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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, looking at the second lesson, St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians for the text, please be seated. He is risen. He is risen indeed. I know Lutherans have kind of routinized that; we do that, and we don’t always do it on every Sunday in the church year, mostly during Easter. But that is a good greeting for any Sunday in the church here because every Sunday is like a little Easter. And today it’s very fitting because in that second reading of Paul he talks a lot about the resurrection and the importance of it and the vitalness of the resurrection.
Paul spoke about the resurrection a lot, and in fact, it’s why he was on trial and in trouble a lot of times because he was talking about the resurrection from the dead. Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, but really what does it mean? I mean, Lutherans, that’s a good question we always ask. What does this mean? If Jesus is risen from the dead, okay, so what?
For Jesus, the resurrection of the dead is the affirmation of His divine nature and His victory over death and our sins. And no other religion has this. No other religion has its central figure die and be resurrected. No other religion has it that the dead body of this leader of their religion gets back up, starts breathing again, and walks around and promised several times in their writings that this was going to happen. It’s the only religion—Christianity—is the only religion where the central figure was promised to die and rise again, but also that the central figure promised that this was going to happen said that was going to happen to them several times. Jesus told his disciples, “I’m going to die and in three days rise again.”
And at his tomb on Easter Sunday, his empty tomb, the disciples go there, and the angel is there and tells them, “Why are you looking for him here? He’s risen; he’s not here, just as he said.” But for us, what does the resurrection of Jesus mean? For us, it means that we are forgiven of our sins and given eternal life because Christ’s death was in our place, taking on our punishment, paying our price for the punishment of our sins. We now enjoy the benefit of the first fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection, as Paul pointed out in the reading today.
But the whole eternal life thing, to be resurrected to eternal life, what does this mean? To think about eternal life and eternity is kind of mind-blowing for us as human beings. But what does it mean to be resurrected to eternal life? Well, in Christianity, the usual thought of eternal life is of going to heaven where our souls go after we die. And that’s true; that’s part of the great hope and comfort and joy that we have in the Christian faith—that we live forever, that we die and our souls go to heaven. Again, that’s true, but it’s only part.
Because eternal life and being resurrected to that means more than that. It’s actually better. And if you’ll allow me some humor to help illustrate this, I will do that. There was a Texan, a guy who always liked to proudly and loudly proclaim the virtues of the Lone Star State. You know what I’m talking about, okay, one of those guys.
And he was out to dinner with some friends at a restaurant where he was proudly and loudly proclaiming the virtues of the Lone Star State, much to the chagrin of his friends and everybody else in the restaurant. So much so that one of the customers pulled a waiter aside and said, “Look, can we do something about this guy?” The waiter says, “Yeah, we can.” He goes in the back, gets some sleeping pills, puts them in the Texan’s beverage, brings it to him, he drinks it, boom, he’s out.
So the people in the restaurant say, “Let’s have a little fun with this guy.” So they load him into a car and drive him over to a nearby cemetery, find an open grave, and put him in it and take off. Well, eventually the Texan wakes up, comes to, stands up, and looks around. He notices where he is and he says, “Glory, Hallelujah, it’s Resurrection Day, and this Texan got up first!”
You see, there’s going to be a resurrection day for us where our bodies rise up out of wherever they are and whatever form they’re in, and we’re given new and glorified perfect heavenly bodies, bodies rejoined with our soul to make us complete beings again. You see, as human beings, we’re made up of bodies and souls. God gave us both. He created both for us. We need both, even in eternity.
No, I can’t explain what that body’s going to be like. I don’t know. Just think of it this way: it’s going to be better than what you have now. I just want my hair back! This bodily resurrection is the real hope, joy, and comfort of the eternal life promised and given in Christ. And maybe in Lutheran churches we don’t emphasize that enough, but it’s a great truth and great promise we have from our God that death is not going to have the final word on us, soul or body. In eternity we have both.
And again, maybe we don’t think about it enough, but we even confess it in the creeds. Maybe you don’t notice it, and sometimes I kind of forget about it too because it comes near the very end of the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed where we confess that we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the body between the two creeds that say that. Sometimes we’re kind of thinking beyond the creed. You know, it’s almost done, so we’re thinking about what’s coming up next. I know sometimes I am because I got to be prepared for the next thing in the liturgy.
