Resurrection

There is resurrection and there is the Resurrection.

The theme of resurrection is found in many ancient stories. In Philippine epics, for example, the hero usually dies and returns to life. The best-known examples are Lam-ang and Bantugen.

In a lecture in Tokyo in the early 1980s, I argued that one reason the natives of our islands converted so easily to Christianity (in just a few hours!) was that they were thoroughly familiar with the concept of resurrection. When the Spanish missionaries said that they brought news of someone dying and coming back to life, our ancestors said, well, that is exactly what our epic heroes did, so welcome to the club!

Mythical gods and heroes in other countries routinely came back to life after dying. Examples are Achilles, Adonis, Asclepius, Baal, Dumuzi, Eshmun, Osiris, and Melqart.

This led Saint Justin Martyr to write in the first century of the Christian era that “When we say Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you (the Greeks) believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus.”

Even human beings were reported to have resurrected, such as Aristeas 600 years before Jesus was born. In fact, Jesus himself brought Lazarus back to life. The modern phenomenon of clinically-dead patients suddenly coming back to life is even known as the Lazarus Syndrome.

The late National Artist Alejandro Roces had a favorite story about the bombing of Manila during the Pacific War. A doctor was going through the bodies on the street and pronouncing one dead, another alive. A man pronounced dead was being carried to the mass grave when he sat up and protested that he was alive. The orderlies told him to shut up; they said to him, “Marunong ka pa sa duktor! (How dare you think that you know better than the doctor!)”

So what is unique about the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth?

The factor that makes Jesus unlike all the people and gods that came back to life after having died is the Incarnation.

None of the gods and human beings in all the stories, factual or fictional, existed before they were born. Jesus did. This is why the first sentence in John’s Gospel is crucial: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Christianity depends on two beliefs: the Incarnation and the Resurrection.

Just the Incarnation is not enough. In the Greek myths and even in some folk or fairy tales, many gods take on human form to do all sorts of things, from having sex to fomenting war.

Just the Resurrection is not enough, since so many heroes and non-heroes (real or imagined) came back to life.

The Incarnation and the Resurrection together, however, make Christianity unique among all religions.

While we cannot confidently say that anything we say about God is accurate, since human language is inherently defined by our experience and not by the experience (if that is the right word) of an omnipotent and omniscient being, we can still sense the enormity of the Incarnation.

Think about it for a moment. Someone that existed before Time (which, as physicists have proven conclusively, had a beginning) comes to Earth, takes human form, goes through life just like every other human being, and dies.

To grasp the marvel of that, think of a rich guy suddenly living incognito and voluntarily in a squatter area, having nothing to eat (not unusual in our squatter areas), getting all sorts of diseases due to lack of hygiene or running water (not unusual at all in the Philippines). Then think of the creator of the universe coming to our planet. (Excuse the weak analogy, but I need to dramatize the contrast between divine and human existence).

Easter allows us to meditate on how lucky we are as human beings. There are millions, maybe billions, of planets in the universe. It is highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent beings in such a huge universe. Our planet is an insignificant planet in an insignificant solar system in an insignificant galaxy. Yet, God came to us in human form.

Even ordinary human beings (such as movie stars, preachers, and politicians) have made people stand in awe or fear and trembling. We can imagine what it must be like to be in the presence of someone not human but divine.

And how about the Resurrection?

Many of us have had the sensation of having someone dead communicate with us in some way (“magparamdam”). But never has a ghost or a spirit given us a chance to touch flesh and blood.

Remember what Jesus said to those shocked at his coming back? “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” (Luke 24:39)

What we have in the Resurrection is a human body walking around again on earth after having died. Then think of that human body as a restriction on the movements of someone who created the universe and can come and go as he pleases.

Couple the Incarnation with the Resurrection, and we have no choice but to fall on our knees.