SUNDAY MAY 12, 2024 - CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED

Recorded Worship On Youtube

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.

tracy chippendale