Easter and Resurrection of the Flesh

By Okey Ikechukwu

Schimera, the student, met Aletheia near the stream late in the evening. They sat in silence for a while, with Aletheia lost in thought. Together they watched the movement of the water and how the fish swam and danced with the currents. A yellow leaf detached from the tree and begun its decent to the ground. Its directionless twists and turns almost gave the breeze-driven leaf a crazy half-life.

Finally, it dropped motionless to the ground, as Schimera turned to look at his Master’s expressionless face. His thoughts went back to the question that made him seek out the old one so late in the evening.

Schimera: Is there such a thing as resurrection of the flesh, he asked?

Aletheia: Perhaps you wouldn’t mind telling me what you mean by ‘resurrection of the flesh’?

Schimera: I mean the belief that someone who has died, and has been buried, can rise from the dead and live again.

Aletheia: I see. So, in what form will the dead person ‘rise’ and live again; as a tree, or a goat, or something else?

Schimera: Well, certainly as a human being. And he will look exactly the same.

Aletheia: I see. So, a person who has risen from the dead must look exactly the way he did before he was buried?

Schimera: Well, yes, but I am not quite sure. The voice will still be the same, and he will behave the way he was known to behave. In short, there is something inside that makes us who we are.

Aletheia: And what, if I may ask, is the nature of this ‘something’?

Schimera: I don’t really know, sir. All I know is that the soul is said to rise after death in a new life.

Aletheia: Oh, you are talking about the soul. Is this soul made of flesh and blood?

Schimera: Certainly not! Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a soul!

Aletheia: So, it is the soul that rises from the dead and not the body, then?

Schimera: I suppose so. No, wait, it is both of them.

Aletheia: But your question was about the resurrection of the flesh. All of a sudden, it is now turning into resurrection of the soul. Does that not sound strange to you?

Schimera: Not entirely. I believe that the soul rises from the dead, using the body.

Aletheia: Interesting! From what you are saying, the soul must actually be lying in the grave with the body, waiting for the day of resurrection, right?

Schimera: I believe so.

Aletheia: You say ‘you believe’; which means that you are not sure, right?

Schimera: Well…?

Aletheia: If you are not sure, it means that you are only guessing, right?

Schimera: I suppose so. But don’t forget that this is a very popular belief. The millions of people who believe it cannot be wrong.

Aletheia: Which one is the popular belief now: (1) That the flesh comes back to life? (2) That the soul re-enters the body and rises with it? or (3) That the soul stays in the grave with the buried body until the day of resurrection?

Schimera: Well, I am not sure right now, but many people believe different aspects of what you have just mentioned. Some think that the soul stays somewhere and then later joins the body during resurrection.

Aletheia: So those who believe in a resurrection of the flesh do not all even believe exactly the same thing?

Schimera: No, they do not!

Aletheia: And do you suppose that all of them are correct, irrespective of the differences in their beliefs about resurrection?

Schimera: No, if one of the beliefs is right then the others must be wrong.

Aletheia: And does it occur to you that all of them could be wrong?

Schimera: But yes, my dear master! I never thought of that. But, considering that  millions of people all over the world believe these things, should we not cut them some slack?

Aletheia: There was a time millions of people on earth believed that the earth world was flat; until one man found out that it was false and said so.

Schimera: But don’t people have the right to believe what they like.

Aletheia: Oh yes, they do. But they also have the more important duty of making sure that their beliefs are correct.

Schimera: But people can call themselves free thinkers.

Aletheia: Yes. Just don’t forget that everyone cannot just wake up one glorious morning and say that whatever they think must be the truth.

Schimera: And what if I hold my beliefs to be true and allow others to hold theirs?

Aletheia: Then you will all have no way of knowing who is correct. Surely concept of truth in a world where everyone’s belief is unquestionable will be difficult to understand.

Schimera: You know that most of my beliefs are things I grew up with. My problem is that something unusual in me is always making me to ask questions when others are living their normal lives in peace.

Aletheia: What you are doing is what is expected of every responsible adult. It is everyone’s sacred duty to examine inherited beliefs and only keep the ones he can retain out of conviction.

Schimera: Well, that is rather challenging and tiring, especially because the answers are not easy to find.

