Word to the Wise
Friday, September 17, 2010 - Friday in the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Corinthians 15:12-20 and Luke 8:1-3]If Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith. [1 Cor]
St. Paul "calls the question" quite bluntly. If Christ is not raised from the dead, we have no hope. He is otherwise only a good man martyred by jealous fellow Jews and nervous Romans, and there is nothing beyond the grave for us believers. Resurrection (of Christ and ultimately of ourselves) is really a "line in the sand" for Christians or anyone attracted to the Christian faith! I think, however, we Christians "tiptoe" around this fundamental reality of our faith. Yes, it's part of "the package" but we may prefer to emphasize the teachings or even the miracles (as if the resurrection does not qualify) or other aspects of Jesus' life. We can "put a fence around it" by leaving it to Easter where the secular Easter bunny and candy eggs compete for attention! If we read St. Paul completely, we will find little or nothing about the life and teachings of Jesus, at least directly. He recalls the words of the eucharist and he exhorts his communities to live according to what the Sermon on the Mount teaches, but there is very little beyond that. His emphasis is on the death and resurrection of Christ! His letters are the oldest of the New Testament documents and give a pretty good idea of what the first preaching was about! [cf. also the Acts of the Apostles]. If we truly wish to know the depths of our faith, we must understand the power of the resurrection and its meaning for us. St. Paul promises us that we shall be "transformed" and assume a new life. This is not pie in the sky by and by. It has happened, will happen and is happening. Why should we try to "live" as if resurrection is just one more line in a creed? AMEN
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