Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, our Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

“Rabbi,” they called him. “Teacher.” “Teach us how to pray,” his disciples asked him, and he taught them the Lord’s Prayer. He is still our teacher if we will listen, if we will acknowledge that maybe he knows more than we do. Jesus is our teacher, but he is so much more.

“Lord,” they called him. “Master.” In Jesus the disciples found a leader they could live under. They surrendered their will to his. “I will follow you wherever you go,” one man offered. “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor,” little Zacchaeus promised. “Jesus is Lord” is still a basic confession of the Christian faith. But Jesus is so much more than the Master who tells us what to do.

“Savior,” is what the angels called him on the day he was born. It is half of what the name “Jesus” means. Months earlier the angel had told his stepfather Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” And on the cross, that is what Jesus did. He died our death and saved us from our sins.

But the one we call our Savior still has saving things to do. The reason we are eagerly awaiting a Savior from heaven is that, “by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, (he) will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Are you getting tired of your lowly body yet? Mine performs more and more like a high mileage vehicle. It needs all kinds of maintenance. I would say that it is getting time to trade it in, but who would take it? There are too many mechanical issues. The lungs don’t work at full capacity. The joints are wearing out. Hair is thinning, teeth need attention, eyes are fading. A future stuck driving this thing around would be worse than depressing.

So Jesus brightens our future. He is coming to rescue us from these wrecks in which we now live. He intends to give us, as citizens of heaven, a body worthy of living there. It “will be like his glorious body.” Will that include some of the cosmetic upgrades we’ve always wanted–better shape, better proportion? Possibly, though remember that when Jesus left the tomb with his glorified body he kept the scars of his crucifixion. What may be transformed as much as anything is the way we see others, so that we appreciate all the artistry of God’s creation in the endless variety with which he has put together the human form.

Is it possible our bodies will enjoy new powers? When Jesus left the tomb the angel didn’t roll away the stone to let him out. He simply vanished. He then materialized in the places he wanted to be. Will we pass through walls? Will we defy gravity, as Jesus did when he ascended into heaven? It is exciting to think about, but those aren’t the real substance of a glorious body.

Jesus’ glorious body is free from sin (his was always free from sin) and its consequences. There is no struggle to resist temptation. A glorious body lives in perfect self-control. We will be free from all the negative things: no more crying, pain, hunger, thirst, heat, cold. Nothing will make us sad. But most of all, Jesus’ glorious body lives, and loves, and serves with complete freedom and power. The slow creep of death is only a memory, and maybe isn’t even that.

That will be us as well, because our citizenship is in heaven, and Jesus is coming to transform us into the kind of people ready to live in our eternal home.