Aletheia: But we are making progress right now, are we not?

Schimera: We are? I am even more confused now than I was before we began this conversation.

Aletheia: Well, you have got to the point of now realizing that one or two things you thought was knowledge was not real knowledge.

Schimera: Well, yes!

Aletheia: You are now in a position to say what you know and restrain yourself from saying that you know something when you do not. Is that no progress?

Schimera: I see your point now, master.

Aletheia: Well, there is a difference between personal opinion and knowledge.

Schimera: I don’t understand.

Aletheia: Your opinion may depend on hearsay and inherited beliefs, while knowledge depends on absolute certainty.

Schimera: Mmmmm.

Aletheia: Going back to your question about resurrection of the flesh, we came to a dead end there; did we not?

Schimera: I suppose so. I brought up the matter because I just want to know if it is true that dead and buried flesh can rise from the grave in order to go to heaven; or rise to a new life of the soul in the great beyond.

Aletheia: Consider these three questions: (1) Is the physical body Christ used on earth an important component of His true Identity? (2) Did He rise in the flesh from the dead, using the very same physical body? (3) Is it true that a physical body of flesh and blood can be taken up to heaven, which is non-physical?

Schimera: If the physical body is an essential part of a person’s identity then it means that he must need it outside this world of matter.

Aletheia: And what if the body is only a covering which the soul uses while on earth, and which it does not need outside the world of matter?

Schimera: Hmmmmm.

Aletheia: Christ was once quoted to have said: “Before Abraham was, I Am”. It means is that He was part of the very beginning of all things, even before the creation of man. 

Schimera: But He was just born about two thousand years ago.

Aletheia: Exactly! He was in existence before then. He simply entered a physical body which He needed for a Mission on earth, two thousand years ago. His Existence and Identity did not depend on whether He came to this world or not. He is Who He Is, with or without the world of matter and the physical body.

Schimera: You are saying that the body Christ used on earth was not a necessary part of His identity?

Aletheia: No, it was not! He Is Who He Is, whether in a physical body or not.

Schimera: But Who is He, really? He was like no ordinary man.

Aletheia: That is correct! You will understand that He was the Divine Envoy of Almighty God. He had to use a physical body as an instrument for His Mission on earth.

Schimera: Are we saying that man is not partly physical and partly spiritual? Remember there is the belief that the flesh makes Christ partly human, while His Divinity makes him more than human.

Aletheia: The question to ask here is: What does the physical body add to the essence of man? If I cut off your leg, only your movement suffers. But the entire body stops working the moment the spirit is out of it.

Schimera: Wait a minute, master: people actually consider themselves complete personalities even when they lose a leg, their hands, or when an accident changes their face completely.

Aletheia: Of course! No one ever introduces himself as Mr. so and so, minus one leg.

Schimera: So, you are saying that Christ is not partly human and partly Divine?

Aletheia: Flesh itself is just flesh. It is not even human-spiritual, but a purely material substance that eventually dissolves into its original mineral composition.  Once the physical body of Christ was damaged by the act of murder on Calvary, the Divine occupant of the maltreated cloak left it.

Schimera: I see! Which means that He was Alive even before Mary of Nazareth was created, or born.

Aletheia: yes! The mutilation of the body and the crucifixion, did not touch His Essence. He was always Alive; even at the time they went to lay the damaged body He had used on earth in a grave. Christ, not the body He used on earth, never died.

Schimera: So, what are we to understand from the statement in the Bible that He rose from the dead?

Aletheia: Let us begin by asking who the dead are. Christ is a Divine Envoy, Who came among the slumbering and dead human spirits on earth and then blazed the straight path to spiritual salvation.

Schimera: Oh, He came among them and rose again from among them.

Aletheia: Coming all the way down and then rising out of this darkness and showing the way with his teachings.  

 Schimera: I see!

Aletheia: Yes, but not with His physical body, which is made of material substance. The spirit and heaven are not material things.

Schimera: I see!

Aletheia:  Yes, as it is written: “Of the earth earthly, of the spirit spiritual”.

After a long quiet  moment, with no further verbal exchanges, master and people got up and left their siting positions, and the stream-garden.

Let Easter be truly Easter for us all, as all strive from spiritual slumber to a new life of great realizations.