In so many ways, Shirley MacLaine is a godsend—a gift to all
preachers who get to speak on the resurrection of our Lord and our coming
resurrection. MacLaine is also an easy target, and perhaps I should feel
somewhat guilty taking shots at her. (I must confess, I don’t feel guilty at
all!) The actress has long been an outspoken proponent of reincarnation,
recounting her various pasts, including lives as an orphan raised by elephants,
a Japanese geisha, a pre-Atlantian androgynous being, a Muslim gypsy girl
living in Spain, and a medieval warrior. Her idea, humorously laid out in her
various books, is that we all have residual memories of previous lifetimes,
thus explaining some of those moments when you appear to “know more than you
should” about a certain topic or aspect of life.
MacLaine is not the only advocate for reincarnation—the idea
that following death, the spirit or essence of a person is “re-embodied” in
another physical form at a future time. Reincarnation also plays a prominent
role in a number of world religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. Some
commentators draw a link between reincarnation and resurrection.
But the Christian doctrine of the resurrection is NOT
reincarnation—it is not like it at all! In reincarnation, the important “thing”
is the non-physical essence of a being. The physical part is insignificant and
inconsequential. There is no link between the bodies of one reincarnation to
the next. But, Christian theology, following the clear witness of the Bible,
teaches us otherwise. The body is not something to be discarded, easily
replaced as our spirits move through the ages. Rather, the physical world,
including our physical bodies, are created by God, blessed by Him, and intended
to be an essential part of what it means to be human. Resurrection is distinct
from reincarnation exactly in that there is an essential link between our
present bodies and our resurrection bodies. Our brother, Jesus, did not come
back from the dead in some other reincarnated form, but in His own
body—changed, for sure, but still demonstrating great continuity with His
earthly body. As Paul stresses throughout the 15th chapter of 1
Corinthians, the body that will be (our resurrected body) is linked and connected
to our present body.
Christian resurrection, however, is also not resuscitation.
Resuscitation is the bringing back to life of a dead body—think of Lazaraus. We
frequently talk of Lazaraus being resurrected, but there is no indication that
he was raised from the grave by Jesus in his new, heavenly body. Instead, God
brought Lazaraus’ body back to life again; and we can be sure that he died
again at some point. If reincarnation denies any connection between the new
body and the old, resuscitation identifies the two too closely—the “new body”
is just the “old body,” though no longer dead. Again, this is NOT Christian
resurrection. If in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul links the old and the new, he also
makes clear that there is a vast difference between the two. Like a seed that
grows into a tree, the old body gives birth in resurrection to the new body. An
acorn is vastly different than an oak tree… but they are inextricably linked.
In the same way, our resurrected bodies are different, yet connected, to our
current bodies.
This, of course, is part of the beauty of the resurrection
of Jesus—reminding us of the value of our physical lives, our future physical
lives, the incomparable greatness of the new over the old, yet the continuity
between the two. When we think of Jesus’ resurrection, we think of a physical
resurrection, where Jesus’ human body is raised from the dead, and transformed
into His heavenly, resurrected body. And, through our union with Him, we too
will experience such a blessing.
In anticipation of our coming celebration of Easter, I would
encourage you to read 1 Corinthians 15, a marvelous chapter! On Sunday, we will
be looking specifically at verses 1-19.
1. See if you can trace Paul’s thinking in these verses. He
makes a very logical argument here, and his approach is well worth going over.
2. How is the Gospel described here? What characteristics stand
out to Paul?
3. What is the importance of Paul listing out the individuals
and groups of folks to whom Jesus appeared once resurrected?
4. Paul refers to himself as “one untimely born” (vs. 8); what
do you think he means to communicate with that phrase?
5. Why do you think Paul is writing this? Most scholars
recognize that Paul is responding to a list of questions that the Corinthians
have sent to him. What Corinthian question lies beneath the surface here?
6. What would a life look like that has been lived “in vain”
(vs. 14)? Could someone accuse you of such a life?
7. Try turning all of Paul’s negatives into positives. He says,
if no resurrection then all these negative things are true. The implication is
that, if there IS a resurrection, then what follows?
