Reflection - Dead

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042322.cfm
Acts 4:13-21
Mark 16:9-15

Dead is dead — or it least it should be as far as the leaders, scribes and elders were concerned. But dead is also difficult — at least as far as the ordinary man was concerned.

What happened after death was a disputed point back in Jesus day just as it is now. Nevertheless, dead is dead, always was, always will be. The disciples thought so; that is why they were surprised, even shocked, that the tomb of Jesus was empty. Dead is dead, so who took the body?

The promise of Easter is not that I will be somehow still be alive after I am dead. It is not a promise of being able to pass through tunnels of light, nor of being able to greet long deceased friends and relatives. Those who have been through near death experiences strongly suggest that such events are so, even if only for a time. 

The promise of Easter is different. To appreciate it requires that we first recognize the importance of a body that is not there. The bodies of people who have been through near death experiences were still laying on the operating table, or at the scene of the car accident. They had not disappeared, nor had they been changed. The body of Jesus was gone, not because it had been removed or stolen, but because it had been transformed as it was restored to a transcendent life. 

For those who believe the Shroud of Turin to be Christ’s actual burial cloth, that transformation of the body is the explanation for the image. For others, the image is just a difficult to explain painting.

But to return to our point. The promise of Easter is the promise of a bodily resurrection. It is the promise that more than just our spirit or our soul will continue. That is one of the many reasons why our faith must be in Jesus. 

Near death experiences may suggest, even strongly suggest that there is something after death, that dead is not really dead. But it is Jesus, in his resurrection that promises eternity in a glorified, perfected body. It is then that I will be what and who I was always meant to be, complete and whole and perfect before God.