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GOD'S MESSAGE THIS WEEK
Sermon for February 11, 2007 Calvary Church,
The Rev. Mary A. Canavan

Scripture Readings:  The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Jeremiah 17.5-10, Psalm 1,1 Corinthians 15.12-20 Luke 6.17-26 

In the scripture reading from Paul’s first letter to the Christians in the city of Corinth, Greece, he talks about the resurrection from the dead.  There are people who wanted to believe in Jesus Christ back in Paul’s time who simply had a very hard time believing in the resurrection of the dead.  That is no less true today.

In Jesus’ time there were Jews who did believe in the resurrection of the dead (the Pharisees) and others who did not (the Sadducees).  You may recall that there is a place in Holy Scripture (Mt. 22.23-33) where the Sadducees ask Jesus whose wife a woman would be when she got to heaven if she had seven husbands who all died before her.  By this question, they are mocking the resurrection of the dead.  Still today there are Jews who believe in the resurrection of the dead (Orthodox Jews) and those who do not (Reformed Jews). 

Other religions have other explanations for what happens once we die.  The Hindus believe in re-incarnation and in that case the “soul” comes back to life in other form, either as a more (or less) enlightened human or as an animal, depending on what was accomplished in the life before death occurred.  If the “soul” was fully enlightened in this last life-time, then the soul reaches “a unity with Brahman” and is then “one with the world”  and does not re-incarnate. 

With respect to Buddhists, there is no soul that continues from life-time to life-time.  There is no soul, no divine center within us, nor is there an external deity or God.  The “parts” of a living thing are composites and, upon death, are re-arranged and another composite is created.  For Buddhists, nirvana is accessible in this lifetime, unlike the paradise of Islam, or the eternal life and resurrection of the body for Christians. 

So, there are many different perspectives on what happens when we die.  But, here we are in a Christian church and St. Paul is teaching us about the resurrection from the dead.  Rightly so, he preaches that, without the resurrection, there is no Christianity.   

Yes, it is amazing that Jesus Christ, the son of God, chose to become human and was incarnated.  It is amazing that Jesus Christ wanted us to know God and gave us himself as an example of how God calls us to live.  It is amazing that Jesus Christ gave up his life so that we might be in right-relationship with God.  But, none of that is why we worship Jesus Christ today.  None of that is why people for 20 centuries have been willing to die for their faith in Jesus Christ.  None of that is why St. Paul converted from killing Christians to being a Christian. 

St. Paul converted from killing Christians to being a Christian because the resurrected Jesus appeared to him.  The resurrected Jesus spoke to him.

Most of us have not had the resurrected Jesus speak to us, though some here today have had that experience.  Instead, most of us believe because of the testimony in Holy Scripture of people like St. Paul and the testimony of people today who have seen and heard the resurrected Jesus.

If you have not seen or heard the resurrected Jesus, remember that Jesus never once held out a “test” for people to follow him.  There are times when our faith waivers and we are not sure.  In those times, simply stay the course:  worship Jesus, come to church, talk to others who are confident.  Jesus simply said to people, “Follow me.”  The only thing he ever asked of his disciples was, “Who do you say that I am?” 

I say that you, Jesus, are the Messiah, the Lord.  And, “as for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.”

Sources and references :

(note that the above is the approximate verbal text of a sermon spoken without notes and does not include quotations or footnotes (except where noted)  that a formal publication, speech, or written report would include) 

The New Oxford Annotated Bible (NRSV)
Synthesis – Year C – 2007/2006
Synthesis – Year C – 2003/2004
Synthesis – Year C – 2000/2001
Pulpit Resource by William Willimon
Anglicans Online website – “Sermons that Work,” Year C
The Gospel of Luke Commentary – William Barclay
The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Abingdon Press 

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