Approaching Easter, I'm always a bit uncomfortable with those resurrection accounts where people don't at first recognize Christ. It happens three times in the Gospels: Mary who supposes Jesus to be the gardener (John 20:11-16), the two on the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-31), and the disciples hauling in a big catch on the beach (John 21:4-13). Why didn't they recognize Jesus right away? Post-Biblical Xianists construct an entire argument against the bodily resurrection of Jesus from these incidents, citing that Jesus is reborn in us -- we are the resurrected Jesus. So, the unorthodox answer is that these "appearances" were disciples recognizing the Savior's imprint on Larry, and Roscoe, and Suzie (notwithstanding the appearance to Thomas in the upper room at which Jesus shows the holes in his wrists and the let's Thomas actually reach into the open gash in his side).
Let's ask three questions: Why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus at first? How did they realize it was Jesus? What does this mean for how we will come to recognize each other in heaven?
Why didn't the disciples recognize Jesus at first?
Obviously they weren't expecting to see a dead man. We see what we expect to see. I encounter this reality every time I have to proof-read something I've written. I'll catch some errors, but there have been times when a third party editor will point me to the very line in some paragraph and I still can't see it. That's because my brain knows what is supposed to be there and, being the master of efficient recognition, that's what my brain processes.
Another reason is that grief blinds us to reality. The loss of a beloved turns the soul upside down. Psychology enumerates the stages of grief. Spirituality feels a black hole, a vacuum, into which everything tumbles and loses definition. Coming to the garden tomb, Mary is lost in grief. Nothing is making a lot of sense at that moment. She's in that daze that only the grieving know. Who else would be walking around in the garden at that time of the morning except the gardener? It's actually a pretty rational answer for someone so deeply grieving.
But something has changed about Jesus. His body is different. The Scriptures tell us that in the resurrection we put on an incorruptible body (I Cor. 15), a spirit body. This does not mean ghostly or evanescent. What came out of Jesus' tomb had a continuity with the previous Adamic life (hence the marks of slaughter), but Jesus' glorified body is something new in all creation. Jesus appears suddenly in locked rooms, but this is no ghostly specter. He proves his link to humanity by eating a piece of fish. Poltergeists don't do perch. The fact that in all three appearances he is mistaken for what we can only think of as an ordinary human at the very least shows that he is not a 900 foot flaming phantasm. He is the second Adam, the first-born from the dead. He's not a freak.
It's possible the disciples may not recognize Jesus because he can assume different countenances. I think it is more likely that Jesus covers his face with his garment as middle-eastern men do to this day. It's important to recognize that Jesus does not reveal himself to the world, but only to those whom he has chosen. There is no attempt to visit Pilate or the Chief Priest and use his resurrected presence as a polemic against their unbelief. Of course it would only make sense that his resurrection appearances would be to those who had known him in the flesh. What can strangers testify to? But the pattern of discipleship is the same then as now -- Jesus chooses and we respond.
So, there are many reasons why the disciples didn't recognize Jesus.
How Did The Disciples Finally Recognize Jesus?
One thing is clear: Jesus opens their eyes to his true identity on his terms. The disciples do not reason their way to knowing him in his resurrection. Jesus is intentionally revealed. It's not by experience that they recognize Jesus (bye, bye three-legged stool). It's not the sound of his voice that tells Mary Magdalene it's the Lord. He asks her several questions before she knows his identity. But when he says her name, she recognizes him instantly. Did Jesus have an affectionate way of saying her name? Or did he simply turn and face her, perhaps removing the cloth from his face on that chilly morning? Or is it as John says earlier in his Gospel, "He calls his sheep by name...and they hear his voice and follow" (John 10:3-4).
Jesus probably talked with the two on the Emmaus Road for hours, but it was not until they went into the house and Jesus blessed and broke the bread that they recognized Jesus, alive and present one moment, vanished a split second later. Luke tells us their eyes were opened (passive verb tense). They don't so much recognize Jesus as they are permitted to "see." The resurrected Christ is not discovered by anyone; he is revealed.
On the beach it was John who first recognized that the man helping them catch fish was Jesus. We're not told how he knew. But by evening all those disciples on the beach knew it was the Lord.
How do the disciples recognize Jesus? Only after the sovereign Lord wants them to know it is truly him.
How Will We Recognize Each Other in Heaven?
So, what do these stories teach us about our own resurrected bodies and how will we know each other in the afterlife of God? How will families recognize children who were aborted or died in infancy? What about people who live to great age, what about their resurrection bodies? Thomas Aquinas thought everyone in heaven would be thirty-three years of age, the age Jesus died. But age is a concept born of time and this world, not of eternity in the next.
I'm intrigued that many of the people with whom I went to high school are re-connecting via Facebook. It's been 45 years since I've seen most of them. Many classmates include pictures of themselves. If I were to meet almost any of these folks on the Emmaus Road I wouldn't have the slightest idea who they were. We have all changed so very much. But in spite of sagging jowls and graying hair (where there still is hair), there is nevertheless something in each face that transcends time. A lot of it is the eyes, I think. We're born with the adult-sized eyes through which we view the passing world for as long as we live. Eyes are the window of the soul. But there is still a sense in which I only recognize these faces because they took the initiative to post a picture of themselves, revealing themselves to me.
I think Jesus' looks changed after he was resurrected from the dead. No one ever drew his picture while he lived, but the prophets said the Messiah would not be attractive to look at. But in his glorified body his skin would have been unflawed by any imperfection caused by disease or privation. His formerly sinewy, emaciated body was strong and perfectly proportioned. His hair, previously matted with blood, shone with new luster or may have completely disappeared. Did Christ appear as someone from the end of the time? We know homo sapiens is still changing, dare I say evolving. People are getting taller. The circumference of heads is getting larger as the brain continues to adapt. Or maybe Christ appeared more like the original Adam before the Fall?
However Jesus appeared, that is how we will look on that day when the dead in Christ shall rise. We will be very real, very three dimensional (at least), with recognizable continuity with our mortal bodily, but freed from the imperfections and anomalies of disease, genetic mutation, and bad living. We will be as God made us to be.
I believe the Scriptures support the idea that we will recognize each other only as we are introduced. Who introduces us? Of course, only Jesus people will enjoy heaven, people Jesus has chosen and called. The Holy Spirit of God will bring us together and reveal us to each other in joyful reunion. In the same way Jesus introduced John to Mary, the Holy Spirit will say, "Mother, behold thy son; son, behold thy Mother."
We will make new friendships such as we could never experience in this life, friendships that are without anxiety, without self-consciousness, without any of the barriers with which we struggled in the flesh. We will work together (yes, we work in heaven) with teams of capable and cooperative individuals such as we have never dreamed possible.
We will worship together forever. We will probably still celebrate the Lord's Supper. We will sing, oh how we will sing. And all songs will praise God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We will praise Him for our work and in praising find new answers and new solutions to problems. As we give more is given to us. We will dance and in dancing find the truth of giving and receiving. We will rejoice and in serendipity know each other even as we are known.
Hallelujah! Maranatha!
No comments:
Post a Comment