It might be quite ‘normal’ for Christians to quickly accept the resurrection but how might the disciples have felt about Jesus returning to life after his death. It’s not the usual start of the week activity – no wonder they were started, scared to leave the confines of their room. So what was the disciples’ belief in the resurrection at that time?
Where do we start?
We need to go back to an understanding of life itself. A person, according to Hebrew understanding, is one who is fully human as that person has in themselves the breath of God and is made in God’s image. [Paula Gooder, Heaven, p81] There is no talk of mental acuity. We may all be familiar with Ecclesiastes 3:2 ‘a time to be born and a time to die’ but Job 5:26 adds ‘You shall come to your grave in ripe old age’. So this lead to 3 things which people sought for a good life:
- a long life – think of… Adam (930 years), Seth (912 years), Enos (905 years), Cainan (910 years), Mahalaleel (895 years), Jared (962 years), Enoch (365 years), Methuselah (969 years), Lamech (777 years), and Noah (950 years);
- leaving at least one son so that the family name could continue;
- a good burial.
Here, life after death existed in the continuation of your family – the family members lived in your stead.
Opps Jesus?
Hence a premature death, with no family lineage and one who was buried in a borrowed tomb didn’t go down well.
Sheol or Hades?
Sheol was a place – in the opposite direction of Heaven [discuss!] – where there was no return, and was populated by shades, images of our past life, souls? One scholar Bauckham described it as a place of darkness and silence, from which no one returns. But this is not Hell. Everyone, both good and bad, would go to Sheol. God may enter Hades but to the Jewish perspective God doesn’t go to Sheol.
It was a sleep chilly endless existence in the bode of the dead – I’m not selling this too well, am I?
So has anyone returned from Sheol, to tell the tale?
Enoch and Elijah
Both Enoch and Elijah went to Heaven without dying. Enoch was translated whilst Elijah went up in a Whirlwind. Translated is an odd expression. In the Greek, metatithemi means convey to another place. Elijah goes to Heaven and no trace is found of his grave. Nevertheless, Jesus speaks of Elijah at the Transfiguration where upon leaving the mountain, Jesus tells his disciples: “Tell the vision to no man” (Matthew 17:9). If it was a vision, then it was a supernatural observation. Elijah also wrote a letter after his whirlwind departure. Many Hebrew Scriptures attest that all will die. It was the accepted end view for all.
Necromancy anyone?
Saul was in a bit of a pickle and so asked his experts for some guidance from Samuel (1 Sam 25:1). Now what he is asking, to speak to the dead, was verboten. Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:10-12 are critical of this practice, and in fact Isaiah refers to it (Isaiah 8:19) so was it practiced but not a wise decision?
This may be the only time that someone from the dead has been called back. Interestingly Samuel is described as an old man, so time has not faded his good looks since his death. Samuel asks of Saul “Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?” suggestive of the extant thought of Jews that those in Sheol were asleep.
Mary and the Tomb
In John’s Gospel, Mary is seen by the Tomb of Jesus and is in conversation with the gardener. Some have considered this a beautiful observation as Jesus is the gardener. Others have sought to examine the ‘evidence’ from all the Gospels. One conclusion is evident. The women were not looking for a resurrected man; they were looking for a dead man. They did not think it possible someone standing behind them could be Jesus.
Our Interpretation
Perhaps we are reading the Gospels with the hindsight of 2 millennia of interpretation. The academic perception is that Jews at that time were still very reticent about resurrection. Lazarus was revivified or “restoration of life; the act of recalling, or the state of being recalled, to life”. Importantly he died afterwards. Moses died afterwards, Elijah is perceived upon closer examination to have died afterwards. Enoch’s life was severely cut short and of 365 years, not for eternity. Jesus is the only one reported within the scriptures to have died and returned and not die again. This was shocking and not expected whatsoever.
Perhaps we need to consider what the disciples might have felt like rather than see it with 21st Century spectacles.
I found the dialogue interesting