![]() ![]() Christ’s resurrected body now has new capabilities: He can appear and reappear suddenly He can pass through locked doors He can conceal His identity even from those who know Him well (see Luke 24:13–37 John 20:11–19). Indications of this transformation are clear in the Gospel accounts. At Jesus’ resurrection, His body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: He shares the divine life in His glorious state”. In His risen body He passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. “Christ’s resurrection is essentially different. At some particular moment they would die again. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised were returned by Jesus’ power to ordinary earthly life. “Christ’s resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that He had performed before Easter: Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. He was willing to do this because by means of it, he knew he would accomplish more for us than he had for Lazarus–a victory over death that would last forever. He planned to lay his life down willingly, to experience the horrible torture of crucifixion, the bitter wrenching or the sublime unfathomable transition of body from soul, with the body turning to dust and ashes (though in the case of Jesus He did not let His Holy One see decay)and the soul moving on, and ultimate separation of friend from friend (in this realm in any case). This is the last recorded miracle or “sign” in John’s gospel. This demonstration of Jesus’ power over death was a sign of his own coming resurrection, and of Lazarus’s and ours as well. So, in the presence of the great crowd assembled for the funeral, Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb. A few years later, the mourners would have to assemble around his bedside once again. The raising of Lazarus was only a stay of execution. ![]() And the salvation would have to be a permanent one. ![]() If Jesus were really the saviour, he had to save us from the grave. But wise and healthy people still face the horror of death. His miraculous works in John’s gospel are called signs because they point beyond themselves to something even greater he will do to gain a greater benefit for all. But he always has more in mind than helping just the victim lying before him. Jesus’ miracles in the gospels always spring from his compassion for the suffering. It rips loved ones from the embrace of their families. Death came into the world through the envy of the devil, not through the plan of God. Others think death to be merely a portal to eternity. Some people accept death as a natural part of human life. Raising Lazarus from the dead and the resurrection of the body. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |