Who raised Jesus?

So...if you could have spent some time in our home over the past week or so, you would have been witness to a "theological" conversation between my wife and I. First of all, those are the best type of theological conversation because she has not been tainted with various theological teaching and theories. She simply approaches knowledge of God from the perspective of faith. Maybe we would all do well to approach it in that manner. Plus, it enables me to make an attempt at speaking theologically in a way that can be understood by those who are not trained in the area. Isn't that what we are being trained to do anyway?

The question that was pondered was...who raised Jesus from the dead? It may seem like a stupid question...but allow us to ponder this for a moment. Was it the Father who raised Jesus from the dead, or is it essential to believe that Jesus raised Himself from the dead? If we believe that Christ conquered death in His death on the cross...then I guess it can be the Father. However, if you believe that Christ's resurrection is what conquered death...then it seems as though Christ had to doing the raising on His own. This could be supported if we assert that Christ is the keeper of the keys to heaven and hell.

It seems, at this point anyway, that one's answer to this question is dependent upon whether or not it is the death or resurrection that overcame death. If Christ came to conquer death, then He had to do this on His own. If it was the Father who did the raising...then how can the ressurection be significant?

A second discussion that developed out of this was...what happened to the Trinity when Christ died? If we subscribe to the concept that Jesus was forsaken, what happened to the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? If we subscribe to the statement that Christ descended to hell in the Apostle's Creed, then this is an ever more prominent issue.

The essence of the question concerns how Jesus was forsaken. In order to take on the sins of the world, Jesus had to experience what we deserved for our sinfulness. What is the culmination of our sinfulness? A separation from God. This is interesting. How does a person of the Trinity experience separation?

Many answers have developed. There were two major possibilities that came up. First, maybe the Trinity did cease to exist until the resurrection. Secondly, perhaps there was no separation, which would indicate, in some way, that Jesus did not recieve the cost of our sins.

To wrap this up sooner rather than later...I conclude that the answer is both...sort of. You see, Christ is fully human and fully divine. We have no problem stating and believing that to be true. He can walk among us and be tempted as we are while, at the same time, being fully God.

I believe this answers both questions that I posed. In Jesus' death, He did experience the consequences of our sins. He felt the separation from God. He knew, during that time, what it was like to be totally and completely out of the presence of God. However, He still remained a person of the Trinity. I know...it sounds rediculous and contrary to commonsense. Many times, commonsense is wrong anyway...just as it is in trying to understand the Trinity itself, the incarnation, etc.

Since Jesus can be fully God and fully human, he can experience the reality of being God, while, at the same time, experience the reality of being human. He can experience temptation, sorrow, pain, and many other things that we experience...and...at the same time know what it means to be in a perfect, harmonious relationship with our heavenly Father. If you accept my proposal, which I am sure is not unique to me, than accepting that Jesus can feel complete separation from the Father and the Holy Spirit while still being in the Triune relationship is completely intelligible...and valid.

Furthermore...if Jesus can exist in such a relationship, then Jesus can play a role in His own resurrection. He can raise Himself. He can do this because the divine characteristics of Jesus did not cease to be. This still maintains the importance of the resurrection as a prime role in overcoming death.

To conclude...the reality of who Jesus is answers the questions that I posed. The supposed contradiction between Christ being human and Christ being divine is a false dichotomy that all-too-often serves as a stumbling block when we do not even realize it. There are many issues and questions that are followed with..."How can this be?" The answer...many times...is...because of who Jesus is. At least that is what I see the answer to these questions to be.

On the Insufficiency of Human Strength

The following excerpt from Way of the Ascetics was written by Tito Colliander. Tito was born in Russia but spent most of his life in Helsinki, Finland. He was an artist and a novelist and an Eastern Orthodox layperson.

This article can be found in From Christ to the World: Introducing Readings in Christian Ethics (p. 284-285) or it can be found online at http://www.stvladimirs.ca/library/way-ascetics-two.html.

On the Insufficiency of Human Strength

The holy Fathers say with one voice: The first thing to keep in mind is never in any respect to rely on yourself. The warfare that now lies before you is extraordinarily hard, and your own human powers are altogether insufficient to carry it on. If you rely on them you will immediately be felled to the ground and have no desire to continue the battle. Only God can give you the victory you wish.

This decision not to rely on self is for most people a severe obstacle at the very outset. It must be overcome, otherwise we have no prospect of going further. For how can a human being receive advice, instruction and help if he believes that he knows and can do everything and needs no directions? Through such a wall of self-satisfaction no gleam of light can penetrate. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, cries the prophet Isaiah (5:21), and the apostle St. Paul utters the warning: Be not wise in your own conceits (Romans 12:16). The kingdom of heaven has been revealed unto babes, but remains hidden from the wise and prudent (Matthew 11:25).

We must empty ourselves, therefore, of the immoderately high faith we have in ourselves. Often it is so deeply rooted in us that we do not see how it rules over our heart. It is precisely our egoism, our self-centeredness and self-love that cause all our difficulties, our lack of freedom in suffering, our disappointments and our anguish of soul and body.

Take a look at yourself, therefore, and see how bound you are by your desire to humour yourself and only yourself. Your freedom is curbed by the restraining bonds of self-love, and thus you wander, a captive corpse, from morning till eve. "Now I will drink," "now I will get up," "now I will read the paper." Thus you are led from moment to moment in your halter of preoccupation with self, and kindled instantly to displeasure, impatience or anger if an obstacle intervenes.

If you look into the depths of your consciousness you meet the same sight. You recognize it readily by the unpleasant feeling you have when someone contradicts you. Thus we live in thralldom. But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (11 Corinthians 3:17).

How can any good come out of such an or biting around the ego? Has not our Lord bidden us to love our neighbour as ourselves, and to love God above all? But do we? Are not our thoughts instead always occupied with our own welfare?

No, be convinced that nothing good can come from yourself. And should, by chance, an unselfish thought arise in you, you may be sure that it does not come from you, but is scooped up from the wellspring of goodness and be stowed upon you: it is a gift from the Giver o life. Similarly the power to put the good thought into practice is not your own, but is given you by the Holy Trinity.

1 Samuel 15

This chapter is really Saul's final "mistake" which immediately preceeds the anointing of David. Allow me to summarize this chapter for you:

Samuel tells Saul that the Lord intends to punish the Amelikites for the way they had treated Israel while Israel was in the wilderness. The instructions were to...(1)attack the Amalekites, (2)destroy everything, and (3)spare nothing. The key here is #3. Spare nothing! As the chapter progresses, Saul attacked the Amalekites. #1 is accomplished. Good job Saul. He destroyed all of Agag's (king of Amalekites) people with the sword. #2 accomplished...sort of. You see, Saul decided to spare Agag as well as the best sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs. He spared everything that was good.

Then the Lord speaks to Samuel to inform Samuel that the Lord is grieved that He ever chose Saul. So, Samuel confronts Saul. It happens like this:

When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD's instructions." But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?" Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest." "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Tell me," Saul replied. Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?" "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal." But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:13-22)

We often shake our heads at Saul after reading this story. How could he have been so thickheaded? How could he have messed up so badly? The problem is this; Saul was trying to do a good thing. He thought that saving the king and the best of the best for sacrifices would be seen as honorable and noble in the eyes of the Lord. At least that is what he says.

We can very easily come down on Saul here...but...how often are we in his shoes? How often do we fall victim to doing things that we think will be "good" in God's eyes when it is not within God's will? This could be anything. It could be trying to keep a ministry alive...when it should die. It could be forcing a relationship into your idea of what it should be...when God's idea of what it should be is different.

I am sure that our intensions are in the right place. The reality is, however, that our intensions may not be right. Our intensions...no matter how good they seem...could be contrary to God's intensions. I don't think that any of us would want to do something contrary to God's will...but it happens. It happens all too often.

Saul did what he thought was right because he did not know what God's will was. I believe that he had to do this. He had to think of something because his relationship with Yahweh was dead. He had a strained relationship with God that made it difficult to follow the will of God.

We do well to ensure that our relationship with God is one that enables us to hear His guidance and His will. If not...we may here the words that Saul heard from Samuel..."Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?"