Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part VI
THE RESURRECTION

II.  UNITY WITH THE FATHER

Jesus said unto Mary Magdalene: "Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father." (John 20: 17.)

When the Lord was on earth, He was as one among many - a companion of men; and He called them "brethren," but not one of them spoke of Him as their brother.  He was not so characterized until a later age, and then only because the thought of men was increasingly fixed upon His human as being like that of other men.  Even those who confessed His Divinity did so with a reservation, making a distinction between the Divine and the Human - a distinction which involved serious consequences, grave doctrinal errors, leading to the papal power on the one hand, and the vicarious atonement on the other.

Not comprehending the effect of the Divine process of glorification and believing in His bodily resurrection, men thought of Him as being in the after life much as He was on earth, that is, as a man, and as one among many, as still invested with a material body and possessing a human rational mind, not unlike that of other men, and so, on His human side, serving as a kind of intermediate between men and God the Father, whereby He became an intercessor for all time.

The doctrine delivered to the New Church is, that the Lord's Human is not like that of another man.  It was indeed so when He was on earth; but after His glorification He became Divine even as to the Human, and then, as to this Divine Human, He could not be regarded as the brother of men, but instead, as God over all.  When on earth, by virtue of the investing body taken from the mother by birth, He was as one and individual in His relation to men, on the same plane with them, and of the like or the same formation and structure.  In this respect, it may be said that He was as their brother, - their companion in all the afflictions of the flesh, and in the infirmities and temptations thence arising.  This temporal earth - body of His was also like that of other men, in that it was mortal; and in the Divine process which supervened, it went the way of all mortality.  It was gradually eliminated; for another Body was forming in its place, - a Divine Substantial Body.  This Divine Body had its initiaments from the first beginning of His life as a man in the world.  It more and more displaced the infirm material body as glorification progressed, and this until His Divinity became total on all planes, so that it is said that He rose with the whole body become Divine, even the whole body which He had in the world, down to the ultimates thereof, which with men corrupt in the tomb.  This whole body, then, in its resurrection, was not the material, the infirm, but the Divine Substantial Body, taken on by degrees during His whole life in the world, by due process; taken on, not from without, from the mother or from nature, but from the Father within.  Thus that material part, which might be called a "brother" to man, gave place to that which was of and from the Father purely and solely, and this absolutely and forever, when He had ascended to full union with the Father.

This is the meaning of that mystic saying of our Lord to Mary Magdalene, when she came early to the sepulchre, while it was yet dark.  Standing without the sepulchre weeping, "she stooped down and looked in, and seeth two angels in white, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, of the place where the body of Jesus had lain."  The angels said unto her, "Why weepest thou?"  She answered, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him."  Then she turned herself back, and saw Jesus, but knew Him not, supposing Him to be the gardener.  "Jesus said unto her, Mary.  She saith unto Him, Rabboni!" Jesus saith unto her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father!"

Thus is told the story of the Magdalene Church, and its attitude to the Lord, and the warning given to it.  Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father I Touch is communication, translation, and conjunction, and with reference to the Lord it involves salvation to men.  That Church looked to the human of the Lord, and desired to be conjoined therewith, even to the human as it was in the world, the Mary-human or the Son of Mary, as well as the Son of God.  But this was that which the Lord forbade when He said, "Touch me not!" This saying of His was both mystic and potent with Divine meaning.  It was mystic in that its true significance was not understood - is hardly yet understood.  It was potent with Divine meaning because of the fact that, while He was indeed risen from the dead, He was not yet ascended to the Father.  Not until He ascended was there complete union with the Father. (A.E. 899e)

Here, then, was an interval of deepest significance, - an interval between His resurrection and His final ascension which marked a distinction of radical import to the Church - the Church which sought conjunction with its Lord.  "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father!"  Not yet was His glorification entire, though almost so.  There was yet something to be done, some veiling to be removed, some sphere of the mortal Mary-human clinging, through which Mary Magdalene saw Him, and by which she sought, with her burning love, to be joined to Him; but He forbade her.  All this deeply significant story was fulfilled in later days; for the Magdalene Church, while confessing His Divinity, even looked to the Mary-human, and desired conjunction therewith, and even salvation therefrom.  But the warning that this could not be had been given, though it was not understood.

The Church could be saved only by conjunction with the Human of the Lord fully and clearly glorified, with that Human in which or about which there lingered nothing of, or from, the Mary-body.  The Church could only be saved by conjunction with the Human of the Lord after He had ascended to the Father, and become fully united with Him.  In this it was as if the Lord had said to the Magdalene: "Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father," and implying that, when He was ascended, all men might then be saved by touch with Him.  "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."  Here again the Magdalene Church has interpreted these words as having reference to His being lifted up upon the cross, whereas more truly and directly they refer to His ascension to the Father.  Herein lies the specific difference between the Churches, the New and the Old.  The latter could never free itself from the thought of Him as qualified by the Mary-body, could only think of His Human as like unto that of another man, and so of Him as a brother to men.  And with the passing ages this thought increased, at first hedging His Divinity, obscuring it, and at length causing it to vanish altogether.  But to the New Church is revealed a vision of Him thoroughly and clearly glorified, ascended and united, one with the Father, and not in any sense man's brother, but even God over all.

