How the Resurrection of Jesus Defeats Five Common Temptations In the Church (2/5)

2 Corinthians 3:18 - And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)

Beholding is becoming. Or in Paul’s inspired words, “Beholding the glory...being transformed into the same image.” Listen to the communal language, “And we all.” Easter requires a week of weeks to even come close to beholding the glory of the risen Lord. It is a great seasons to ask, “what is resurrected Lord transforming in the resurrection community as we behold him?” Here is the second of five common temptations in the church that the Lord is transforming.

Temptation Two: Keeping us appearances. (Docetist)

When Jesus showed up to the resurrection community Luke says “They were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit” (Luke 24.37). There is a family of gnostic heresies that to some degree reject or at least mitigate the full fleshiness of Jesus. Docetism claims that Jesus only appeared to be human. Coming from the Greek word δοκεῖν which mean “to seem” or “to appear”. Without doubt, Luke wants to communicate that the nature of the resurrected body is more than just ghostly or spiritual. The resurrected body is just that, σῶμα and not just the appearance of physicality. Luke communicates this using sensual language of visibility, tangibility, and edibility. The resurrected Lord is seen, touched, and eats broiled fish.

Docetism can impact our view of Jesus and resurrection, but also our view of the church and the mission of the church. The resurrected community is constantly tempted to appear to be something less or more than really human. Behind our happy masks lie our real struggles. Behind our happy songs lie hearts who have never learned to lament. Behind our piety lies our poverty. 

Marilyn Vancil in her helpful book Self to Lose - Self to Find: A Biblical Approach to the 9 Enneagram Types draws a distinction between the authentic self and the adapted self. In some ways, the adapted self is how we want to appear to others or to God or even to ourselves. Afraid of the judgment of what others might think or how they might judge the authentic self, we put on a mask. It is ironic that the resurrected Lord is set on revealing his down-to-earth true humanity, while we humans are dead set on revealing how other-worldly spiritual we are. We are functional docetists.

I can’t help but think of Hyacinth in the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth is a woman desperate to appear to be in a higher social class than she really is, and her relatives are constantly reminding her of her real status. The closest her son can come is only through an occasional telephone call. Her husband is exhausted. Hyacinth’s eyes are always darting back and forth. Her peripheral vision is hyper-vigilant concerned about what others are seeing and what they might be thinking. Hyacinth is in constant image management mode. Hyacinth is a hyperbolic metaphor of the church. More concerned about seeming relevant or appearing compassionate or coming across as warm or welcoming, the church is tempted to go full-blown Hyacinth mode. 

Jesus, fully God and fully human, unafraid to be seen for who you really are, and touched by the troubled and struggling with belief, help us your church to give up keeping appearances by beholding you for who you really are that we might become what you have really made us to be.