Thursday, November 30th:
In the resurrection we will have spiritual bodies. Our natural bodies came from Adam, our spiritual bodies come from Christ. Christ is the second Adam, offering us new bodies not subject to destruction. As Paul says: “as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man [Adam], so we shall bear the likeness of the heavenly one [Christ]” (I Corinthians 15:49).
Our spiritual bodies are Christ-like bodies. Jesus came to share with us the life in our mortal bodies so that we would also be able to share in his spiritual body. “Mere human nature,” Paul says, “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 15:50). Jesus came to dress our perishable nature with imperishability and our mortal nature with immortality (see I Corinthians 15:53). Thus it is in the body that our spiritual life finds its fullest manifestation.
Henri Nouwen
For further reflection…
“For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” – I Corinthians 15: 21-22 (NIV)