We are early
in the Easter season. Easter is the high
point of the church calendar. We
celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.
Still, every Sunday, every Lord’s Day, is a “little Easter.” Today is Earth Day, in which our attention is
refocused on the wonderful, precious blue ball that is our home. (As if once a year is sufficient for that!)
Combining
those themes, what does resurrection mean for the Earth? We’re told in the New Testament that the
risen Christ could seemingly pass through walls (Luke 24:36-43, John 20:19-23). The risen Christ could pass through matter,
such as the Earth itself? In St. Paul’s
letter to the Ephesians, we read that God “has put all things under [Christ’s]
feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (1:22-23). And, “He himself is before all things, and in
him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). Am I going too far to suggest that according
to this, the risen, ascended Christ is about more than theological and poetic
language?
Perhaps I’m
going into the realm of fanciful speculation, but isn’t it possible that
resurrection can be seen, not as some body floating up into the sky and winding
up who knows where, but as inhabiting creation right here among us? I’ve heard scientific theories of there being
up to eleven dimensions. (I can’t wrap
my head around that.) We know that we
three dimensional beings would seem to have godlike, spirit-like powers to a
theorized two dimensional being. The
example commonly given is our ability to point to anywhere on a 2D world, like
the top of a sheet of paper. A 2D
observer couldn’t comprehend how their world is being impacted. It would seem like a god or a spirit is doing
stuff!
What about
additional dimensions? Could that in part
explain how the resurrected Christ was able to pass through 3D walls as if
nothing were there? Maybe it explains
spirits (if you believe such creatures exist).