When the Lord called men His "brethren," was He then speaking from the maternal human? - thereby recognizing through that human His companionship with His fellow men?  Many have so thought, and many continue so to think.  But the Writings deny this.  They say that there is a high sense in which the Lord may call men His brethren, but that there is no sense in which man may call the Lord his brother, no sense in which it is right or proper to do so; and this especially may they not do after His ascension and full union with the Father.  For that union made Him God entire.  As such, He alone is to be worshipped by men, by the Church.  The essential of the Church is the worship of the union between the Father and the Son.  The Church is even commanded to be in continual thought concerning that union, since it is the most sacred of all things, and makes the very life of the Church, from which comes its salvation.  This worship, this continual thought of the Divine union, is that which was signified in the old, the former, days by keeping the Sabbath, for from that union came the true sabbath of rest.

How, then, may any man call the glorified, the ascended Lord "brother"?  His title can only be that of Father.  Yet, as noted, there is a high sense in which the Lord may call men "brethren," but we are informed that on such occasions the Lord addressed that in men which is of Himself with them, namely, the Divine in the men of the Church.  This Divine was and is as if His brother.  Truly speaking, it was and is Himself; yet, because it is of Himself in and with men, there is given an apparent difference, an apparent separation, so that, in accord with the appearance, He speaks to that Divine in men as if objectively, as if to another, and calls it his brother.  "Then one said unto Him, Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak unto Thee.  But He answered and said unto him, Who is my mother?  and who are my brethren?  And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren I For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." (Matt. 12: 47 - 50)  In so far as any man does the will of the Father in the heavens, he has the Divine of the Lord in him, for that Divine alone is capable of doing the will of the Father, and of enabling man to do it as if of himself.  It was that Divine, of which the Lord spoke, when He was told of His mother and brethren, standing without, He, "stretching forth His hand to His disciples, said, Behold my mother and my brethren!"

It is of interest to observe that the Lord here spoke of those doing the will of the Father in the heavens, and to note the fact that the Writings speak of the Father above the heavens as being far removed from both men and angels, and giving this as the reason why men were instructed to pray to the Father in the heavens; this in the Lord's Prayer.  It is the Father in the heavens who hears and answers prayers.  In the same connection it is said that the Father in the heavens is the Lord, - the Lord as to the Divine Human, - which is indeed the infinite Divine, but accommodated to reception by angels and men, - accommodated by putting on the flesh, but not permanently so, because, by the process of glorification, He returned to complete union with the Father, from whom there was for a time an apparent separation.  But the point is, that His return was complete.  He carried with Him into and above the heavens no relict from the mother, no veiling of purely human structure, though men have ever vainly thought that He did, and have sought to find that veil.  For men, even like Mary Magdalene, have desired to touch Him, under the illusion of a human veiling, under the thought that His Human was like that of other men.  But His answer to this desire was given to Mary Magdalene in the mystic words, "Touch me not,"  - words, however, which are no longer mystery now that the Lord's sole Divinity is revealed.

It has been noted that Christians have directed their principal thought to the cross, and that their central worship embraces the passion thereon.  Yet this carried over to the resurrection, for without the resurrection the passion would have no Divine meaning, no redeeming power.  By belief in the Lord's resurrection the Church was established.  For that was the word of power that went throughout the world, giving substance to the hope of a life after death for all men.  But the thought of His passion and belief in His resurrection was not enough.  What of it?  He suffered death, indeed, and truly rose on the third day.  But when seen in His resurrection body by Mary Magdalene and the disciples, He appeared to them as if in the former material body, and this even as to the wounds in His hands and His side; this, to confirm the conviction that it was indeed Himself.  Yet He so appeared to them under their insistent idea of Him; and He could so appear because He was not yet ascended to the Father.  After the ascension He never so appeared again.  In this interval - appearing to His disciples, there was yet some veiling as of the material body.  The Church, the state of mind of His followers, demanded this, and it was granted. "Thomas said, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe."  This was the voice of the Church speaking.  It was the same Magdalene Church, but now called Thomas, - Doubting Thomas.        

The demand was for sensual touch, physical contact, with His material human, His earth-body.  And the demand was such that it must needs be as if granted, for not otherwise could faith be established.  Here note a most instructive contradiction.  While the Lord said to Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father," signifying that the Church should be conjoined with the Human only after complete unity with the Father, yet, owing to the state of the Church at that time, this was impossible.  And so, when, after some days had passed, Jesus came among His disciples, the doors being shut, and said, "Peace be unto you.  Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faith less but believing." (John 20: 26, 27)

And so also it came to pass in after days.  Not heeding the warning given to Mary Magdalene, the Church insisted on conjoining itself with its Lord not clearly and fully glorified, not yet ascended to entire union with the Father.  The Church also thrust its hand into His side to feel the wound of His death as evidence of His Life.  While this was permitted, yet a Divine rebuke followed: "Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."  Here the meaning is the same.  The Church insisted on a material resurrection, in order that it might believe.  It insisted on a junction with its Lord not yet ascended, not yet in complete unity with the Father.  But such a faith, so established, was impermanent.  A spiritual Church can only be founded with those who see not and yet believe, that is, who regard not the Resurrection Body of the Lord save as purely Divine and in unity with the Father.

Inwardly, the rebuke to Thomas bears the same meaning as the warning given to Mary Magdalene; for Thomas did just that which was forbidden to Mary.  And so also it was with the Church.  The Church worshipped, and in its heart conjoined itself with, the Human, risen indeed, but not ascended, not clearly glorified.  This forbidden, yet permitted, thing dominated the doctrine and worship of the Church to the end, that is, until the time of the Second Coming, when a New Church was established whose cardinal doctrine opened the way for the conjunction of that Church with its ascended Lord.