Zombies exist, and I’ll tell you why. But first, why is it that we are so fascinated with zombies? We’re entertained by zombie movies such as 28 Days Later, TV shows like The Walking Dead, and video games like Dead Island. Have you ever stopped to think why we’re so fascinated with zombies? I tend to think they are indicative of the human condition.
Zombies are often called “the living dead.” The people they once were died, but now they’re “alive” again. The only difference is: they have no rational thought, no moral code, and a constant need to eat anything living. They’re alive, but they’re walking around dead. Such is the condition of the sinner before faith in Christ. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:1-10:
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. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Before receiving faith in Christ, we are like the living dead—we’re hopeless, lost zombies. We’re walking around with our own developed moral codes due to our limited rational reasoning and self-glorified sense of individuality and autonomy, consuming all that we can to make ourselves feel good (i.e. consumerism) as we attempt to find happiness in the temporal things of this world, dead in our sin.
But by God’s mercy and amazing love and grace, He has made you alive again in Christ Jesus! You are no longer dead in your sin, but now alive in Christ, for God prepared beforehand that you walk alive in Christ as He has taught us to walk.
St. Paul bundles this together when he wrote to the Colossians, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).
You were once dead in your sins, walking around in its bondage though alive. Now, however, God nailed your sins to the cross with Christ, and there they remained when He rose again. Reconciliation with God has been accomplished (2 Corinthians 5:19); salvation is given to you through Christ (Romans 10:9-10; Hebrews 7:25; Matthew 19:23-26).
You are no longer a part of the hopeless living dead; you are now alive in Christ.
The Lutheran Column 