SUNDAY MAY 12, 2024 - CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED
May 12, 2024
Deborah Laforet
Christ Is Risen Indeed
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by
your Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
I want to first set this letter of Paul’s in some context. We know Jesus died in the mid
30’s CE or the Common Era. And this letter from Paul is one of the earliest Christians writings
in existence, written only twenty to twenty-five years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Even
though, when we open our bibles, and look through the New Testament, the gospels come first,
then the Acts of the Apostles, then Paul’s letters, Paul’s letters came first. The passage we heard
today contains one of the first known Christian creeds from the followers of Jesus.
Included in that creed is that Christ died for our sins, he was buried, he rose on the third
day, and he was seen. It’s a lot shorter than the creeds most Christian churches recite today, from
the Nicene Creed written in 325CE to A New Creed, approved in 1968 by the 23rd General
Council of the United Church of Canada. This creed of Paul’s contains just four proclamations:
Christ died for our sins. He was buried. He rose on the third day. He was seen. And even with
just these four beliefs that Paul spread far and wide, people struggled, they disagreed, they
questioned, and they doubted.
Paul, after visiting and evangelizing in several communities would then stay in touch
with them through letters. Much of what we read today in Paul’s letters are in response to letters
with questions of theology and faith, and challenges with living out this new faith. Paul is often
misunderstood today because he is responding to letters that have been lost. In some ways, we
are hearing a conversation between Paul and these new communities of faith, but we can only
hear Paul’s side. So we do our best to interpret and imagine the other side of the conversation.
In chapter 15 of his letter to the Corinthians, he is justifying the basic, core beliefs that he
had passed along to them - crucifixion and resurrection. Christ being crucified was central to
Paul's message. The saviour, he says, was executed by the powers and authorities that ruled this
world, but that these powers did not win the day. Death did not win, because Jesus rose on the
third day. Now we only read a small part of chapter 15 this morning, but if we had read the
whole chapter, we would have heard Paul’s insistence on this second element central to his
message, the importance of the resurrection. Paul believed that if this community did not believe
that Christ has been raised, then all Paul's work had been in vain, and their faith was futile.
On this last Sunday of Easter, it’s appropriate that we talk about the resurrection. Paul
was trying to convince this community that the resurrection was real and that we will all be
resurrected in the final days. Two thousand years ago, Paul was trying to convince these
communities that the end time was near and that they needed to believe, and what’s interesting is
that these debates on resurrection still happen today. Did Jesus actually rise from the dead? Was
it a physical resurrection or a more spiritual one? Did he appear like a ghost or could you
actually touch him and share a meal with him? Actually, sometimes ask myself, does it matter?
I will say it definitely mattered to Paul. These were new ideas he was espousing, and he
was competing against those Jews who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah and with the
plethora of Roman gods and the mandatory allegiance and worship of the Roman Emperor. Not
only was he trying to spread the wonderful deeds and the wisdom of Jesus, but he was trying to
convince people that a poor, Jewish man from Galilee, who was crucified as a traitor by the
Romans, was actually the Son of God, powerful but also human, transcendent and divine but also
one of us, immortal but also one who suffered and died on a cross as a traitor. I’m sure it was
tough sell, but he did it really well, as evidenced by the millions of Christians in our world today.
The world has changed a lot in 2000 years. No longer are we building temples for
Roman gods, or worshipping our leaders as gods. Today most look at gods and the stories that
surround them as myths and legends. Today, many theologians are not only trying to convince
people of the truth of the resurrection but even that there is a god, or even that there is more to
this physical world than we can see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. We live in a skeptical world.
I know there are varying beliefs in this room and those watching online. I know when I
sit down with other clergy, either of other denominations or even all within the United Church,
there are varying thoughts and beliefs, but there are some people and some churches who would
say that if you don’t believe Christ physically rose from the dead and that he will come again to
raise from the dead all those who believed, as well as a long list of other beliefs, that you do not
belong in the church and that you shouldn’t call yourself a Christian.
Now, I love the bible and I enjoy conversations around faith and theology and digging
deeper into the meaning of it all and how it relates to our lives. Theological debates can be fun
and interesting, but when people begin to feel defensive about their beliefs, and people taught
that there is only one way to believe, these debates can cause conflict and sometimes these
conflicts devolve into war, with innocent people suffering and dying.
Maybe you’re wondering what all this has to do with Mother’s day and Christian Family
Sunday. Sorry, folks. That’s just not where the scripture took me today. Although, we are
talking about conflict, divisiveness, and disagreements in our Christian family. I think Paul
would be very sad to see how the church has broken into factions because of politics,
nationalism, theological debates, and disagreements around who can be in leadership or be
accepted into the faith. These disagreements have broken up the Christian family, sometimes
with Christians fighting other Christians or sometimes just completely estranged from each other.
I think Paul would be completely shocked that this Jewish sect of Jesus followers, with Paul and
Jesus being Jewish, became its own religion and eventually turned its back on Judaism and began
to oppress and persecute Jewish people. Paul would definitely say that this was not the gospel
that he had preached.
Last week, we read his the 13th chapter of this letter about love and unity. Through
differences, we must learn to appreciate another, value one another, and support each other in this
world that is often full of pain and injustices for so many. Paul preached of following this
divinely human and humanly divine person of Jesus who loved and healed and offered
compassion to all, but especially to those set aside by this world. He preached of someone who
went against Empire and was executed for it. He preached that the Empire though did not have
the last say. ‘Death hath lost its sting’ and Christ rose on the third day and is with us, and will
always be with us. This was a message of hope, but also a message of unity. As we heard last
week, faith, hope, and love remain, and the greatest of these is love, love that overcomes
divisiveness and brings unity.
When we say during Easter, Christ is risen, know that we all might mean it in very
different ways, but through these differences, we can all come together, worship together, serve
together, love one another, and respond back in confidence, Christ is Risen Indeed!
Let’s give it a go:
Christ Is Risen!
Christ Is Risen Indeed!
Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
(Introduce yourselves.)
Last week, we began reading Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. These new Jesus
followers in Corinth were having problems and were in conflict. Last week, we
read about how love is needed to unite them. Today, we are reading from the
fifteenth chapter as Paul begins to wrap up his letter to the Corinthians. We are
reading the first eleven verses of chapter 15 from the Inclusive Bible.
Sisters and brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which
you received and in which you stand firm. You are being saved by it at this very
moment, if you hold fast to it as I preach it to you. Otherwise you have believed in
vain.
3 I handed on to you, first of all, what I myself received: that Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the scriptures; 4 that he was buried and, in accordance with
the scriptures, rose on the third day; 5 that he was seen by Peter, then by the
twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than five hundred sisters and brothers at
once, most of whom are still alive, although some have fallen asleep. 7 Next he
was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Last of all he was seen by me, as one
yanked from the womb.
9 I am the least of the apostles; in fact, because I persecuted the church of God, I
do not even deserve the name. 10 But by God’s favour I am what I am. This
favour that God has given to me has not proven fruitless. Indeed, I have worked
harder than all the others, not on my own but through the grace of God. 11 In any
case, whether it be I or they, this is what we preach and this is what you believed.
May the Spirit guide our understanding of this sacred scripture. Amen.