I've been obsessing lately over the idea of resurrection: Not just Jesus' (although that is the crux and the genesis of all others), but of others', and of my own.

Consider:

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come." -Ephesians 1:18-21

Two things strike me. First, that Paul's prayer is not that we would have hope or an inheritance, or great power, but that we would know that we have hope and inheritance and great power. Does this mean, then,  that our eyes can still be darkened, even if we believe? Can we wield an incredible power and not realize it, not put it to use?

Secondly, the same power that God worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead is currently at work in us. I know there will be a resurrection of the dead one day in the future, but the implication of these verses is that we are currently undergoing resurrection, currently being made alive in Christ. That resurrection happens daily.

It makes me wonder, when I read those stories about the people Jesus made rise from the dead: When did they know they were dead, and what must they have felt at the first moment when they breathed again? Did they have time, did they have eyes to see, at death, what had happened to them? Where they were? Did they know, at that first awakening to light, what had happened, where they were, what it meant? Or did they experience resurrection and not know the power of it, because the eyes of their hearts had not been enlightened?