When interpreting the stories about the Resurrection of Jesus, one thing that is often overlooked or misunderstood is the eschatological hope connected to them. We live today in an era in which the end-of-the-world fantasies of the Judaic and the Christian traditions are very much in vogue again, with the American secretary of war reportedly connecting the destruction of the enemy and the return of Jesus on earth. That is, however, a complete and disingenuous exploitation of those traditions.
The “day of the Lord” in the prophets of the Hebrew Bible is indeed a day of doom but it is invoked primarily not on one’s enemies, but on the so-called people of God. The Israelites who claim to be blessed and guided by divine providence must experience the complete crush of their expectations of glory and victory.
This is the context in which, later on, the hope of the resurrection emerged, and was still debated at the time of Jesus, see Mark 12:18f. The resurrection was primarily a vindication of the oppressed. It was hoped that the poor and humble who confided in God would not be destroyed together with their arrogant leaders. Even if they died in the chaos and confusion of the last days of their cosmic era, they would be brought back to life by the awesome power of God.
This background is necessary to understand the Resurrection of Jesus. For the apostle Paul, God’s power has resurrected Jesus, vindicating his name. The fact that Jesus was seen alive after his death by many people — including Paul himself — indicates that his death was unjust and that the powers-that-be who decreed his execution are deeply unjust and deserve to see their own tragic end. The resurrected Jesus is the vindicated victim of the Empire. The very fact that he is risen means that his teachings and his cause are true, while the imperial ideology is false. God himself declares as much!
The Gospel of Matthew reports instead the strange tale of the saintly dead exiting their tombs at the very moment that Jesus dies on the cross, see Matthew 27:52-53. From a dogmatic point of view, this portion of the story begs an explanation. The official version in any Christian system is that Jesus resurrected three days after his execution, while everybody else will resurrect at the end of times. The rising dead of Matthew don’t fit at all in this scheme. Yet they do fit if one understands that Jesus is the just man, the exemplary servant of God unjustly executed. By killing him, the Empire decrees its own demise. In fact, immediately at his death those just prophets once mistreated and now forgotten in their tombs are vindicated and revitalized. For Matthew, the crucifixion of Jesus is a cosmic event which starts having an effect on the balance of power even before Jesus himself is seen alive again.
We don’t need to agree on these interpretations of the Resurrection of Jesus to understand them. But we need to know them, and their background, if we want to talk meaningfully about the Resurrection itself.
We do not share, of course, the biology or the cosmology of 1st-century Palestine. But we can perhaps still derive a deep sense of meaning from the Resurrection of Jesus anyway. For example, as a sign of the vindication of his life and teachings. He was seen alive after his death — that much I think must be conceded by all. Does it matter what kind of body he had? Does it matter where such a body ended up after the initial period of the apparitions? Or is it more relevant what seeing him alive meant to his 1st-century disciples?
Banner image: “Christ appearing to the Apostles after His Resurrection.” Painting by Szymon Czechowicz on Wikimedia Commons.
Queries for Contemplation
Were you informed about the eschatological background of Jesus’ resurrection, or its meaning as a vindication of the just servant of God? What difference does it make to your perception of Christianity?
Related Readings by Matthew Fox
Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance
Charles Burack, ed., Matthew Fox: Essential Writings on Creation Spirituality
Sheer Joy: Conversations with Thomas Aquinas on Creation Spirituality
The Tao of Thomas Aquinas: Fierce Wisdom for Hard Times
Wrestling with the Prophets: Essays on Creation Spirituality and Everyday Life
Natural Grace: Dialogues on creation, darkness, and the soul in spirituality and science
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
2 thoughts on “Lessons from the stories of the Resurrection of Jesus – part 2”
The enclosed YouTube video of the interview by Thom Hartmann on his program about the growth of Christian nationalism in all ranks of the military, including Trump and the Secretary of Defense (Hegseth), is very scary! We must resist ignorance and evil with the Living Spirit of Love, Truth, Guidance, and Strength…
Spiritually, my Faith informs me that the resurrection means the Living Loving Wisdom Healing Creative Transformative Compassionate Spirit of Christ~Sophia (Divine Feminine) Is Always Present within and among Us in All physical/nonphysical spiritual dimensions of Our Loving Diverse Oneness of Our sacred evolving Cosmos, including Our Humanity and Gaia…
The fact of Jesus’s being resurrected and the gospel about it, with the growth of the early Church, as Acts and the letters in the New Testament treat it, have strengthened my faith. Traditional interpretations of these scriptures have enabled me to formulate a spirituality which urges action, not just mental assent. As the Letter of James stresses, belief without deeds to manifest faith is empty. But James’s Letter is not exceptional to what Jesus and the early Church demonstrate clearly. The implications of Jesus’s promise that his followers will do even greater things than he did include the concept of spiritual evolution, and with it the gradual, if not steady, growth in maturity and harmony among the world’s diverse peoples. Jesus’s divine exhortation of peace jibes with the Golden Rule, which is generally respected, if not always practiced worldwide.