Is Jesus Still Human?
Thoughts for Easter on the one who is still human — in fact “a more solidly embodied human than we are”:
“The idea of the human Jesus now being in heaven, in his thoroughly embodied risen state, comes as a shock to many people, including many Christians. Sometimes this is because many people think that Jesus, having been divine, stopped being divine and became human, and then, having been human for a while, stopped being human and went back to being divine (at least, that’s what many people think Christians are supposed to believe). More often it’s because our culture is so used to the Platonic idea that heaven is, by definition, a place of ‘spiritual,’ nonmaterial reality so that the idea of a solid body being not only present but also thoroughly at home there seems like a category mistake. The ascension invites us to rethink all this . . . .
“The ascension thus speaks of the Jesus who remains truly human and hence in an important sense absent from us while in another equally important sense present to us in a new way. At this point the Holy Spirit and the sacraments become enormously important since they are precisely the means by which Jesus is present.”
- N. T. Wright
Thanks for these words. I’m afraid my thinking has been a bit Platonic. It makes sense, though. 1 Timothy says that our mediator is (not was) “the man Jesus Christ.”
A theologically useful topic.
Colossians 1:15ff speaks to this. Verse 22: …he has NOW reconciled in his body of FLESH…
He’s the first of a new, glorified, HUMAN creation – the second Adam – and will be such throughout eternity.
Romans 8 speaks of the creation being redeemed. Redeemed for what?! To be inhabited by a bunch of wispy, ghost-like Caspers? Hardly.
He ate fish after He rose from the dead, and Thomas touched His scars. I don’t think He put on flesh just to make that appearance to His disciples. I’m looking forward to STILL being human, although made perfect IN HIM, when I am in heaven too.
Paul sums it up for a confused Corinth by saying, “I tell you a mystery” (1 Cor.15:51) and John concedes “what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2) So, at best we have assurance we’ll be just like Jesus and realistically it is a mystery best nurtured by faith, pondered in hope and secured by love. And once again the search leads us to Jesus who becomes present with us in Spirit and sacrament and his body church is ever returning their eyes to the clouds that received him longing for return as the whisper, “Maranatha!” Now, that’s Easter.
Here’s another perspective questioning whether Jesus is still human:
http://patrickmead.net/tentpegs/?p=447
Is Jesus still a man? Or is he just deity now, no humanity?
Today, Jesus is entirely deity. Philippians chapter two tells us that he took upon himself the form of a servant when he came to us. He was originally deity — co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. He humbled himself and became obedient for our sakes. After his sacrifice, he was lifted up by God and given the Name that is above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth. In the Book of Revelation, we see Jesus as deity on a throne, sitting or standing on the right hand of God. (we see him standing when he receives martyrs) He still has a special relationship with us and is intimately connected with our daily lives, faithfulness, and salvation. In fact, he is still called the Lamb of God even as he reigns in heaven. On the day we enter into heaven, the scripture seems to indicate that he will stop reigning and will lay aside his crown so that he may walk among us as equals. That is staggering in its implications.
Have to disagree with Patrick Mead there…
The bible uses “flesh and blood” to talk about what is perishable, but “flesh and bones” is used to describe Jesus (He may use it to describe himself, I’m no scholar)
That’s why it is said “flesh and blood” can’t inherit the kingdom of God. And it can’t. But our raised bodies, raised imperishable, and Jesus’s ostensibly, will be there.