As I was looking at the hymns for this morning, I was struck that many of the ones that echoed the themes of our reading from Paul\u2019s letter to the church in Corinth were in the \u201cEaster\u201d section of the hymn books. I had a bit of a question mark in my head. How do we feel about singing \u201cEaster\u201d hymns at the wrong time of year? Somehow at Easter, when we\u2019ve had Lent and all the drama of Passion Week leading up to Easter Sunday, and the daffodils are out properly, it feels appropriate to come and sing joyfully about resurrection and new life. But what about the middle of a cold and stormy February? <\/p>\n
I wonder if some of this wasn\u2019t what the trouble was at Corinth. <\/p>\n
On that first Easter Day Jesus friends and followers didn\u2019t know what had hit them. It took them a little while to get their heads round it, and really believe what had happened. But, within a couple of weeks, there were so many independent eye witnesses of visits from the resurrected Jesus that they couldn\u2019t stop telling people about it. In some senses it was easy to believe, because it was so recent, and there were so many people around who had shared the experience, first hand. <\/p>\n
But now, in Corinth, people were beginning to wonder about this whole resurrection thing. They had heard about it, and they may even met a few people who claimed to have seen Jesus after his resurrection, but the vast majority hadn\u2019t experienced it for themselves, and perhaps it was too difficult to hold on to. This may have been particularly difficult in Corinth, a Greek city where the dominant religions and philosophies did not believe in life after death or resurrection. <\/p>\n
We catch a glimpse of this in Acts 17, when Paul goes to Athens, a similar Greek city. Paul met with a group of local philosophers at their discussion group, and spends some time telling them about Jesus, and they\u2019re listening fine until he says, \u201cGod has given proof of this to everyone by raising Jesus from the dead\u201d. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, \u2018we want to hear you again on this subject\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
The idea of resurrection was completely new to their way of thinking. Some of them rejected it out of hand, and others wanted to hear more, but none of them accepted it initially. <\/p>\n
The Corinthian Christians were a long way physically from Jerusalem, where Jesus\u2019 resurrection happened, they were a long way from it in time, and they were a long way from it culturally. No wonder they were struggling to hold on to their faith in it. No wonder they were struggling to sing resurrection hymns.<\/p>\n
For Paul this is a critical issue. It has to be addressed. It can\u2019t be allowed to go on. He insists that resurrection is a reality, and not just at Easter, or just in Jerusalem, or just if we find it easy to believe. Resurrection is at the heart of the Christian faith.<\/p>\n
He identifies three key problems if there is no resurrection, and especially if Jesus were not raised from the dead, which he lists in verses 16-19.<\/p>\n
Firstly, \u201cIf Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secondly, \u201cThen also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.\u201d<\/p>\n
And thirdly, \u201cwe are of all most to be pitied.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a moment to look at each of those in turn.<\/p>\n
Why does Paul say that if Christ has not been raised, we are still in our sins? Earlier on in this chapter, in verse three, Paul himself writes \u201cChrist died for our sins.\u201d We often talk about Jesus dealing with our sins on the cross, where we died. We talk about the sacrifice that he made for us, the consequences of sin that he bore for us. Why isn\u2019t Jesus\u2019 death enough, why isn\u2019t the cross enough to free us from our sins? Why is the resurrection necessary? Paul gives us a hint later on in the chapter, in verses 56-57.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
In our natural state we are separated from God by our disobedience and sinfulness. God is the source of all life, and if we are separated from the source of something, we run out of it, and so when we die, we die. Jesus died on the cross to deal with that consequence of our sin, to reconnect us to God, so that we could live. His death did that, and his resurrection demonstrated that he had done it. His return to life is the proof of his victory, on our behalf. Now, if we trust him, if we are in Christ, when we die, we live on, connected to God, the source of our life. <\/p>\n
So Paul\u2019s second point is linked to his first one. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, if he did not only bear death but beat death, then those who have died in Christ already haven\u2019t lived on. They have perished. Those we have known, those we have loved, who have gone before us, most recently Roger Griffiths, if Jesus was not raised from the dead then all those things that were said and sung at his funeral in the faith that he is now with his Lord and ours, they were all untrue. If Jesus wasn\u2019t raised then Roger has perished.<\/p>\n
No wonder Paul builds into his third point, that if Jesus were not raised then we are to be pitied more than anyone. We\u2019d be building our lives, our hopes, our future on nothing. We\u2019d be trusting in something that is not trustworthy, that in the end will let us down. This is no way to live, and certainly no way to die. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s all a bit sobering isn\u2019t it. But I also find it immensely encouraging. Just think about the flip side of the coin for each of Paul\u2019s points. <\/p>\n
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, I am not dead in my sins. I still do sin, I am still disobedient to God, but I am forgiven. Jesus did bear my sins on the cross and he beat my death by his resurrection. Sin has no power or authority over me. I am free to live in forgiveness, as one who is forgiven and as one who forgives. I am alive in Christ, and will continue to live in Christ beyond the death of this body.<\/p>\n
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, those who have died in Christ, live in him. Roger is alive in Christ. Although the pain of parting and the grief at the absence of a loved one is still there, we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We can have an assurance that those we have loved that we see no more, who are in Christ, live on. <\/p>\n
Unlike the Corinthian culture, it seems to me that I meet quite a lot of people who do believe in some kind of life after death. People who believe that their loved ones have become stars or angels, who leave little white feathers to reassure and comfort those left behind. Now, I am not so insensitive as to challenge these beliefs when people\u2019s grief is fresh, but it seems to me that these beliefs have very little foundation in contrast to the foundation there is to the Christian hope of resurrection.<\/p>\n
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are to be envied more than anyone. Because of the resurrection of Jesus we can live without fear of death, without anxiety, looking forward to the fullness of God\u2019s Kingdom. We are daughters and sons of the most high God, adopted into God\u2019s family, filled with God\u2019s Spirit, living as ambassadors of God\u2019s kingdom. We are royalty, and so is anyone else who wants to be. <\/p>\n
I am encouraged by these things because I do believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. I think that this is a reasonable belief. There is good evidence for it and no objections to it that I find credible. There are independent eye witness accounts that we can read and weigh up for ourselves. There is the explosive growth of the early church. There are the number of Jesus\u2019 early followers who chose to die for their faith rather than recant their witnessing of the resurrection. There is the sheer number of people who saw Jesus alive again. <\/p>\n