The Living Dead?

February 19, 2012

Take a look at the title of todays message. What comes to mind when I say it out loud, The Living Dead? I think, for many of us we automatically think of the modern fascination with zombies and the zombie apocalypse. There are books and movies and even video games that all revolve around this idea of zombies and the living dead. It is believed that the word zombie entered into the English language with the 1929 release of William Seabrooks novel The Magic Island. After that, the idea of zombies or undead creatures grew in popularity. Depending on the story, the path to becoming a zombie may vary. In the Omega Man, a 1971 movie starring Charleton Heston, the world was infected through chemical warfare between China and the Soviet Union but in, I Am Legend, the book on which The Omega Man was based, human beings were infected by a virus that was carried by mosquitos. Our cultures fascination with zombies grew with a series of six horror movies entitled The Night of the Living Dead and lately with a wildly popular television series, the Walking Dead (which has now been renewed for its third season). So since this is the time that I usually say that this has all happened before in scripture, perhaps you might expect that I am going to tell you all about Bible zombies? I dont think so, but then again, (pause) lets not be so hasty 2 Kings 2:1-12
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When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, Stay here; the LORD has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha said, As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel. The company of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and asked, Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today? Yes, I know, Elisha replied, so be quiet.
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Then Elijah said to him, Stay here, Elisha; the LORD has sent me to Jericho. And he replied, As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you. So they went to Jericho.

The company of the prophets at Jericho went up to Elisha and asked him, Do you know that the LORD is going to take your master from you today? Yes, I know, he replied, so be quiet.
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Then Elijah said to him, Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.

And he replied, As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you. So the two of them walked on. Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 1
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When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you? Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit, Elisha replied.

You have asked a difficult thing, Elijah said, yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours otherwise, it will not. As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel! And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two. It isnt exactly the zombie apocalypse, but while Elijah, Elisha and all of the local prophets seem to know that God intended to take Elijah from the earth on that sunny afternoon, I am willing to assume that nearly every single one of them expected that Elijah was going to die in the way that most human beings ordinarily die. It was a terrible thing for a Jew to die without proper burial and for the body to be exposed to the elements and wild animals. The reason that Elisha most likely wants to stay with Elijah is to bury him. That doesnt happen. Instead, Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, still fully alive. People who are in heaven are ordinarily referred to as dead, so is Elijah alive or dead, or both? In Deuteronomy 34 we are told that after the entire nation of Israel had crossed over the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses died and God buried him in the land of Moab but no one ever found Moses grave. The result of this was that a legend grew among the people of Israel, that Moses never really died but had been taken up into heaven in some way similar to Elijah. That, in turn, leads us to the story of Jesus transfiguration in Mark 9:2-9
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After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three sheltersone for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!
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Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what rising from the dead meant. Jesus and his three closest friends climb a mountain to pray and to be alone and there, Jesus is transformed (the theological word is - transfigured) right in front of them. Instead of his workaday clothes and instead of his regular, travel worn, road dust covered self, Jesus appears as pristine and perfect and dressed in clothes that were impossibly white and bright even in commercials for washing machines, detergent and bleach. As if that werent enough, beside him appear Moses and Elijah, who, incidentally were recognized by the disciples even though they had never met. Moses and Elijah appear, these same men who, in Jewish scripture and tradition, had never died but were taken up into heaven. And, as if that werent enough, a cloud appears and God speaks from the cloud. And as suddenly as it began, it ended and no one was with the three Disciples except for the ordinary, workaday Jesus. 2

So here again we see these two men, who have been absent from the earth for hundreds if not thousands of years, men who, mathematically, must be dead, walking and talking and ministering to Jesus as if death and the passage of time hadnt particularly inconvenienced them. This is something very different than the flesh eating zombies that we see in the movies. It is obvious in any zombie story regardless of whether the living dead creatures are the result of a virus, chemical warfare, nuclear accident or a mad scientist experiment gone wrong that those who are the living dead are the product of great evil. This, on the other hand, is something very different. Here are men who are dead, or who at least should be dead by any normal human definition, but who remain very much alive and who, it appears, are somehow living a very different life than the kind that you and I are accustomed to living day in and day out. Here is, if you will, a picture of what zombies would be like if God created them for good and not for evil. Here are the living dead who minister, care and heal instead of destroying and killing. Whats more, here is a picture of what will be for all those followers of Jesus Christ who remain on earth at the end of time. Before the second coming of Jesus Christ, the living will be summoned to heaven to join with Jesus without ever having experienced death and that only happens after all those who have died rise from the dead and ascend into heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). While zombie movies are generally terrifying and creepy, the images that this creates in our minds are both comforting and wonderful. There is one more zombie movie tie-in to visit this morning from the Apostle Paul and it is, perhaps the most disturbing of all. It twists on our understanding of zombie movies, of reality, of life, and even death itself. This twist in our understanding of these ordinary things catches us off guard and makes us think. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
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And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. 6 For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of Gods glory displayed in the face of Christ. Paul says, The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel. Paul says that we should tell others about Jesus Christ so that light can shine in the darkness. The twist in our understanding happens at the beginning when he says, even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Paul says that it is our friends and neighbors, those who have not heard the gospel message and who do not know Jesus Christ, that are perishing. We know that everyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ has eternal life. We do not first die and then begin our eternal life; we gain and begin our eternal life at the very moment that we put our faith in Jesus. It is our friends and neighbors, Paul says, who are dead and dying. In that sense, we are surrounded by the walking dead. While these seemingly benign zombies appear to be our friends and do not seem to have an insatiable desire to kill us and eat us like the zombies in the movies, they may well try to kill us by leading us away from Jesus. Instead, our goal is to remember who we are, to remember what we have been called to become, to remember what we shall be, to remember that it is our calling to pierce the darkness, to share the light of Jesus Christ with everyone so that they will no longer be the living dead but can be, like us, truly alive in Christ, forever.

You have been reading a message presented at Barnesville First United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor of Barnesville First. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Barnesville First UMC at 123 W. Church St., Barnesville, OH 43713. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribe@barnesvillefirst.com. If you have questions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Facebook (search for Pastor John Online). These messages can also be found online at http://www.scribd.com/Pastor John Partridge. All Scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise noted.