All Souls (Nov 2)
by the Revd Dr Robert Wilson PhD (Cantab), Old Roman Apostolate UK
For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
Today is All Souls Day, on which we commemorate all the faithful departed and pray that they may have refreshment, light and peace as they await their final resurrection on the last day. We hear from the rousing words of St. Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians in which he expounds the nature of the Christian hope as not simply in survival after death or the immortality of the soul, but for the resurrection of the body and the final defeat of death.
But what is the distinctive nature of our Christian hope and how does it differ from other religions and philosophies? Most people throughout human history have believed in some sort of life after death, but it has usually taken the form of survival into another mode of existence, not belief in the resurrection of the body. It is held that this life cannot be all that there is, but any future life does not seem radically different from this one. In fact, far from being something to be hoped for, it can often seem quite depressing, as the life in any future world goes on in much the same way as before.
In reaction to this view, many have sought refuge in a belief not in mere survival of death, but in the immortality of the soul. The body may die, but the soul or spiritual part of man lives on, for it belongs to a higher world and cannot perish with the end of bodily existence. This view was classically expressed by the Greek philosopher Plato with his allegory of the cave in which in this life we only see shadows of another realm beyond this. Our ultimate destiny is in that higher reality and to escape this world of space, time and matter which is corrupt and transient.
A different vision arose in ancient Israel. In the face of those around them who believed in many gods, the Israelites believed in only one God, the maker of all things and judge of all men. Far from being a curse to be escaped from human life was a blessing to be enjoyed. But although man had been created good and in the image of God he had succumbed to pride and fallen. Hence, sin and death had entered the world. There was a tension between the world as it is and as it ought to be. Hence, the Hebrew prophets looked forward to a final messianic age, when God’s kingdom would finally come on earth as it is in heaven and the wolf would live with the lamb.
The this worldly focus of the religion of ancient Israel left little room for any interest in life after death, although many of the Psalms seem to speak of hope beyond anything that can be realised in this world. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of the future messianic age as like a resurrection of the dead, in which a valley of dry bones come alive again (Ezekiel 37). Since God had made man in his own image, but humanity was also fallen and sinful, the whole person would die, but ultimately the whole man would be raised. The book of Daniel concluded by saying that some would be raised to a life of eternal blessedness, for others it would be torment (Daniel 12). Many of the Maccabean martyrs went to their deaths in the hope that they would rise again. Indeed, the second look of Maccabees said that without this hope in the final resurrection it would be superfluous and vain to pray for the dead (2 Maccabees 7).
Hence, by the time of Jesus, the majority of Jews had come to believe in a final resurrection of the dead. Jesus affirmed this hope in the passage we heard from today in St. John’s Gospel, but he also spoke of the Kingdom of God as not simply a future hope, but a reality that was already breaking into history in his own person and ministry. Hence, the hour was not simply coming but now is.
St. Paul had shared the hope of his people in a final resurrection of the faithful at the end of history. But when he saw the light on the Damascus road he came to realise that the resurrection which he was expecting at the end of time had already happened to one man, Jesus of Nazareth, in the middle of time. Although the old order of sin and death was still proceeding apace, it had been in principle defeated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Many of the Corinthians, like many today, said there was no resurrection of the dead and seem to have believed only in an immortality of the soul. St. Paul devoted the fifteenth chapter of the epistle to explaining why this view was wrong. He had himself seen the risen Christ and before him there had been many other witnesses, some of whom were still alive when Paul was writing and whom he knew personally. Though humanity was in Adam and consequently fallen and sinful, the resurrection of Jesus had shown that this was not God’s last word. For Christ had now been risen from the dead and had become the first fruits of them that slept. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive on that day when God will finally be all in all.
But, some of the Corinthians were asking how were the dead raised and with what kind of body shall they come? St. Paul emphasised that that which is sown could not come to life until it dies. There was first that which is natural and only after that which is spiritual. The first man was from the earth, but the new man in Christ is from heaven. Our existing human frame belonged to the realm of death along with all other created things, but on the last day it would be raised to life and this corruption would put on incorruption and this mortal would put on immortality. The faithful could give thanks to God who had given them the victory in the Lord Jesus Christ. They could therefore be stedfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as in the Lord their labour was not in vain.
Hence, our Christian hope is not in survival of death or merely in the immortality of the soul, but in the final resurrection of the body. Sin and death do not have the last word, for in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus they have been in principle defeated and we too shall share in that risen and glorified life in that new heaven and that new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
On this day in which we commemorate all the faithful departed let us pray that they may have refreshment, light and peace, as they (and we too) await the final resurrection on the last day when God shall be all in all.
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