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Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany February 15, 2004
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Psalm 1
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Luke 6:17-26
1Cor. 15.20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first
fruits of those who have died.
Amen.
This past Thursday a student sent me a remarkable email. He says in part:
I have always considered myself a Christian. However, the more and more I
read (this has nothing to do with the Da Vinci Code) the more and more I
question what I believe. I am to the point where sometimes it feels
“easier” to refute what I have always thought to be true. From an academic
stand point there seems to be so much evidence that what I think is wrong.
I will confess to you, as I did to him, that these words often express my
own feelings. One of the courses I teach at Tulane is the “Jewishness of
Jesus” or “The Historical Jesus.” My New Testament colleague does not
teach the course because he says, “I don’t want anyone messing with my
Jesus.” What my colleague and student mean is that the more one looks at
the scholarship of the Bible, and about Jesus in particular, the more you
will find your faith in Christ attacked. Why? Well, there are many answers
to that question, but fundamental it is because the assumption of
mainstream scholarship is always that none of the Bible is true, at least
not in any historical or factual sense.
Scholars in this field tend to have a rather high degree of skepticism.
(It seems that rather then inquisitiveness; disbelief is the most valuable
tool in academic enquiry.) These scholars seek to determine exactly who
and what the “historical Jesus” was, but they begin by rejecting the
testimony of the Gospels found in our Bible. (And often, as in the
fictional work The Da Vinci Code, the hold the non-canonical Gospels as
more accurate.) One of their primary reasons for rejecting the biblical
accounts of Jesus is because they do not believe that miracles can occur
or that God, if “it” exists, has not and will not interact with humanity
in such a direct manner as that described in the Bible. Walking on water?
Silly, ridiculous. Healing the sick? Purely psychosomatic. Resurrection
from the dead? Impossible.
But it is not just the scholars who hold such views. When we lived in
England each Christmas the then Bishop of Durham would come out with a
statement about the Virgin Birth being a myth and at Easter he would
declare that the resurrection of Jesus was not a physical, historical act,
but is simply a metaphor of how God should live in each of us. None of
these accusations and assertions, however, is new. The Gospel of Matthew
(28.13) tells us that even in Jesus’ day many said that Jesus hadn’t risen
from the dead, but that his disciples had merely stolen his body. Today’s
epistle reminds us that there were many in the early church who, while
perhaps not denying the resurrection of Jesus, denied the resurrection of
anyone.
The debate is an old one, because we have changed very little. Then as now
it is human nature to want historically verifiable facts, but, as one NT
scholar, Luke Timothy Johnson points out, “Religious knowledge is not the
same as historical knowledge.” He goes further to say, the historical
Jesus is “hardly the point of Scripture” because Jesus is more than just
an historical figure. That is not to say that Jesus, his words, acts,
crucifixion, and resurrection were not historical. They did indeed occur,
but they were extra-ordinary; the “Truth” of the Gospel is more than
historical fact. And this brings us to today’s epistle.
I would like to add, parenthetically, that I think Paul’s first letter to
the Corinthians is incredibly relevant to our church today. The historical
context of this letter is extremely similar to our own. Corinth is a large
port full of businesses, philosophers, and vices of various types. One NT
scholar referred to Corinth as “Las Vegas and New Orleans rolled into
one.” Paul is also writing to a church community that is rife with
division, much of it over questions of sexual immorality. But he also, as
in today’s reading, is concerned with issues of fundamental belief,
ensuring that the truth of the Gospel is preserved.
1Cor. 15.12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can
some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no
resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if
Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and
your faith has been in vain.
In every service, and immediately following this sermon, we say we believe
in “the resurrection of the dead.” But do we really think about what it
means? In this phrase, we are not talking about the resurrection of Jesus
from the dead, but ourselves; that when Jesus returns at the close of this
world’s history, everyone shall be raised from the dead. This is when
God’s ultimate justice will be meted out, when Jesus “will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead.”
In Jesus’ own day this was a fundamental debate. The Pharisees shared this
belief that God would raise us all from the dead and ultimately hold all
humanity accountable for their sins. The Sadducees, on the other hand, did
not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Consequently, they also did
not believe in the Day of Judgment. There view was that all events were
determined by our own will (God was very “hands off” after delivering the
Law) and that after you die everyone, regardless of virtue, It is amazing
how contemporary they were! It is also amazing what a difference a
viewpoint can make in our lives.
You see, if we believe that there is no resurrection of the dead and that
God will not ultimately hold us accountable for our actions, then what
reason do we have to live justly? Why should we love one another? And what
of all the suffering we see around us? As the author of Ecclesiastes said,
I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was
wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.
(3.16)
We might infer from this that God doesn’t really care what happens on
earth. But what we see with our eyes is only part of the story. Indeed,
that is the great experiment of the Book of Ecclesiastes. The author looks
around him and says that the world simply goes round and round. We get up
in the morning, work through the day, go to sleep, get up and do it again.
There is nothing more. That is until we realize that this life isn’t all
there is. There is, in fact, eternal life in Christ.
The Kingdom of God will fully break into this world as Jesus returns and
all are raised. The resurrection and judgment then is God’s great promise
to us that wickedness and injustice will not go unpunished and that those
whose faith remain firm in him will enjoy, as the creed says, “the life of
the world to come.” In fact, the author of Ecclesiastes goes on to say,
“God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time
for every matter, and for every work.” And this is the power and the
promise behind Jesus’ words that we heard today.
20 “Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Jesus encourages the disciples and us by reminding us that though we may
be poor and hungry now, we will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Returning to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and my student’s concern
that “from an academic stand point there seems to be so much evidence that
what I think is wrong.” In the first chapter Paul challenges the reader:
1 Cor. 1.20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is
the debater of this age? [We might add, “Where is your NT critic?] Has not
God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of
God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the
foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews
demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ
crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but
to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God
and the wisdom of God.
Here is the answer to all the critics who say that the crucifixion as a
way of salvation and the resurrection as an historical fact are
irrational: well, duh! Human rationality, human wisdom are irrelevant to
the revelation of Christ crucified. The wonder and power is that the
resurrection of Jesus is more than historical. From the earliest days the
church has always maintained that Jesus did, in fact, rise from the dead
and it is this that verifies everything else he said and did. As Paul
said, “if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in
vain and your faith has been in vain.” It would all be meaningless. As
Ecclesiastes would say, “vanity, vanity, all is vanity.” Paul goes on,
however, to declare, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have died.” He arose and so shall we.
This is the Good News that we proclaim: Christ has died, Christ is Risen,
Christ will come again.”
Amen.
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