Is it really St. Patrick’s Day without parades and pubs? To be honest, I don’t do big, tightly packed, sweaty, swigging and sloshing beer crowds, but get together with friends for drinks? Absolutely. One cruel thing about Covid is trying to experience life virtually when God intended life to be experienced bodily.
St. Patrick’s Day without parades and pubs offers a teachable moment. We have slipped into virtual Christianity. I’m not thinking now of streaming services, online devotions, and the like. Kudos to pastors and churches for providing these resources during the pandemic. What I do mean is that a popular understanding of the word “soul” is cheating us out of what God created us to be. From the King James Version, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The problem is the last two words, “living soul.” Much popular thinking has been more influenced by the Greek philosopher Plato than by the Bible. Plato taught that our physical life is an illusion, not real. What’s real, he wrote, is spirit, free of the body. So today obituaries talk about being freed of life and the spirit ascending to heaven. And congregations evangelize to get souls into heaven but have little or no social ministry in the community because we imagine that’s just bodily and will pass. The ESV translation of Genesis 2:7 brings us back to God’s design: “and the man became a living creature.”
Jesus rose from the dead with His physical body, and you’ll be raised one day with your body. When you die, your life is separated from the body and goes to Jesus. “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). That’s not the end of the story. On a day yet to come, “the dead will be raised imperishable” (1 Corinthians 15:52). If we believe what we confess in the Creed, “I look for the resurrection of the dead,” then let’s start thinking of fully embodied Christianity now and in the life to come.
The word “real,” as in “real estate” comes from the Latin word “res.” Its basic meaning is property, matter. Virtual St. Patrick’s Day isn’t the real thing, and neither is virtual church. God didn’t create us to live life virtually, and biblical Christianity is not about disembodied souls. Be safe today, may the pandemic pass, but celebrate every holiday with body, soul, and spirit, especially Easter!
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