26).
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Christ is risen! Alleluia! Job knew the promise. He knew that someday, even though he was going to die and his body would decay in the ground, he would stand on the earth—in his body—and see God. That is believing in the “resurrection of the body” long before the Creed ever said it. That's because the promise of the resurrection was there from the beginning when death came into the world after the Fall into sin. The Old Testament saints knew that this was the promise.
For some reason, when we talk about death and eternal life, the popular image is that somehow we're leaving the body behind. We'll be spirit beings on the clouds of heaven or something like that. Nonsense! That's more like the teachings of a false religion like Buddhism than it is what the Christian faith confesses. We believe in the resurrection of the BODY. We believe, with Job, that on the Last Day our BODIES will rise from the dead and live forever. Changed. Different. Immortal. But bodies nonetheless.
Easter reminds us of this because Jesus didn't come out of the grave as a spirit or ghost or something like that. He rose in His BODY—a body that could be touched, that moved around and that even ate fish on the beach a few days later. It's a reminder to us of Jesus' promise that His salvation is a PHYSICAL salvation. It's not just for our souls, but for our bodies as well.
Your Baptism is a reminder of that. It's a physical washing of water put on your body. Absolution and preaching are also physical—the Word going into your ears. Then you have the body and blood of Jesus given to eat and drink and in which you have Jesus' promise that He will raise you—in a body—on the Last Day.
Jesus being risen from the dead pictures what we shall be on the Last Day: alive with God in our bodies. Body and soul together. Nothing that God has made separated and left behind. It's altogether saved and raised up because Jesus rose on Easter. Christ is risen! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
He lives and grants me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death; He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there. (LSB 461:7)
Reflections for the season of Easter were written by The Rev. Mark Buetow of Bethel Lutheran Church in Du Qoin, IL. Questions or comments regarding this reflection can be e-mailed to buetowmt@higherthings.org
Questions or comments regarding the Reflections may be sent to the Rev. Mark Buetow, Reflections Editor, reflections@higherthings.org.
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