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February 2, 2001The fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians is totally concerned with the resurrection - Christ’s and ours. It is not clear whether the Corinthians had addressed questions to Paul on this subject or whether he had been informed of erroneous doctrinal trends in their midst. It does seem clear, however, that some of them were saying that, whatever may have happened to Christ, there was no such thing as resurrection from the dead for others. This might have been because they simply could not imagine how any kind of bodily existence could be possible after death, or because they disdained everything bodily and were willing to content themselves with the survival of the soul, or because they thought that the resurrection was a purely spiritual experience that had already taken place in them at baptism.
This chapter is divided into three parts. The first (which constitutes our reading for this Sunday) offers the basic Christian doctrine about the resurrection of Jesus. The second (which we hear from next Sunday) deals with the implications of denying the resurrection. The third part (which provides readings for the Seventh and Eighth Sundays in Ordinary Time) teaches about the nature of a resurrected body.
This Sunday’s reading begins with a reminder of the fundamental importance of the resurrection of Christ for Christian faith. Paul tells the Corinthians that the resurrection of Christ is the source of their salvation and that, if they have lost their belief in Jesus’ resurrection, their whole faith is vain. Without the resurrection of Christ, everything collapses.
Then he reminds them of the content of the basic preaching that he had given them, a preaching that contained the very kernel of Christian revelation, the fundamental content of all Christian belief. In accord with the plans that had been intimated through the Hebrew scriptures, Jesus died for our sins and was buried. (The burial confirms the reality of His death.) Then He "was raised from the dead." (The Greek tense used here signifies an action in the past whose reality continues into the present. It could be properly translated, "He has been raised and is still with us." This construction is used no less than seven times in First Corinthians 15.) Then the risen Christ showed Himself to His followers: Peter, the twelve, five hundred of the brothers at once (some of whom are still available for verification), James, and, last of all, to Paul.
Never one to overlook a chance to defend himself, Paul now gives us an overview of the nature and outcomes of his apostolate. His calling was different from that of the other apostles. He has worked harder than they, though the results came from God’s grace rather than his own efforts. But the bottom line is that all the apostles, including Paul, have preached the same saving truth about the resurrection of Jesus.
There are two important aspects of the resurrection of Jesus that we need to be aware of before we can discuss the meaning of the resurrection for us. The first is that the resurrection was not just Jesus coming back to life again to take up His previous life where he had left off (as Lazarus and the widow’s son in Naim presumably did). No, the risen Jesus lived a whole new kind of life, a kind of life that Paul will have more to say about next Sunday. Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus was not an occurrence that took place a long time ago to which we relate as we relate to other events of the past. No, the resurrection of Jesus, His new life, continues now. The risen Christ is still with us. The risen life of Christ is still going on.
Why, then, is the resurrection of Jesus important for us? For one thing, the resurrection of Jesus assures us that the life and ministry of Jesus are still going on. The man who walked the roads of Judea and Galilee, who taught about the love of the Father, who remained consistent in His love and dedication to the Father, who maintained His generous openness to God’s will - that man is still alive, still with us, still carrying on His redemptive activity in and through His new, post-resurrection life.
For another, the life of the risen Christ extends itself to us. We share it through the grace of baptism, we express it in our own individual human existence, we assimilate it ever more deeply by our response to His generosity. If Christ had not risen from the dead, we would be able to relate to Him only as an ideal, as a historical figure of the past, not as our living Lord in the present.
Finally, the resurrection of Jesus and our sharing in His life constitute a promise of a new and different life for us when we finally share fully in His kingdom. Body and soul we will be enfolded into His life with Father and Holy Spirit. All that we are will be assumed into Him. If there were no resurrection, no risen Christ, we would have no reason to hope for anything more than we already experience. What a grim prospect!
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Conversation Questions
What aspects of the resurrection of Jesus do I find most appealing?
Does the resurrection of Jesus have anything to do with my attitudes toward my body?
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