Last week, on Easter Sunday, we gathered to proclaim our belief in the resurrection of Jesus. Each week, when we confess the creed, we proclaim our belief that we too, will be resurrected. The Apostle’s Creed says; "I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." Each week, you say that you believe that. So how about it? Do you? Everlasting life is one thing, but the resurrection of the body?

If you are like most Americans, nine out of ten to be precise, you will say that you believe in the immortality of the soul. That is, that after we die, our soul or spirit lives on in some way. That is a philosophical concept, not a religious belief. It is not what the Christian Church teaches, and it is not what you say you believe. The Christian faith is not just about something "spiritual." Christianity is carnal, incarnate, bodily formed. Jesus, the very Word of God, "became flesh and dwelt among us."

There are some religions that keep all of their thoughts spiritual, ethereal, disembodied. But not ours. We believe in the body. God gave us our bodies, and however we may feel about them, God loves us in our bodies, and shall love us forever in the body.

When Jesus was raised on Easter, we believe that he was resurrected in the body. The tomb was empty. He didn’t leave his battered, crucified body behind. It wasn’t some disembodied, ethereal phantom that walked out of the tomb that day. That’s Hollywood, not the Bible. The risen Jesus had a body—a recognizable, touchable body.

Now, to be sure, it wasn’t the same body that he once had. This one walked through closed doors. When his disciples first saw him, some of them thought he was a ghost. But when he showed them his hands and his feet, when they touched the scar in his side, when they heard his voice, there was enough body there to say, "It’s him." This is Jesus, whom we have known and loved. It is the Lord.

It’s pretty hard to imagine someone without a body. Each of us is "some-body", and that is how we know each other. When someone dear to you dies, it’s not their disembodied spirit--some vague thing floating above reality for which you grieve. It’s that look in their eyes, their voice, their facial expressions, their touch, their funny little ways of being some-body.

And we believe in the resurrection of the body. Maybe not the same exact body. As St. Paul writes, it does not yet appear exactly what we shall be. We will be changed, he writes, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. But in some deep sense, the body that God gave, God shall raise. We believe not in the immortality of the soul, as Plato taught, but in the resurrection of the body. And that belief leads us to at least three related beliefs.

First, because we believe in the resurrection of the body, we also believe that God, who raised the body of the dead Jesus, loves us in our entirety, including our bodies. The same God who so wondrously and lovingly knit us together in our mother’s wombs loves to keep creating. God does not take kindly to the annihilation of his creations, and raises us from the dead. A disfigured body, wasting away due to famine in Africa or due to an eating disorder here in North America is an offense against God. God works against such desecration of the body. God loves bodies—having created so many of them, and so well, too.

Second, because we believe in the resurrection of the body, we also believe that God, who raised the body of the dead Jesus, loves us distinctively, uniquely, particularly--that is—bodily. The person who said, "I love humanity. It’s people I can’t stand," was not speaking for our God. We believe that we shall be raised as distinctive, recognizable personalities.

In the Old Testament book the Song of Songs, two lovers take turns cataloging each other’s bodies, from tip to toe, from stem to stern. Lovers do that. And the gospels indicate that God loves us in just that way, right down to numbering every hair on our heads. And thus we believe in the resurrection of the body. God created humanity, not to be some disembodied spirits, floating above the world, but as residents of the world, who live in bodies that are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Third and last, because we believe in the resurrection of the body, we also believe that bodies matter. I suppose that there are religions that are able to say, "It’s only a carnal, fleshy, material body. Don’t worry about it. Get over it." Christianity is not one of those religions. The body matters. St. Paul calls our bodies the very "temple of the Spirit"—the Holy Spirit, that is. God thought enough of our bodies to take up residence in one, the body of Jesus. We believe that God loves our bodies enough to raise them from the dead, redeeming that which sin and death has so sadly defaced. We believe in the resurrection of the body.

On the evening of the day that he was raised from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples. At first, they did not believe that it was him. Then he said, "Peace be with you." It was his voice. They recognized that. Then he showed them his injured hands and side. Look, he says. It’s really me. They recognized his body, and they rejoiced.

When Thomas joined them a little later and heard what happened, he said, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and the hole in his side, I won’t believe." And for a week, he didn’t. He didn’t believe in the resurrection of the body.

So the risen Jesus made a second appearance. This time, Thomas sees him, hears him, touches him, in the body, and believes.

We believe that the purposes of God for our bodies shall not be defeated, even in the wasting of death.

We believe in the resurrection of the body. AMEN

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