But to help settle that down for me, whenever we get to that part of the creed and we confess it, I smile because that’s the great promise and hope that we have, that one day we’re completely recreated, soul and body, in eternity. And we hear this affirmation of our bodies and souls in the post-communion blessing. You’ve probably heard it a million times, and maybe you don’t think about it, but we finish communing, you’re back in your seats, and I’m up here and I say, “The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting.”
Christianity is the only religion, again, where the central figure promised to bodily die and rise again, but also promised that his people would bodily die and rise again too. Because humans, we’re living beings; we’re supposed to be alive. God created us to be alive, not to die. Sin ruined everything, and now we have this death thing, but we’re not supposed to be dead. Jesus comes and dies for us and in our place gives us eternal life. We’re not supposed to be dead.
I always kind of cringe a little bit whenever somebody says, “Death is just a part of living,” and I’m like, “No, it’s not. It’s the exact opposite.” Death is the enemy of life, and God is life. We’re not supposed to be dead, soul or body. Christianity hinges on this. It is that vital. In fact, as Paul put it in the reading, which would be verse 17, he says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins.”
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. You hear that? If none of this is true about Jesus rising again, this is all a sham. Your faith is in vain. Basically, you’re here wasting your time on Sunday morning, and my preaching is in vain, which basically means you’re paying me for nothing.
That was supposed to be kind of funny, guys. Yeah, if Jesus isn’t risen, then none of this makes any sense. But praise be to God, He has! He is risen!
Now something else what Paul says in verse 19, he says this: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” That’s some interesting stuff here, and I want to refer to this little handout that you had, a little insert here. First of all, this is not good stuff, okay? Don’t take this home, put it on your fridge, and make this your creed in life. This is an example of something that is bad thinking, okay? I pulled it off of Facebook; a friend of mine posted this meme some time ago. She’s not a Christian. I’m not exactly sure where she is at, but she put this, and how sad!
There’s nothing affirming or comforting in this for our human life or our death. First of all, it’s just a false delusion that they think they don’t do anything wrong. “Yeah, I’m not evil. I’m not fallen. I’m not a sinner. I am NOT an abomination.” Well, if you really look at yourself, yeah, there are times when you do some evil things. If you look around this world, it is sure fallen. Proof of that? Watch the news or read the comments section on any article on the internet. “Not a sinner, not an abomination, don’t do any damage.” Yeah, we all do damage to people sometimes, even with our bodies. We sin, we fall, we do some evil things. No, maybe not some things that are blatant, but with our words, with our thoughts, our bodies do some damage. But Jesus died and rose again to forgive that, and to pay for that, to change that, to make things right eternally.
And again, that’s the beauty of Christianity. Christianity deals with the human condition of evil, of fallenness, of sin, and of abomination and of death. Christianity takes it head-on. Not like this picture, not like this. It just simply kind of denies the whole idea about evil and death and just kind of candy coats it with something cutesy like, “You know, I want to be recycled back into the universe.” What? Like flushed on the toilet? Really, what does that even mean? There’s no hope in that. There’s no great comfort in that. It really just denies this idea that we have this death and that we’re supposed to live.
How sad this is, and to be pitied. And I don’t bring this up because it’s not necessarily antagonistic toward Christianity, but this is what we’re dealing with out there in the world, people! People who believe this stuff. Maybe you kind of think in this way or you know people who are thinking that way, and we have good news for them—something far beyond recycling or even repurpose. We have resurrection! We have something more for them. We get the chance to tell them that good news.
We get to tell them that this says that your matter, right? This says that your existence is just matter to God. We matter, soul and body. You matter because Jesus gave his soul and body to die and be resurrected to give you the exact same thing—to give you eternal life because we’re not supposed to be dead. That’s the real hope and joy and promise we have in the Christian faith—that God takes fallen, evil, abominable sinners like you and me and gives them a new soul and a new body. Not just to die and go to heaven, but to be a new you.
Sometimes people ask me for a description of your job, you know, a job description. And I’ll say, “It’s basically this: I prepare people for their death and their resurrection.” What does the resurrection of Jesus mean? It means eternal life for us, body and soul. May you look forward to that and know that great promise of one day is coming—recreated, resurrected, made new, body and soul. Amen.
He is risen! Hallelujah!
Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.