We find ourselves in an historical moment where everything we say and do is about bodies, and about death. It’s also making us think about big questions, big structural issues, and the shape of the big narrative in which we find ourselves. So this story from the gospel of John has a particular resonance today. It may be uncomfortable, but the scriptures compel us today to talk about life after death.
There are lots of stories about life after death.
There’s the one that goes ‘Somewhere out there is a lovely man called God who is kind and caring. God lives in a wonderful place called heaven and, when people die, they go there to live with him. Grandpa is there, and our cat Flopsy and Auntie Flo and that girl from school who died in the car accident. Pol Pot wasn’t allowed in, neither was Stalin. Nor were any serial killers or wife beaters or people who kick dogs. They all go to a horrible place called hell’
Then there’s the one that goes ‘Everyone is a sinner, even you and me. Sinners go to hell. But if you want to escape hell, you need to believe that Jesus died so that your sins could be forgiven. If you just accept it and really truly believe it, when you die your soul will go floating up to heaven and you can be God for ever. All the Hindus, Muslims and Atheists will go to hell, but hey, they had their chance’
Or this one: ‘God loves everyone and wants everyone to go to heaven. It doesn’t matter what you believe, or how you behave, when you die you’ll go to heaven and God will fix you up. Religious beliefs are nice, though, they help you lead a decent life, give you a sense of wellbeing and the hymns are nice. Everyone goes to heaven, nice people go to church’
Obviously, I’m presenting caricatures – but in my experience beliefs like this are widespread. I suppose this is to be expected amongst those who’ve not been formed in a Christian faith tradition. But, in fact, these narratives about life after death are extremely common even amongst people who are committed participants in a church.
So, what do Christians believe about an afterlife? I’m talking about orthodox, standard, basic Christian teaching, nothing crazy or novel – what do Christians believe about the afterlife?
Firstly, it has to be said the Christian faith does not believe in an afterlife at all – at least not in the sense that it is generally used. Typically, when the phrase ‘afterlife’ is used, it’s used in the sense of the happy hunting grounds, or the Elysian fields – some place where the soul of a dead person (whatever that is) goes to hang around doing who knows what for ever. So no, if that’s what an afterlife is, Christians don’t believe in it.
So this begs the question, what, do Christians believe that when you die that’s it? Your body rots away and all that’s left are memories? Well no, we don’t believe that either – though the way some Christians behave around death you might think we did.
Orthodox Christian teaching is that all people die and that, one day, there will be a general resurrection of the dead when Jesus Christ returns in glory. There will be a reckoning, a calling to account for all people in which our beliefs and actions will be judged. On that day, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the reign of Christ will begin – a reign of peace and justice, in which there is no more pain or despair and in which God is at one with the New Creation.
Which brings us to the stench.
In the story of Lazarus which we heard today, Jesus was some distance away. He explains to his disciples that his friend Lazarus is asleep, and that he is going to wake him. The disciples are confused, until Jesus explains that Lazarus is dead. The disciples don’t want to go to Judea, but resign themselves to the idea that they might be killed alongside Jesus. Upon arrival, Jesus meets with Martha. He tells her that he is the Resurrection and the Life, and that those who believe in him even if they die will live, and if they live and believe in him will never die. Martha declares that Jesus is God’s anointed one. Mary arrives and weeps. Jesus weeps as well and asks where they have laid Lazarus. He commands that the stone be rolled away, but Mary protests, because there is a stench.
The parallels with Jesus’ own death and burial are as powerful as they are deliberate. Weeping women, burial in a tomb instead of a pit, lying dead in the tomb for three days, the disciples’ fear of persecution – even the question ‘Where have you laid him?’ prefigures a similar question from the women at Jesus’ tomb. But what of the stench?
When a body dies, various things happen – lividity, rigor mortis, pallor, decomposition. While a dead body can be beautiful and peaceful, without refrigeration the smell quickly becomes unbearable. Lazarus in the story was dead. Really, truly dead. His body was mouldering in the grave.
Jesus did not resuscitate him, Jesus resurrected him. He gained a new body, restored to wholeness, he became a new kind of being.
This act of Jesus is a sign which points to the coming Reign of God, when those who have died are resurrected with a new body and, not only that, the whole of creation is redeemed and restored.
So, of course, we can just sit back and wait for Jesus to return, right? Don’t worry, be happy and hang out for that new body. And try to be nice and believe the right things so that we’re not judged too harshly. Right? Surely that’s logical?
Yet we are the ones who are called out, to stand as witnesses to the resurrection of Christ and his return. God has called us not to simply sit around and silently wait – indeed, how could we when we are privy to that open secret that the Reign of God has been inaugurated and will one day be fulfilled. So how do we live in this in-between time?
Firstly, we pray as if the Reign of God was already here. As if the veil between God and Creation had been completely destroyed and the will of God, my will, and the will of all humanity are one. God is not some far-distant deity to be appeased, but an immediate reality in whom we dwell.
Secondly, we speak as if the Reign of God might arrive tomorrow. I don’t mean in the sense of those fridge magnets ‘Jesus is Coming! And boy, is he mad!’ Rather, when we speak of God and God’s Reign, we speak good news about a future free from fear and hate, in which sin has no more power, and we let others in on the open secret – because its good news for all people, and for the whole universe.
Finally, and this is the hard one, we work as if the Reign of God might never arrive. If we know that one day the hungry will eat and the thirsty will drink, and that the last shall be first, and we wait eagerly for that day – then we can no longer live comfortably in a world at odds with the values of the Reign of God. If we know that one day lies will be exposed and hate will be overcome by love – we can no longer tolerate a world in which hate and lies have dominance. We are fools in this endeavour – because we know we cannot change the world, yet we continue to try.
Things are going to get worse over the next few months. Much worse. Not because we are isolated in our homes – that’s the easy part. The cold reality is that the social structures and systems which have seemed impregnable are already falling apart. The assumptions that have shaped our common life are crumbling before our eyes. And it will be, as always, the poor who suffer most.
So perhaps this is how we live during this time of global pandemic. Praying as if the Reign of God is already here, speaking as if the Reign of God might arrive tomorrow, and working as if the Reign of God might never arrive. This will requires discipline, sacrifice and creativity and it would be impossible if we did not already believe in resurrection – Christ’s and our own.
I am the Resurrection and the Life, says Jesus. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
The Lord be with you
