I heard that St Paul spoke of a “spiritual body” after the resurrection and that that Christ was not physically present when he appeared to the disciples after the resurrection. Did Jesus have a physical body after the resurrection?
St Thomas Aquinas considers the question of Christ’s body after the resurrection, and how a physical human body could go through closed doors, vanish from sight, and be unrecognisable in appearance. (Summa Theologica 3a 54.1) He refers to St Luke’s account of the appearance of Christ to the alarmed apostles, and his reassurance: “See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Handle, and see: for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me to have.” (Luke 24.39) Our Lord then ate some cooked fish with them. In St John’s gospel, we have the account of St Thomas, and the very physical nature of Jesus’ invitation: “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side (Jn 20.27)
The idea that Christ’s risen body was not physical was refuted as long ago as the second century by St Irenaeus, writing against the Gnostics who denied the goodness of the flesh. The fourth Lateran Council stated of Christ: “He descended in the soul, rose in the flesh, and ascended in both.”
After the resurrection, Our Lord’s body was “glorified”: that is to say, it had some properties that are not shared by those who have not risen from the dead. His post-resurrection appearances to the disciples are an encouragement for us to look forward to our own resurrection when we will share the glory of His risen body. The people that Jesus raised from the dead (Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, the young man of Naim) returned to an earthly life and would die again. Our Lord’s resurrection was not a return to an earthly life but a transcendent event in which he passed from death to the state in which his human body was glorified. In this physical yet glorified body he appeared to the disciples and invited them to the response of faith.
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5 comments:
I took a Christology class last semester in which we had a lot of fun speculating as to the exact nature of the glorified body of Christ - which could walk through walls and was not readily recognizable to those who had known him only a couple days before.
I feel as though I could explain an awful lot of unusual concepts in quite a bit of detail for people who asked me. The resurrected and glorified body, though?
"It's a mystery."
I always believed by faith, in the resurrection but after my own son's recovery from a traumatic brain injury, I now believe as fact.
The Surgeon's told us his brain had bled so profusely, they used the analogy 'like a hose being sprayed around his brain for hours and hours.'
aAparently, it is the bleeding that causes the brain damage He had five blood clots removed over a 22 hour period, ten of which were in surgery. A third of his skull was removed. He has a titanium plate fitted now, which makes him a bionic miracle as well!
My son was awoken from his induced coma, he spoke (actually he swore about the tracheotomy in his throat and pulled it out), walked, regained his mental faculties to a point where he qualified in 2009 as a Quantity Surveyor! He has a weakness in his left side and controlled residual epilepsy.
My prayer to God at the time of his injury was "Dear Lord, you formed my son's brain once, in my womb, so I know you can reform it again, if it is your Will because you raised your own brain back to life from the grave and also Lazarus'.
I believed absolutely that God had the power to do this. He sustains a whole universe!
I also reminded Him of the scripture regarding faith the size of a mustard seed and handed him mine.
I left the outcome in His hands. God has no favorites, my son is alive, he still has a task to complete, on earth.
Praise the living God, Jesus.
And His Humanity, His Body is in all eternity since the Ascension
amazing....
Excellent post as always. I've heard it said anecdotally that the risen Christ far from being 'ghostly' was even more substantial in His resurrection body. Thus walls etc were as nothing - except less substantial - in this world.
Thank you! A priest preached just last week saying that the resurrected body wasn't physical, but spiritual. He then said that Christ wasn't physically present on the altar during the consecration but only "spiritually."
After Mass I spoke with him and he said that Christ is "fully present" then added "spiritually" that someone how the spiritual enveloped the physical just as God is a spiritual being with the physical enveloped within Himself.
But when I asked about Thomas and the eating he said, yes, but it was a spiritual body.
I gave up after that.
Thanks for the post!
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