Raised from the dead and restored to Earth (not heaven)

An oversimplified version of Christian theology that seems to have won the day in America emphasizes that Jesus died and was raised from the dead by God so that those who believe (or maybe everybody?) can go to heaven when they die.

We’ve really messed things up here. He died and was resurrected to Earth, not heaven. After a while, he ascended — yes — but the resurrection to Earth was what early Christians thought was so important.

Resurrection has nothing to do with heaven. It has everything to do with Earth.

Jesus wasn’t resurrected into the sky. Jesus was resurrected bodily to Earth. Before He was killed, He fought to make Earth beautiful. That was His ministry. He fought a battle against occupation by the Roman government through an ideology of announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

He loved the poor, He visited and healed the sick and lame. He drove out demons. He was killed for challenging the powers, but death did not have the last sting. He was raised by God and walked again in a new body on Earth.

In time, He ascended and poured out the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, not to get them into heaven but instead to empower the way they’d live on Earth.

In the days that He walked the Earth post-resurrection, Jesus didn’t encourage new believers to believe in Him so that they’d go to heaven when they died. No, not at all! He baptized them — had them go under the waters (into death) and rise — so that they’d realize that they too were living in a new resurrected condition — ready for radical, loving lives on this Earth!

Regardless of what the occupier said, they were free. The new church grew like wildfire around the Mediterranean not because everyone was rushing to get off the Earth, but rather because those who’d had the Spirit beaten out of them believed that in light of the arrival of God’s Christ, they might, finally, inherit the Earth.

God, in Christ Jesus, had flipped earthly power on its head. The last are first.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he talks about the new condition in which followers of Jesus are living. In describing baptism, he says, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

Let me say it again. The significance of the resurrection is not what it tells us about heaven. The significance of the resurrection is that it transforms the way we live on Earth. Resurrection equals walking in newness of life.

We are in the season of Lent. This is the 40-day period leading up to Easter when Christians draw near to Jesus as Jesus draws near to God as He approaches his death and resurrection. This Lent, as a way to draw near to Jesus, I encourage you to walk in newness of life.

Walk over to Rep. (Leonard) Lance's office and demand that he support Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). That would be a resurrection activity.

High school students, walk out of classrooms demanding that you won’t be sitting ducks in schools, waiting for the next attack, while Congress refuses to act on gun control. Do it in the name of resurrection.

Walk over and meet your new neighbor from a different culture just arriving as a refugee. Do it in the name of resurrection.

Walk over and comfort the family that was just broken up by deportation and commit to ending the racial and ethnic cleansing that is happening under the guise of immigration reform. Do it in the name of resurrection.

Won’t you walk in newness of life?

Seth Kaper-Dale has been co-pastor of the Reformed Church of Highland Park (www.rchighlandpark.org) for 16 years with his wife, Stephanie. As an outgrowth of the ministry, Kaper-Dale directs a housing corporation, community development corporation, refugee resettlement agency and numerous other efforts to effect real change in New Jersey. He can be reached at seth.kaperdale@gmail.com.