A Misconception

The late John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop, was a skeptic. He asked of the Resurrection:

Do bodies dead for 36 hours resuscitate and walk out of graves?

Do these revived bodies have working vocal cords allowing them to speak? Do they have a functioning skeletal system so that they can walk?

And how can such a body walk through walls with locked doors and barred windows?

Clearly, Bishop Spong thought the Christian claim for Resurrection meant a resuscitated corpse. And he did not believe in that.

I don’t either.

But Bishop Spong had no other concept. And I suspect many (or most) Christians share the same misconception.

A resuscitated corpse would simply put Jesus right back in the world.

Flesh and blood again—someday to die again.

Is this what you believe?

Have you ever really thought about it?

This is where the image on the Shroud of Turin becomes a vital witness.

For those who are willing to think about what they believe, the image on the Shroud presents a powerful picture.

The Shroud image records a physical event that left physical forensic evidence.

Jesus did not resuscitate. His body transformed.

It dematerialized in a quantum physics event.

It returned to the spiritual state from which it had come.

The cloth fell through the body, recording x-ray-like images of the bones in the hands and the sockets for the teeth.

A life-sized replica of the Shroud will feature in our Good Friday service two weeks from today.

Light supper at 6:15.

Worship at 7:00.

A Good Lunch Wouldn’t Do It

Scientists have tried a new peer-reviewed test on the Shroud of Turin. It’s called a Wide-angle X-ray Scattering test.

It dated the cloth to the time of Christ—as have 210 other tests, including one other dating test.

Only the Carbon 14 tests of 1988 came up with a date in the Middle Ages.

It is scientists who keep the Shroud conversation going. Many of them who have studied the Shroud are convinced by it.

I’m not a scientist.

But I’m smarter than I look. And I am convinced.

And have been for 40 years.

I did a mean thing once, back in theology school. Just for fun, I asked one of my professors what he thought of the Shroud.

Apoplectic. I think that’s the word for his response.

“That old rag!” he said.

He didn’t want it to be real. His idea of the resurrection is something like this: Jesus died.

The disciples were sad.

They had a good lunch.

Felt better.

“Hey!” they said. “It almost feels like Jesus is still with us.”

Let’s go tell the world!

Was there something in the meatloaf that set them on fire?

Or was the grave empty?

And did Jesus appear to them?

I would guess the latter.

A filmmaker in England has offered one million dollars to anyone who can reproduce the Shroud.

No takers yet.

But here’s how you do it.

To reproduce the image on the Shroud, you would have to crucify somebody.

That’s the easy part.

(Except for the poor guy who gets crucified.)

Next step: You wrap the poor chap in linen and persuade God to raise him from the dead.

That’s it!

You’re a millionaire!

Now—From the Other Side

I may have caused some discomfort these last two weeks. I provoked one reader to say, “You have now gone crazy.”

I’ve been talking about extravagant ways God may intervene in our lives.

One woman reported to me that just as her car was about to plow into a truck, both vehicles seemed to dematerialize—and passed through each other. Not even a dent. No one was hurt.

I have eight similar accounts. They say it takes three trees to make a row.

Eight is a small forest!

Now, let me take it from the other side: Scott, age 18, was grieving the death of the friend who helped him get off drugs. Marty died at just 17.

After Marty died, Scott’s grief was so strong he started to think of drugs again. Then, one night as he slept on the couch in his living room, his world changed. Let Scott tell it:

I was awake.

The clock said 2:05.

And suddenly, there was Marty 10 feet away from me. I sat in shock. One part of me was scared—but I was also happy.

He came over to me. It was light all around us. He said, “Don’t be upset, OK? I’m happy. Don’t keep your mind on me. Go on with your life.”

He was smiling like he never did in life. I gave him a hug. I could smell his scent and feel his body heat. I felt his breath when he talked. It was the weirdest thing.

Then he was gone.

Scott was lifted—and stayed off drugs.

But note the physical element of the encounter.

Matter can move from insubstantial to substantial.

Or, scientists would say, from wave to particle and back to wave.

God has made the world so that what God wants to happen, can happen.