What If There Were No Resurrection?!
What If There Were No Resurrection?!
I congratulate you, my brothers and beloved ones, on the glorious Feast of the Resurrection, wishing you every good in it, and praying for our dear country, and for the beloved President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, that God may make his journey to America successful and fruitful for the sake of the cause of peace which he adopts and defends with all honesty and sincerity and with all wisdom and courage, and that he may return to us happily with all that he is able to accomplish. I also wish you all blessing on the occasion of the Feast of the Resurrection, which will today be the subject of our reflections, with all the ideas it inspires.
In order to realize the importance and necessity of the Resurrection, we must imagine this question: what would happen if there were no Resurrection? And we see its serious consequences…!
1- If there were no Resurrection, the destiny of man would be annihilation.
Man would become like an animal that dies and ends completely and does not return to existence. Then we would ask: what, then, is the distinction of this rational, speaking human being, whom God granted knowledge, the gift of thinking and inventing, and the ability to manufacture spacecraft that take him to the moon and Mars, orbit him around the earth, and return him safely, bringing back images and information… this human who has made other astonishing inventions such as the computer, the fax, and the mobile phone, and others…
Is it reasonable that this amazing human being, whom God placed in authority over many aspects of nature, would have his body end up with the same destiny as that of a beast or an insect or some creeping thing?! The mind does not accept this…!
Otherwise, why did God create him with this awareness and grant him all these talents?! He is the only one whom God entrusted with revelation, sent prophets to, and worked miracles with… if his destiny ends in annihilation and a handful of dust!!
This also does not agree with God’s promises to him of eternal life and of heaven…!
And if there were no Resurrection, the human body would not be distinguished from all other bodily creatures, while he, with what God has given him, is able to control them all, to care for and attend to some of them if he wishes, and to exercise authority and use over others…
So if there were no Resurrection, and his body’s destiny became like that of the rest of those irrational creatures, then the dignity of this human lord, whom God placed over other bodily creatures, would vanish…!
If there were no Resurrection, conscientious responsibility and fear of the final judgment would be lost. It is known that when a human rises from the dead, he stands before the just tribunal of God to give an account of everything he did in the body, whether good or evil, giving an account not only of his deeds, but also of his intentions, thoughts, and inner feelings…
And since he will rise, he therefore lives a life of scrutiny and caution, a life of righteousness and virtue, by which he stands before God on the Day of Judgment without fear, and before people without shame. But if there were no Resurrection and no judgment, no fear and no shame… then, as the proverb says, “He who has no shame may do whatever he wishes”!!
Thus, if there were no Resurrection, corruption would spread, and Epicureanism would spread, which says: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (1 Cor 15:32). Then people would rush after worldly pleasures and its lusts, striving for material gain with all strength and eagerness…!
And if there were no Resurrection, the law of the jungle would prevail in the world, people would devour one another, the strong would dominate the weak, and injustice and cruelty would prevail…! Indeed, principles and values would disappear, or at least their importance and influence would greatly diminish…!
If there were no Resurrection, death would become a terror, and courage and sacrifice would vanish!!
At present, the brave do not fear death because of the hope of the Resurrection. Martyrs advance toward death without dread, because they know that death is not the end of their life, but see it as an open door to an eternal life that does not end…
Likewise, anyone who dies has consolation in the other life, and thus can accept death without panic. But if there were no Resurrection and no life after death, death would be frightening, as it would represent an end and a tragedy. This is what used to happen to atheists and to sects that deny the Resurrection and the soul, such as the Sadducees, for example.
If there were no Resurrection, the death of our beloved ones, friends, and relatives would be a cause of very deep sorrow for us, with no consolation.
Our consolation in the death of our beloved ones is that we will see them in the other world, and we say to the Lord in our prayers, “It is not death for Your servants, but a departure.” Therefore, we hold commemorations for those who have departed from us on many occasions, and we trust that they will rise on the last day and that we will see them and our relationship with them will continue.
The same applies to those we admire among the talented and famous people whom we knew and who have a bond of appreciation in our hearts… if there were no Resurrection, we would grieve greatly, as our connection with all the history we lived through and heard about would be cut off, and that history’s connection with us would also be cut off…!
But faith in the Resurrection has opened for humanity a broader hope than this: not only the meeting of beloved ones and friends, but also the meeting of all generations…
Where people will meet there in heaven with our father Adam, our father Noah, our father Abraham, and the rest of the prophets, and with all the righteous in all ages…
All generations will meet there in the Resurrection. And if there were no Resurrection, there would be no such joyful meeting for souls. People would live in a limited generation and within a limited time that they do not transcend… and our connection with the righteous and their intercessions would be cut off.
