After the present one, we shall have two more Posts, namely, 'Language before the Resurrection of Jesus' and 'Use of language by Jesus' before ending this section on the meaningful use of biblical language in the context of the theme: 'The Christ of Faith'. The importance of the correct use of language is evident from the fact that sometimes even scholars blindly use words like 'metaphor', 'analogy', etc., in order to get out of problems they cannot solve or to safeguard their own pet ideas against certain biblical expressions. What they do not understand is that a metaphor or analogy already presupposes that the one who employs it knows what is signified by them, whereas in these cases they use them as they don't understand them. We may say that Jesus was able to use language analogically about heavenly things as he knew them already before speaking about them. In fact he was the only one who could use language analogically about divine mysteries without fear of falling into a vicious circle as he knew both the ends of the analogy thoroughly from inside. Jesus did this by use of parables, allegories, similes etc. conveying the truth about the other world by using our ordinary language. All others could use analogy, when it is used for God and the world to come, only from their point of view though God's point of view was the one to be explained through analogy that was the unknown.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1, verse 3 thus: "He showed himself to these men after his death, and gave ample proof that he was alive: over a period of forty days he appeared to them and taught them about the kingdom of God". The first and most important means Jesus employed to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God after his resurrection was to connect that kingdom with his presence among them again. References to his life with them before his death were also reminisced as important evidence for his identity before and after his death and resurrection. In fact, the interconnection and continuity of his life before and after his death and resurrection was a crucial point of his teachings with the added note of his self-transformation as a concrete manifestation of the coming kingdom. All attempts, therefore, of separation and division between a Jesus of history and a Christ of faith are completely off the mark from the New Testament testimony and the teaching and preaching of Jesus, the Apostles and the disciples.
The resurrection narratives in the four Gospels substantially agree on the main event of resurrection itself with variations in their modes of expression. As we noted earlier in the case of the creation narratives, here too the Evangelists freely used mythological elements with the appearance of the Angels at the tomb for expressing something that was unheard of till then. Even the Angels did not want to take the credit for convincing the disciples about the fact of resurrection as the latter's attention was called by the former to remember the past. (Luke, 24:8). This is an additional proof for our contention that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith should be seen as one without any division between the two as the latter is a transformed self of the former. Memory of the past was considered by the risen Christ himself as the solid foundation on which he built the faith of the disciples in his new form of life.
However, the transformed form of Jesus after his resurrection was an enigma even for his closest disciples that he had to call their attention to his identity by reference to the past. We do not see any fixed form of the risen Jesus in his appearances to the disciples. Mary Magdalene, the first person to see the risen Lord mistook him for the gardener and was brought to her senses by the familiar voice of Jesus who called her "Mary"! The two disciples who traveled to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus who joined them on the way and was taken for a stranger until the breaking of the bread when they sat for the meals. Jesus himself had to prove his identity to his disciples by eating before them to dispel their doubts about the authenticity of his presence. The risen body of Jesus was not subject to the usual physical laws so much so that he could be present in a room even when it was locked from inside. All these instances of the appearances of the risen Jesus tell us about the special characteristics of the risen body, which would be called a spiritual body by Paul (1 Cor. 15:44). The connection and continuity of the physical and the spiritual body of Jesus consist in the fact that it was his physical body that was transformed in the resurrection. Given the completely new reality of the resurrection, there is no contradiction in the concept of a spiritual body since it arises out of the forms of life of a believing community. Such a community will have its own language-game and the meaning of a concept like 'spiritual body' is rooted in such a language-game. This is possible because words don't have a fixed meaning always and everywhere and are elastic enough to accommodate new meanings unheard of before, because of new forms of life of a community resulting in new language-games. This is especially true about events unheard of before and all the more about unique events that don't repeat themselves and, at the same time, are constitutive of our ultimate destiny. Besides, we acknowledge that only believers can become familiar with the reality of the resurrection of Jesus as he himself appeared only to believers and not to the general public. Given the importance of Jesus of history even for Christ of faith, let us go back in the next Post to the public ministry of Jesus in dealing with the problem of language.
We read in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1, verse 3 thus: "He showed himself to these men after his death, and gave ample proof that he was alive: over a period of forty days he appeared to them and taught them about the kingdom of God". The first and most important means Jesus employed to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God after his resurrection was to connect that kingdom with his presence among them again. References to his life with them before his death were also reminisced as important evidence for his identity before and after his death and resurrection. In fact, the interconnection and continuity of his life before and after his death and resurrection was a crucial point of his teachings with the added note of his self-transformation as a concrete manifestation of the coming kingdom. All attempts, therefore, of separation and division between a Jesus of history and a Christ of faith are completely off the mark from the New Testament testimony and the teaching and preaching of Jesus, the Apostles and the disciples.
The resurrection narratives in the four Gospels substantially agree on the main event of resurrection itself with variations in their modes of expression. As we noted earlier in the case of the creation narratives, here too the Evangelists freely used mythological elements with the appearance of the Angels at the tomb for expressing something that was unheard of till then. Even the Angels did not want to take the credit for convincing the disciples about the fact of resurrection as the latter's attention was called by the former to remember the past. (Luke, 24:8). This is an additional proof for our contention that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith should be seen as one without any division between the two as the latter is a transformed self of the former. Memory of the past was considered by the risen Christ himself as the solid foundation on which he built the faith of the disciples in his new form of life.
However, the transformed form of Jesus after his resurrection was an enigma even for his closest disciples that he had to call their attention to his identity by reference to the past. We do not see any fixed form of the risen Jesus in his appearances to the disciples. Mary Magdalene, the first person to see the risen Lord mistook him for the gardener and was brought to her senses by the familiar voice of Jesus who called her "Mary"! The two disciples who traveled to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus who joined them on the way and was taken for a stranger until the breaking of the bread when they sat for the meals. Jesus himself had to prove his identity to his disciples by eating before them to dispel their doubts about the authenticity of his presence. The risen body of Jesus was not subject to the usual physical laws so much so that he could be present in a room even when it was locked from inside. All these instances of the appearances of the risen Jesus tell us about the special characteristics of the risen body, which would be called a spiritual body by Paul (1 Cor. 15:44). The connection and continuity of the physical and the spiritual body of Jesus consist in the fact that it was his physical body that was transformed in the resurrection. Given the completely new reality of the resurrection, there is no contradiction in the concept of a spiritual body since it arises out of the forms of life of a believing community. Such a community will have its own language-game and the meaning of a concept like 'spiritual body' is rooted in such a language-game. This is possible because words don't have a fixed meaning always and everywhere and are elastic enough to accommodate new meanings unheard of before, because of new forms of life of a community resulting in new language-games. This is especially true about events unheard of before and all the more about unique events that don't repeat themselves and, at the same time, are constitutive of our ultimate destiny. Besides, we acknowledge that only believers can become familiar with the reality of the resurrection of Jesus as he himself appeared only to believers and not to the general public. Given the importance of Jesus of history even for Christ of faith, let us go back in the next Post to the public ministry of Jesus in dealing with the problem of language.
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