Theology on Tap - Resurrection

Theology on Tap Round V

Resurrection

Premise: Resurrection shapes the life of the community God is creating through the ministry of Jesus in the Gospels and the book of Acts.

There are two Greek words that we understand as the action of resurrection - literally, "to be raised":

ἐγείρω,v  \{eg-i’-ro}
1) to arouse, cause to rise  1a) to arouse from sleep, to awake  1b) to arouse from the sleep of death, to recall the dead to life  1c) to cause to rise from a seat or bed etc.  1d) to raise up, produce, cause to appear

ἀνίστημι,v  \{an-is’-tay-mee}
1a) to cause to rise up, raise up  1a) raise up from laying down  1b) to raise up from the dead  1c) to raise up, cause to be born, to cause to appear, bring forward

The word ἐγείρω is used in Mark’s Gospel to describe Jesus’ own resurrection.
Mark 16:6-7 - “But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised (ἐγείρω); he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. (7) But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’”

If we follow the call of Mark to go back to Galilee, we find ourselves right back in chapter one of the Gospel. The Gospel can be seen as cyclical in this way. The call from the messenger at the tomb points us to where Jesus began his ministry. In the time when this story was told orally, this was an important hook for the audience. It gave the audience a choice of how they responded to the story. They could walk away and leave it as just a story. Or they could return to Galilee, experience the ministry of Jesus unfolding, and pattern their owns lives after what they had experienced. Going back to Galilee helps us to understand the wider scope of resurrection in the Gospel.

Resurrection takes place in the ultimate moment of being raised to new life by God at the moment of physical death. Resurrection also takes place in more subtle ways. Here we think of death in a metaphorical sense. We can have a pulse and move air and still be very much dead to the world. Here death is a metaphor for all that holds us back from living the full life that God has blessed us with in this world. In this metaphorical death we are held back from working, serving, playing, and living fully into to our identity as God’s people. We do not get to enjoy the benefits of life in community.

Throughout the Gospel we encounter Jesus raising people to new life - granting them the benefits and returning them to participation in life in the community. Literally resurrecting them in this world. So we go back to Galilee to witness this social aspect of resurrection.

In Galilee, Jesus begins his ministry after his testing in the wilderness with a sermon in the local synagogue. After the gathering is off to Peter’s mother-in-laws house for a bite to eat. But she is sick with a fever. What follow is the first moment of “resurrection” in the Gospel.

Mark 1:31 - “He came and took her by the hand and lifted (ἐγείρω) her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.”

In this instant, Jesus resurrects Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. In here state of fever, she could not fulfill her identity as a child of God. She could not serve others and live out her call to hospitality. She is metaphorically dead to the community. Until Jesus raises her to new life. Once resurrected, she immediately lives into her identity as person of hospitality. Right there, as the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is enacting resurrection.

We encounter this over and over again in Mark’s Gospel.

Mark 2:11-12 
“I say to you, stand up (ἐγείρω), take your mat and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up (ἐγείρω), and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Mark 3:1-5
“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward (ἐγείρω).”

Mark 5:41-42
“He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up (ἐγείρω)!” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.”

In each of these moments we need to remember that the original audience probably heard this story told before they ever encountered it in textual form. When hearing the story, repetition of words is important. Mark’s use of ἐγείρω is a choice and the audience would not translate it in such a wide variety of meanings as we do today. They would, potentially, hear the word ἐγείρω over and over and build an image of what this concept means. When Mark uses it in connection with Jesus in 16:16, the image and action of resurrection would be complete. Jesus has been practicing all along what God will do for him on the first Easter.

Resurrection happens in real time! Social resurrection is happening now.

A key moment for Mark’s Gospel arrives in chapter ten when Jesus invites the crowd to participate in his ministry of social resurrection.

In the story of Bartimaeus, my favorite Gospel story (and the namesake of this blog), we have the tale of a man who gets invited to participate in life as a disciple of Jesus. This story is rich with metaphor.

Mark 10:46-52
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside( ὁδός, the way). 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up (ἐγείρω), he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way (ὁδός).

The word in verse 46 that is translated “roadside” is the Greek word ὁδός. It is often translated as road, but for Mark it may have deeper meaning. The name for the early Jesus movement was “The Way” - literally ὁδός. We can understand this moment to be Bartimaeus sitting beside “the way,” in a state of being where he is not engaged in the life of a disciple. Metaphorically he cannot “see (encounter)” the world as a disciple.

In verse 49 Jesus empowers the crowd to call Bartimaeus to him, and they are the ones who raise him to engage new life as a disciple. It is crowd who now participates in Jesus’ ministry of social resurrection. They are the instrument Jesus uses to raise this man to new life. A powerful moment for Mark’s Gospel.

Jesus pronounces that Bartimaeus’ faith has healed him. His faith has literally changed the way he engages the world. Bartimaeus then joins Jesus on “the way,” becoming a disciple.

The lesson from Mark - this is the life we are called into as disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus is about the business of enacting resurrection, bringing people to new life, in this time and place. And we are invited to follow.

The books of Luke and Acts model this same pattern. For Luke, the person considered to be the author of both works, the rhythm of Jesus enacting resurrection in this world is the same.  For Luke, the word of choice for resurrection is ἀνίστημι.

Luke 24:5-75
The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but they said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen (ἐγείρω). 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again (ἀνίστημι).”

This is repeated by Jesus himself when he appears to the disciples in verse 46 of the same chapter.

The movement of resurrection carries over into the book of Acts. A key verse early on comes in Peter’s Pentecost speech in chapter two. 


Acts 2:32 - “This Jesus God raised (ἀνίστημι) up, and of that all of us are witnesses”

Resurrection is what Goes does in and through Jesus. The disciples are witnesses to this action.

In the book Acts, Luke narrates what God does in the world through the Holy Spirit, the main character of the story. What God does in the world is to continue to raise new life out of death; both physically and metaphorically. The witnesses of this action are called to interpret how God is at work in the world and pattern their lives accordingly. They are called to join into God's action of social resurrection.

Our call today is to do the same. We have received these witnesses stories not as fun tales for entertain, but to pattern our own lives accordingly.

An important question for us to ask is “Where have you seen Jesus?” I learned to ask this question while I was in Aggie Lutherans during my time in College Station. My mentor Deb Grant taught us to ask this question with our lives. Every gathering, every devotion, sometimes multiple times a week, we would ask each other - “where have you seen Jesus?” We would listen to each other’s encounters with the risen Jesus. We learned to see the rhythm of God in our midst. I still like to ask this question, so I offer it up to us this morning - “Where have you seen Jesus?” It’s a moment of confession for modern day disciples.

By asking and answering “Where have you seen Jesus?” we confess the power of God’s ministry of social resurrection in our midst.

Two more statements about resurrection.

1)  Resurrection does not wait until it’s safe. God does it. We are invited to witness, follow, participate.

2)  We do not get to vote on resurrection. Resurrection is God’s action. God will resurrection who and what God wants to - regardless of what we acknowledge or think.

So the next step for us to start asking - "Where Have You Seen Jesus?!”