The Zombie Gospel

While our society rambles on about the "zombie apocalypse" (So serious are some that a town in the UK sued their leadership because they didn't have a "zombie apocalypse plan" while Homeland Security does.) and revels in stories, movies, TV series, and the like about zombies, I remain disconnected from the silly genre. That is, until I realized that it was biblical. No, not the silly living-dead, brains-eating Hollywood version. That is, not the Hollywood version.

Consider.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience -- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3)

Paul says that natural human beings are "dead in the trespasses and sins" and living "in the passions of our flesh". Dead and living.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Rom 1:28)

Paul says that sin rots the brain.

So biblically we have dead people who are alive, who lack brains and, therefore, need them. Now isn't that the description of a zombie?

Of course, in the Hollywood version there is a cure for a zombie -- shoot it. Kill it. (Ironic, since it is the living dead that they say we need to kill.) Biblically, there is another way.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
(Rom 6:3-8)

The biblical remedy for those who are alive but dead, functioning only with debased mind, is to die with Christ and be raised that "we too might walk in newness of life." Hollywood wants us to kill them for good and all. Christ wants them to die and be raised with Him.

This is, indeed, good news (Gospel) for the "zombies" among whom we walk every day. Dead in sin, walking about with diseased hearts (Jer 17:9) and debased minds, we have an answer for them. Die with Christ and be raised to new life.

I wonder, sometimes, if we, who were once among these very same "zombies" really appreciate the astounding reality that we were dead and are now alive, that we are no longer slaves to sin (Rom 6:12-14). I wonder if we value the opportunity to be renewed in the mind (Rom 12:2) that currently doesn't exist for all those who are currently the very real "undead". I wonder if we recognize the worth of this Gospel we hold to all those dead people we know who desperately need it. Do we realize that God didn't "make us better", but brought us to life, and that this same miracle is available for those around us? I would think that we would daily be grateful for the grace that made us alive when we were dead and that compassion would give us a sense of urgency in sharing this good news with the dead around us.