And if there were no Resurrection, then we would have no connection with heaven and its inhabitants…
And I do not mean the heaven that we see with our eyes, but the heaven inhabited by the angels, which is the throne of God… the heaven in which we have hope through the Resurrection and the other life, where we live after the Resurrection.
If there were no Resurrection, we would be deprived of heaven, the angels, and all the heavenly hosts. And all our talk about eternal bliss, and about what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and what has not come upon the heart of man… would this also be mere dreams or illusions?!
And if there were no Resurrection and no heaven, what is the meaning of the righteous, by doing good, storing up treasures in heaven, preserved for them until they reach it?!
And if there were no Resurrection, we would be deprived of the ideal life in eternal life.
We would be deprived of that spiritual atmosphere there: where there is no sin, no corruption, no conspiracies, no divisions, and nothing of the errors that are in our world… and also where there is no fatigue, distress, illness, sorrow, or weeping… but rather an atmosphere ruled by peace, harmony, and love. This is what we desire, long for, and dream of seeing in the other world… would we be deprived of all this if there were no Resurrection?!
And would we be deprived of the harmonious life in the other world, where all humanity is together with all its races, with one language, understanding one another automatically without the need for a translator… all with one understanding and one set of concepts… where tongues and languages that distinguish one group from another cease…! Would we be deprived of this atmosphere if there were no Resurrection?!
If there were no Resurrection, there would be no compensation for those who lived a painful or miserable life on earth!
Among these we remember the physically disabled, such as the lame or paralyzed, the deaf and mute, and those with incurable diseases that are all pain—those who hoped for a life after death in which the Lord would save them from their disabilities and from their physical and psychological pains. Would these lose hope if there were no Resurrection…?!
And would the blind live in blindness on earth without any hope that God would restore their sight in another life, if there were no Resurrection?!
Also those who lived in poverty and need, or in despised jobs, or who were servants or slaves to others, or under harsh treatment from those who had authority or dominion over them… and those who suffered injustice, humiliation, displacement, or captivity in their lives… and the like… would they have no hope at all that God would restore their dignity in the other world, if there were no Resurrection and no other world!!
The absence of a Resurrection creates frustration and despair among all these examples of people. And if there is no justice and equality in this earthly life, how could there not be some form of compensation after death?!
And if there were no Resurrection, then there would be no reward for the righteous who strove for a life of virtue on earth.
Those who did good in secret, deprived themselves because of their devotion to the virtue of giving, and struggled to stay away from every temptation…
And persevered carefully in prayer and fasting. Some lived in asceticism and renounced bodily pleasures for the sake of the pleasures they enjoy in the spirit in heaven. They lived lives of endurance and patience, self-control, and the struggle against lusts…
Would all these have no reward in another life, as recompense from God for all their toil and spiritual struggle on earth?! Would they be equal to the wicked who plundered the earth, rushed after lusts, and lived in all corruption in their earthly lives, without any punishment, since death has made all equal and there is no Resurrection!!
What justice would this be?! Would the righteous then say within themselves: the prophets deceived us with their talk of heaven and hell, and of reward and punishment!! God forbid that this should be so, that the righteous and the wicked should be equal, and that the reward of those who did good should be lost…!
And if there were no Resurrection, would this not be against faith!!
And also against God’s promises! Against divine revelation! Against the call to sacrifice and self-giving! Against all that we have learned about heaven and eternal life, about bliss and hell, and about the bond between the inhabitants of heaven and the inhabitants of earth!
Therefore, there must be a Resurrection, and there must be an accounting, and there must be reward and punishment… for religion requires this, and reason and logic also compel us to believe this…
And since the Resurrection is a doctrine and a necessity, we should prepare for it…
Knowing that our earthly life—no matter how long it may be—counts for nothing compared to eternal life, which has no end and which is the true destiny of us all…
So let us prepare for eternity by doing good everywhere and with everyone. For every good we do here, we will receive its reward there in heaven many times over. And let us stay away from every evil and semblance of evil, because sin distances us from God, His angels, heaven, and all its inhabitants, the spirits of the righteous…
And let us rejoice that God has prepared for us a life after death, in which our existence continues and is not limited to this earthly life, which is finite and filled with pains and tribulations…
And let us thank God who has prepared for us an eternal bliss, higher than all that we have seen in the fleeting joys of the earth and its trivial pleasures…
On this occasion, I wish you all every happiness and blessing.
And let us pray for Egypt and its prosperity, and for the Middle East and peace throughout all its lands, especially in Palestine and Iraq. May God put an end to these wars and divisions, and may calm return to the region. And may you all be well every year.
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