When in preparation for my secondary school qualifying examinations I had
to read the Gospel according to Mathew from start to finish, I was confronted
with an account that showed that the Son of God faced acrimonious hostility
from many detractors right from the start of His ministration till it ended in
a gruesome crucifixion in chapter 27.
Then in chapter 28, Jesus who had suffered so much animosity and death
from the hands of His enemies rose from the dead! In my childlike thinking , He
now ought to go and see Caiaphas the high priest, the scribes and the elders
and say to them: shame on you all; you family of vipers! You think you could
stop me by arranging an unjust crucifixion. See me now; I am alive and well.
Let the fight start afresh! But then, the story did not go this way. Instead,
in the concluding chapter 28 of Mathew with just 20 verses, Jesus showed
Himself to a select few and then commissioned them to teach all nations what He
had taught them! What an anticlimax!
The other synoptic Gospels tell us how some people saw Jesus after the
resurrection. We come across words to the effect that for these ones to see
Jesus their eyes had to be specially “opened”. Then in each case the persons
concerned did not know that the one they were seeing was Jesus until after some
time. What does all these suggest?
Could it be the same physical body that Jesus used before the crucifixion
that appeared after the resurrection? If
yes, why was He not easily recognised by close followers again? Why did the
resurrected Christ not continue physically engaging His detractors? Please note
that this new body did not need to enter through doors; it simply appeared in
locations open or enclosed! It vanished at will! And then, people’s eyes needed
to be specially opened to see it. Finally, this body was able to ascend to
Heaven! Can a physical body made up of
flesh, blood and bones have all these attributes?
I have since sought and found answers to these questions. I am therefore convinced
presently that Jesus the Son of God also required an earthly physical body in
order to carry out His Mission on earth and such a body is only useful on earth
and nowhere else. Such a physical body of flesh and blood was acquired by Jesus
through His birth on earth. Such a body is not required in the Holy Abode of
the Son of God from whence He came and to where He returned after His Mission! The
resurrected body was therefore not of material substance but another body, a
lighter one which is not physical or flesh. Christ’s physical body was acquired on earth
for earthly use, belongs to the earth, and necessarily had to be left on earth
after the departure of the Holy One! This also explains why contrary to my
youthful thoughts earlier mentioned, the resurrected finer body of Jesus could
not continue the physical engagement with his enemies.
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