“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:19-20).
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Happy Easter! Today is the greatest day of the year because it celebrates the greatest day in all of world history! In fact, our Christian faith is based on this very day – the day of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. So, why then do so many people misunderstand this day? Why do so many people misunderstand Easter and just reduce it to a celebration of baskets full of goodies? Now, I, too, enjoy baskets full of goodies, but today is so much greater than just a basket filled with chocolates and jellybeans. Today we remember why we meet each week on Sundays. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
But what would life look like without this day. What would life look like without Easter?
This is what St. Paul is asking the Corinthian church. He says to them, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).
So, take away Easter and what do you have?
§ We would no longer be the firstruits of Christ’s resurrection, but rather leftovers of Satan’s temptation and Adam and Eve’s first sin.
§ We would not have forgiveness. For if Christ was not raised, we would still be stuck in our sins.
§ We would be under the eternal curse and power of the devil with his hold over us in sin and death.
§ We would be doomed to eternal death, apart from God, in complete nothingness.
§ We would have no glorified body.
For many of the skeptics at Corinth, they thought they were wasting their time and energy on an empty message. Afterall, dead people don’t come back to life. There are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Life always ends in death. Fight it or deny it, maybe even try to ignore it. Choose whatever strategy you like, death always wins. Death happens to everyone. It is final. It is permanent. When you’re dead, you’re dead. You become worm food.
If these skeptics are correct, then if Christ had not been raised, then our Christian faith is futile, and furthermore, we would all be stuck in our sins. If we have no forgiveness in Christ through His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, then we are just doomed to the result of our sins: eternal death.
If these skeptics are correct, then the resurrection is false and then there is nothing to a life everlasting, so this would constitute the greatest deception ever perpetrated on earth. Then, Scripture and the Sacraments would be of no use. The preaching would all be in vain. The apostles and myself would just be false prophets.
“But in fact,” St. Paul says, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Our Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead. He lives! And because He lives, you will also live – and with a glorified body: “For as by a man – Adam – came death, by a Man – Jesus – has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
But what exactly is “a glorified body”? Many of the Corinthians were also skeptical of this. Many couldn’t get past the idea of breathing life into a dead corpse, or worse, bones and ash. St. Paul explains this later in 1 Corinthians 15: “So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power” (1 Corinthians 15:42-43).
Paul is talking about us here. Did you catch those words: “perishable,” “dishonor,” and “weakness”? That is us. That is our experience of our bodies in this life. And in spite of all our frailties, we do like our bodies. In fact, we don’t just live in our bodies, we are our bodies, and they are us.
Our bodies, even with our frailties, are pretty impressive. God gave humanity precisely what we need for creating and maintaining our lives. So, we not only live life in these bodies, but we also enjoy it.
But sometimes, you may wish to have a body that doesn’t wear down, since our bodies are perishable and weak. Yes, we are blessed to have so many modern surgeries to keep our bodies working more smoothly, but in spite of everything, we still know that our bodies are perishable and weak. Our bodies get old, they wear out, they die.
As we get older, we may make light of our last enemy – death. You may lose you hair. You may go a bit gray in your 20s. But you can always cover it up with a wig or hair coloring.
But then there are those aches and pains that linger longer than they used to. The eyeglasses and hearing aids. All this is weakness.
Now, death can strike at any moment. Some live past 100, others die in their 20s, or in the womb. Our bodies are weak. They are perishable.
And there’s more. We don’t just experience weaker bodies, but we also sin in the body. For this flesh is not only weak and perishable, but it is also dishonorable.
You and me are subject to the appetites of our body. Our hands do things they shouldn’t. Our feet take us places we shouldn’t go. Our minds conceive the worst wickedness. And then our tongues. Our tongues are completely out of control. We all say things we immediately regret.
For us Christians, this really hurts. We don’t want to die, and we don’t want to sin. For “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
In Holy Baptism, our Old Adam was drowned to sin, and we were made alive in Christ through the Holy Spirit. So, we really do want to please God. We now live by confession, repentance and forgiveness through which the Holy Spirit sanctifies us day by day.
Yet, we find ourselves caught in a fight with our new self. St. Paul describes this fight saying, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19). How can you and I get myself out of this mess?
Only Jesus. Since He has been raised from the dead and gives us the sure promise of a glorified body: not weak but powerful, not perishable but imperishable, not dishonorable but glorious like His, we shall bear the image of God. Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. By a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. So also in Christ shall all be made alive. Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. That is the promise. That is the victory we celebrate this day.
For St. Paul, Christ’s resurrection is inseparably connected to our future resurrection. These are two sides of the same coin. Through Holy Baptism, we have become members of Christ’s own body. And the bodily resurrection of Jesus guarantees our future resurrection. This is our great hope.
For Christ will on the Last Day “raise me and all the dead and will grant eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.” So, with great joy, we don’t say “if” but with certainty that Christ is risen!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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