Life Before Death

Learning to take care of our body and soul

04/20/2017

Luke 24:35-48

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

          Boys and girls, do you believe in ghosts? We’ve had a number of Trinity faculty and students who’ve lost a family member to death recently. What do you think happens to those people who die? For example, Ms. Marcy Mask, Walker Catsavis, Ms. Cyndy Bedell, Mr. Plake, Parker Crisp, Ms. Rita Newman, and me, too, because my nephew Noah died recently. I say this with all due respect, but do you think they are ghosts floating around on a cloud somewhere playing a golden harp? That is, do all souls go straight to heaven after they die? Or, do you think that they have just disappeared off the face of the earth and no longer exist anywhere; are they just “worm food”? Why is there such a fascination with zombies today, like the wildly popular TV show, “Walking Dead”?

          You should know that these are very common viewpoints about life after death in the world today, and sooner or later you will hear about them. Now, I’m not saying any of this to worry you, but I am saying it to wake you: to encourage you to start thinking about life after death, because that can change your thinking about life before death.

          If you’re having trouble dealing with all this, don’t feel too bad, the apostles did, too. In the gospel today, Jesus appears to them after his resurrection and they are afraid of what they see. Luke writes: “They were startled and terrified, and they thought they were seeing a ghost.” Then to calm their fears, Jesus invites them to touch him and he even eats some baked fish to show them he’s real. The apostles were worried they were either seeing a ghost (a soul without a body), or they were seeing a zombie (a body without a soul), and both possibilities struck them with terror. But Jesus says to them, “Peace be with you.” In other words, he assured them that it’s only when both body and soul are in harmony that true peace is found, like Jesus own body and soul were in perfect unity. And this peace is true not only in life after death, but also in life before death.

          Boys and girls, we are in constant danger of thinking too much about the body (and not enough about the soul) or of thinking too much about the soul (and not enough about the body). We tend to emphasize one or the other too much: we love ghosts or we love zombies! For example, we think too much about the body. Do you ever think you will stay young and strong and beautiful forever, like you are now? Will you become as old as Coach Vitale one day, because that dude is old?! A friend of mine told me that you really lose your independence in life not when you can’t drive your car own anymore, but when you can’t wipe your own bottom anymore. Do you think you’ll always be able to wipe your own bottom?  Then you think too much about your body (and too little about your soul); you love zombies.

          On the other hand, sometimes we think too much about our soul (and too little about our bodies). Sometimes we abuse and neglect our bodies: we eat junk food, we smoke, we use drugs, we pull all-nighters. We think the body really doesn’t matter much, like Hamlet who said, “For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause” (Hamlet, III, 1: 67-69). For Hamlet, and for many modern minds, the human body is just a “mortal coil” that we need to “shuffle off” so that the soul can be “free.” We’re almost tempted to think the body is bad, because you really love ghosts.

          But after his resurrection, Jesus appeared as a perfect body and a perfect soul, and that’s how he brought his apostles peace. When we take good care of our body and our soul, when harmony reigns in both, then, we, too, will feel peace. And we will feel that peace not only in life after death, but even in life before death.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!