A friend
of mine was babysitting and asked the kid "Have you asked Jesus into your
heart?" He promptly replied, "Yes!" After a pause, the kid got a
puzzled look on his face and asked, "Who lives in my ear?"
Although amusing, the innocent literalism of this child challenges our
linguistic habits. What do we mean when we say that Jesus lives within us? Do
we really take this seriously? And if we do, what happens to our belief that
Jesus was raised from the dead? How can an embodied person be present in us?
This puzzle first hit me a few years back, but I have yet to "solve"
it. However, I do have a better sense of the options and what is at stake than
I used to. So here goes a crash course in the debate surrounding the bodily
presence of Jesus.
Either: Jesus is in heaven
After Jesus was raised in bodily form, he ascended to the right hand of God the
father, from whence he will come to judge the living and the dead. Thus Jesus'
body is locally present at the right hand of the Father. He has "ascended
to the heavenlies." Jesus can be said to be
present in us only in the form of his Spirit. Any presence between the believer
and Christ is to be understood spiritually. We will only be bodily present to
one another at the end of time when he returns.
The advantage of this view is that it holds on dearly to the genuine bodily
resurrection of Christ. It also gives a significant place to the Holy Spirit in
the relationship between Christ and the Christian. The disadvantage of this
view is that Jesus' body appears to be "trapped" in heaven. He lacks
the freedom proper to his divinity. He is present only in Spirit, but is that a
genuine presence? Is that any different than me being "present" to my
friends in
Or: Jesus is everywhere
The alternative view is that Jesus' raised body takes on the properties of
divinity, and thus is capable of being omnipresent. Jesus in his glorified form
can be bodily present beyond the usual boundaries of space. Thus Jesus really
is present to us and in us. This is certainly a mystery, but it is a mystery
based on a promise: "lo I will be with you to the very end of the
age" and "wherever two or three are gathered, there I will be in the
midst of them." So the right hand of God the Father is not some place, but
a symbol of the divine power by which Jesus is present.
The advantage of this view is that it can take with radical seriousness the
biblical claims to Christ's presence with the believer. It also avoids
splitting up the body and spirit of Jesus. The disadvantage is that an
omnipresent body is an unthinkable thought. What makes a body a body is that it
is bounded by space. A body that is everywhere ceases
to be a body. Furthermore, one wonders how the Holy Spirit fits into this
equation. Why did Jesus ascend and pour out his Spirit if he is already
omnipresent by virtue of his resurrection? On this view, the cosmic narrative
of Jesus falls into redundancy.
What do you think?
Is Jesus localized in heaven?
Or is Jesus everywhere?
Which view's advantages outweigh its disadvantages?
Can one view assimilate the concerns of the other?
Is there a third view?
Should the question be reframed? For instance, are these views rigidly spatial
and so need to be supplemented by temporal questions?
What else should be taken into account?
At 10:07 PM, October 26, 2005, Glen Robinson said...
Just a couple of questions if I
may...
1. What is the real meaning of Jesus' ascension? Where did Jesus go?
When I read this, I thought of Acts 3:19-21 (especially v.21 - "whom
heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which
God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient times.").
2. Can Jesus be embodied in other things beside humans.
Where did transubstantiation come from, and why is the bread and cup considered
the real presence of Jesus?
At 1:06 AM, October 27, 2005, Tony Myles said...
Perhaps this is the question behind the question -
is the nature of God confined into "either/or" categories?
At 6:40 PM, October 30, 2005, Keith.Drury
said...
I am interested in how the early church might have
answered this question. I tend to think they'd go for #1 and explain the Holy
Spirit be the "spirit of Christ" among us... is that right? Where is
Bounds when I need him?
At 10:10 PM, November 05, 2005, rob massie
said...
John records Jesus as saying, “In my Father's house
are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a
place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
Will we be closer to him when he returns than we are today?
Paul said, “I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be
with Christ, for that is far better." It seems that Paul had a pretty good
relationship with Christ, but he thought departing and being with Christ to be
"far better".
I don't have a problem with saying Jesus is localized. After his resurrection
he said, "does a Spirit have flesh and bone as
you see that I have?" Scriptures like this cause me to question
hypostases.
I don't have an issue with "splitting up the body and spirit of
Jesus". We are able in a limited way as you stated to transcend our
location; how much more the Son of God?
You have some very good posts. Thank you for taking the time to think about
these things. Some of the thoughts you've recorded make some people nervous.