Martyrs confirm resurrection is real

By John Pearring

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/080120.cfm
Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24
Matthew 14:1-12

Our two readings for this week both mention the threat of death for a prophet who speaks the truth. First, Jeremiah, explained that the nation of Judah no longer listened to God and there would be hell to pay. Jeremiah is threatened with death but saved by cooler heads. Second, John the Baptist, calls out Herod for taking his brother’s wife to his own bed. Herod does not want to kill the Baptist but is trapped into beheading him.

Lots of history here. Too much to whittle down to a digestible reflection. So, let’s discuss instead the idea of not being afraid to die due to our promised resurrection. That’s more focused, though it is certainly a sure cause for indigestion to ponder our deaths. Afraid to die is an oxymoron. Of course, we fear the pain and fright of our death. What, though, steels us against the overwhelming depression and despondency at dying? 

The Spirit-filled nature of our two prophets may not have removed their likely fear of being killed. That fear did not stop them from speaking out, certainly. What did they know about resurrection, though? For clarification, I’d like to emphasize that our spirit, our soul, and our bodies altogether identify us as creatures. Jesus became man, took on a body like ours, and assumed his body when he rose from the dead. A spiritual, heavenly life with God is surely enough to encourage us. A bodily resurrection is what we are promised because we are created as flesh and bones beings. The resurrection of all bodies, all those who have ever lived, is what will happen on the last day. I’m not certain what that last day means, yet all of creation waits to be fully, bodily restored.

Were Jeremiah and John the Baptist — one an early prophet and the other the last prophet of the Old Testament — were they aware that life after death meant resurrection of their bodies? The chosen people of God argued over resurrection after death, which confirms the theology of God’s power in raising the dead to life. The argument alone assures that resurrection was a tenet. 

In Ezekiel's scripture, God tells him, a prophet who lived during the same history as Jeremiah:

Then he said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Listen! I will make breath enter you so you may come to life.
I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put breath into you so you may come to life. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
(Ezekiel 37:4-6)

Martha, upon her brother Lazarus’ death told Jesus that she knew he would rise and be restored to life. She did not expect that Jesus would raise him, but she knew he would “rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” This was her Jewish faith, not something that Jesus had taught her. The promise of bodily resurrection strengthened the people of the Jewish faith. Jesus didn’t preach it. He confirmed it.

So, yes. The Jewish prophets largely believed in an eventual bodily resurrected life after completion of this death. We can't read minds, but we can associate the background faith of a nation regarding their hopes, scripture, and understanding of God's goals for the universe.

Our more informed Christian understanding of resurrection has not improved that much from the Old Testament understanding. Yes, Christians believe in life after death. We have a lot more insight, though. We have literal eons of witness and history, which should add to our fearlessness of being martyred. The early prophets knew their ancestors and even contemporary martyrs. Their fear often hindered their actions. Today, somewhat surprisingly, not all Christians realize the importance of bodily resurrection as witnessed and proved and promised by Jesus. We can know with incredible certainty that God will take our spirits into heaven upon our death, and will restore our bodies to life on the last day. We can know it, and still not operate on that knowledge with a certain belief. I speak of a certain belief as a conviction.

This conviction leads us to do what God wants, not what we want. We must be convinced that God knows what he is doing and that he will use us in his plans. We have skills, and desires, and experiences that God will use. Why would we shift to allowing God to do what he wants with us? We must be convinced that God has conquered our eventual death and will restore us forever with him. That'll help us make the shift. Only that will convince us.

What spiritual courage did the prophets have to disregard their own life to witness everlasting life, redemption by a loving God, and do so with a sure conviction that God was alive in them? While both John the Baptist and Jeremiah taught repentance, both a personal and a national return to God, they looked forward to rising and living forever in their restored bodies. That had to be so.

A few months ago I wouldn’t have thought American Christians had much to worry about regarding martyrdom and overt religious persecution. Not so, now. We all have a heightened sense of being quieted, though the primary form of silencing is more insult and condescending statements than physical harm. Yet, street preachers have been beaten, and even killed. Churches have been vandalized and even destroyed. Wanton destruction has no spiritual goodness. God is not motivating people to destroy in his name. These are lies, not the moving Spirit of God.

In any case, our freedom to speak out in the face of sin — abortion, euthanasia, rioting, and racism to note just a few — might be better understood by grasping our transformation rather than discussing politics and religion. That is, it matters little what politics we subscribe to. It matters for everything that we realize each of us are temples of the Holy Spirit, even more than Jeremiah and John the Baptist. Our spiritual connection to God precedes our witness to our faith. 

Who cares, really, if our ability to sing in Church is quashed while protestors or grocery stores can gather freely? Isn’t this the opportune time to be visibly and vocally revealing that this temporal life can be transformed right now?

Who’s more compliant with masks and social distancing than Catholics? Go to any Church service and it’s stunning how we get with the program. We’re certainly not the problem. We’re great witnesses for good citizenship. You don’t see anarchist priests and nuns throwing projectiles at police. How do we witness in this coarse and chaotic time?

Some would argue that we should feed the poor. We should give blood. We should take care of family, friends, and neighbors who are struggling. This is our witness, surely. Our conviction, however, precedes these acts of mercy and sacrifice. Our conviction comes from a sure grasp of the resurrection of these bodies we currently house. We can know this from the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus was the first man to be resurrected in Spirit and Body. Only he, as God, could accomplish this task. He did this to seal his commitment to draw us to him. We are his brothers and sisters, not just beings of his creation. For eternity, Jesus will live among us. That means we will live on, whole in body and spirit.

We don’t know when our bodily resurrection on the last day will happen. We will be spirits in heaven upon our death. Our faith tells us that Mary has already experienced her bodily resurrection. The Assumption doctrine confirms to us that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven. She had no burial crypt. There are no bones. Study the Church Fathers, their scripture references, and the history of this doctrine if you need to confirm this teaching. It's not only about Mary — though her example and continued presence is amazing — as much as it is about our own bodily resurrection. We can probably consider that both Enoch and Elijah were assumed. God offers these examples to both encourage us and convince us. Are we convinced?

These examples of resurrection, something worth studying in scripture, and in the history of our Church documents, embolden us. None of us may be called to witness under the threat of death. That is not our concern. All of us have been promised, though, that our fear of death will be overcome. Jesus lived, died, and rose — body and spirit as one — to assure our conviction. It is the practical truth of our faith. We are forgiven, redeemed, and restored. The Eucharistic meal transforms our spirit and body in this life to that truth.

The challenge to witness may never come to those who are not convinced. Do we believe that our spirit and bodies will be restored, reunited as we were created? Are we convinced, and therefore operate on that conviction? Witnessing our faith probably makes no sense to anyone else unless you believe you will live fully and with God forever.

From that conviction, God operates in us. It is not us who operates alone. We are members of a communion, yearning for sainthood, and waiting for eternal life in our restored bodies with Jesus as our King.