More Than A Caterpillar with Wings

The Butterfly has been a powerful symbol or metaphor for new life. It is an image used at Easter time to evoke beauty and freedom.   

Ferris Jabr, writing for Scientific America penned this description of metamorphosis at:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/

Once inside the cocoon: …the caterpillar, releases enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues… But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly or moth—discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on.

Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, genitals and all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth. 

The transformation is total. A butterfly is not a caterpillar with wings.

Celebrating Resurrection Sunday is all about becoming a new creature in Christ. We celebrate that in each of us is are “spiritual imaginal discs,” formed by God, wakened by Christ, and given new life by the Holy Spirit. In Christ our being is transformed. We rise from the tomb of sin and death, not as old selves with wings added. We rise as new creatures.