There have always been almost as many opinions about life after death as there are people, and even opinions amongst Christians vary enormously.  I know a number of Christians who have a sneaking feeling that reincarnation makes a lot of sense, and many more who are unable to believe in any form of life after death at all.

But Christian doctrine does not believe in reincarnation, it does believe in life after death, although in some different place which we call heaven.

Jesus didn't have a huge amount to say about life after death.  He was more concerned with the coming of God's kingdom in this life, and with helping people to usher in the kingdom.  He wanted people to experience the Kingdom here and now, and in his life and death he showed them the pathway to follow to do this.  Basically, anyone who wants to experience God's kingdom in this life needs to mirror Jesus' life, for as he said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

The doctrine of life after death is much more fully developed by Paul than by Jesus.  Perhaps this is because Paul had the advantage of knowing at first hand many people who claimed to have seen and conversed with Jesus after he was quite clearly dead.  But what really convinced Paul of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus, was that on the road to Damascus he himself had a mystical and spiritual experience of Jesus, and he then knew for himself that Jesus was still alive. 

But even in those early days of the Christian church, very soon after the events of Jesus' life, there were still plenty of people who were unable to believe in any sort of existence after death.  It was to these people in the church in Corinth, steeped in the world of Greek myths and legends that Paul was writing in today's reading.

Paul goes out of his way to prove by logical argument that there is life after death because Jesus died and rose again and promised the same for us; that we too would die, but rise again in some way.  Anyone who disbelieves in life after death, says Paul, is calling into question the resurrection of Jesus.  And he goes on to say that since the resurrection is at the very heart of our gospel, if the resurrection isn't true then Jesus can't have died for us, in which case we are still separated from God by sin and our faith would be a complete waste of space.

But the problem is that neither the resurrection of Jesus, nor life after death, can be proved by logical argument.  We're forced to take life after death purely on faith, and since we're now 2000 years away, we also have to take the resurrection of Jesus purely on faith.

Andrew Harvey, author of the book, Son of man, describes the resurrection as "mystical fact." He says even the wisest mind or the deepest learning can't understand the resurrection, for the resurrection can't be understood in scientific terms, it can only be known and experienced.  It's beyond dogmas, or words or theological formulations, but it can be experienced by the humbled and mystically awoken heart and through direct divine grace (Pg.  84).

The resurrection can be experienced in this life, every time we are willing to "die" a little.  There are occasions in every life when we're stripped down to bare essentials, and have to concentrate only on surviving.  If at these times we're able to follow Christ's path, trusting, believing, loving, hanging onto God, maintaining our integrity, then we discover resurrection for ourselves.  Every time we die a little, we discover a little more resurrection, and those who are willing to lose their lives will find them. 

Since that is a common experience in this life for many Christians, and can be an experience for all Christians, it seems at the least extremely likely that something similar happens after physical death.  If there is a God, then that God is beyond time and space, and has existed since before time began.  So there's no reason to suppose that human life will be snuffed out like a candle at one particular moment.  It's much more likely that human beings will continue to live, with God, in some different dimension after death.  On the basis of experience in this life, experience in a God within as well as "out there", and the testimony of the New Testament, it seems to me to be much more likely that there is life after death than that there isn't.

What is that life after death like? Again, we can't possibly know or understand, for it's in the realms of a mystical, spiritual experience.  Throughout the Bible there are various pictures of life after death, all described in terms of the highest and best that could have been imagined when the Bible was written.  So sumptuous feasts feature quite heavily, as do wonderful cities dripping with precious gold and jewels.  The 23rd psalm pictures an idyllic rural landscape, and includes the sumptuous feast.  Paul himself devotes chapter 15 of the first letter to the Corinthians, to the subject of resurrection.  And from verse 35 onwards, he launches into considerable detail about resurrection "bodies".

The more we're able to "die" and experience resurrection in this life, the greater will be our experience of resurrection in the life to come.

That may mean being prepared to suffer derision, persecution, betrayal, and abandonment.  It may mean being prepared to surrender position, status, friendships, and wealth.  But the result will be an amazing and incredible experience of resurrection in this life.  We are talking about losing your life in order to find your life. And this is but the foretaste of things to come, so in the next life when we see not through a glass darkly but face to face, resurrection will be way beyond anything we can begin to dream or imagine.  And that is eternal life!