In the Resurrection, God Renders Our Expectations Unacceptable

Johan Ludwig Lund (1777-1867), “The Resurrection of Christ”
Johan Ludwig Lund (1777-1867), “The Resurrection of Christ” (photo: Public Domain)

For the last two weeks I’ve discussed the Incarnation of Christ, when he became man, and the Crucifixion, when he voluntarily handed himself over for death on our behalf. These two events are truly absurd, startling, disturbing, and defy the laws of the universe.

They are so ridiculous to us because they are the least likely course of action, the least predictable means in which we would figure a God would reveal Himself. But that’s just what God is in the business of doing: the impossible for revelation’s sake.

What do I mean by “reveal Himself”? He already revealed himself to Moses, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Daniel, and David, and Amos, and… the list goes on with Old Testament figures, prophets, and patriarchs. No doubt, the Jews in the time of Christ had every reason to believe that God, where they were concerned, was as revealed as He could be. After 2500-3000 years of tradition, miracles, and sacred texts confirming and passing down their faith, what were they to do when this Jesus man appeared to reverse what they considered acceptable?

I can imagine the thoughts of the Apostles: Finally, we’re here. Our friend and leader revealed Himself as something much more than man, Light of the World (John 8:12), Bread of Life (John 6:35), the way, truth, and life (John 14:6), able to heal sins, and then suddenly was taken from us. We were told by three of our own that He became glorified on a hilltop (Matthew 17). We heard him speak of His imminent death, but we just thought it was another analogy (Matthew 16:21-23, Mark 9:30-32, Luke 18:31-34). So what were we to think when our God, an omnipotent being, dies? What are we to do? We’re locked up in this room…

The then he appeared to them! Wait, what?

God, who was dead as dead can be for three days, is raised. And we’re not talking about huff-and-puff, hocus-pocus, comic book style ‘raised from the dead’, like something from Michael Jackson’s Thriller or any episode of The Walking Dead. This is way more scary. Most of us would expect a dead person to smell, look, and act as if… well, as if they were dead. But not Jesus. Jesus appeared as ordinary to several people, spreading hope and goodwill, performing miracles. He also bore was the wounds of the crucifixion. And still, he was fully alive; not less-alive like one might expect.

Then, think of those who crucified Him. If I were one of the people who killed Christ, the man who claimed to be God, who worked countless miracles and threatened to tear down the place where my fathers and ancestors worshiped, and this “god-man” came back to life… I would run for the hills. There’s no doubt I would be praying on my knees until they bled, but it would not be anywhere I could be found. No, I’m Jonah at this point. “This Jesus was right, I killed him, and now he’s back from the dead? He’s going to kill me!”

I think that’s what God does: He renders our common expectations of Him unacceptable. St. Thomas would agree. And to complete the three-part series, I’m going to show you how Thomas’ brilliant mind answers three difficult questions regarding Christ’s final act of absurdity: the Resurrection.

Was Christ a man while dead? Of course, right? After all, since his human body was a product of his human nature, he was a dead man, right? Wrong. A living thing is proper when it’s soul contains the powers of intellect, and where there is intellect there is will, and where there is will there is life. So, no intellect, i.e. a dead brain and body, no life. No life, no man. Man is only man when alive. It might stump us on the first read, but it is actually not proper to say that Jesus was a “man” while he was dead. For more on this conversation with Thomas, read Summa Theologica, Part 3, Question 50.

To blow your mind even further, Thomas proves that, though Christ was not a man, the Hypostatic Union was not severed by this death. In other words, Christ was no longer man, but was still completely united to the human nature in the person of Christ. Thick theology here, I know. Check out Article 2 for more.

Did he raise himself from the dead? This might appear to be an easy question at first, and many would first say, “No, God raised Him up for the Bible says so” (see Acts 2:24). The question is actually more difficult that it appears because a dead being shouldn’t be able to raise itself. Similarly, this falls into the theological trap of whether or not Christ fully died, because as every good theologian knows, Christ must have fully died in order to completely redeem us (see Part 3, Question 50).

We must begin to answer this question by truly understanding what was presented by Thomas above in Question 50, namely, that Jesus’ divinity and humanity were not severed as consequence of the crucifixion. Because of this, Thomas explains, the divine nature took back the body that was slain, and the body therefore took back the soul which was laid aside. Because Christ is both man and God, the impossible can happen. We can say with complete confidence, then, that Jesus brought Himself back from the grave which also agrees with Scripture (John 10:18, 2 Corinthians 13:4). To read this for yourself, see Summa Theologica, Question 53, Article 4.