November 2021 Blog by Fr Stephen Nolan
BIG QUESTIONS #001 - What will Heaven be like
Read Mark 12:18-27 to get started …
If someone has never seen more than the seeds of plants and trees how could they imagine the flowers, or the tree fully grown? What common feature exists between the colourless, lifeless seed and the plant with its flowers swaying in the wind?
How then can any human truly know the ‘resurrection’? When Jesus called the daughter of Jairus and Lazarus back to life, they only recovered the life they had before. The daughter went back to her dreams, Lazarus went to work in his garden and after this they both had to die again. This was not really resurrection.
Many people believe there is something after death and that something in us, called ‘soul’ survives. This belief is partly true, we have a soul, but it is not the most important aspect of resurrection. Resurrection points, not to a survival of ‘something of us’ but to a transformation and raising up of our whole person. This will be through grace and the work of God; we will be reborn of himself.
It’s natural to want to know what we shall be once risen, but that is impossible.
with commentary from the
Christian Community Bible2003
The resurrection is truly beyond our contemplation. It can be fun to imagine, comforting even, especially in the context of grief. And yet all we truly know is God gave himself to suffer and die on the cross, he remained dead for three days and then was resurrected, so we will be forgiven our sins and receive everlasting life through Jesus Christ.
That should be enough for anyone.
Revd. Stephen.
Further Reading
Mark 5:21 / John 11:1 / 1 Cor 15:35-57 / Isaiah 65:17 / Rev 21:1-4