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Proper 8, Year A
June 30, 2002
Christ Church, Covington
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by
baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom.
6:3-4)
There’s no getting away from it: human existence is a matter of life and
death. So it’s fitting that the Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans
should struggle with sin and death, which shape and form the reality we
know. Paul testifies in his letter to the power of sin: “For I do not do
what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… But in fact it is no longer I
that do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Rom. 7:15, 17). He testifies
as well to the reality of death; as we heard last week, “Sin came into the
world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to
all because all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). It’s familiar territory for
human beings, and Paul’s letter does not hesitate to cover the difficult
common ground we share.
Yet the Apostle only touches on these sobering facts in order to put
forward the antidote, which is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If human existence is a matter of life and death, then Jesus Christ sets
on its head our common wisdom about these things. Our human experience is
that of life followed by death; but the crucifixion and resurrection of
Jesus Christ turns upside down this familiar pattern. It reverses the
whole direction of human existence, and gives us the example of life
coming out of death; in fact, an example of life destroying death, and
setting it at naught.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is unique, yet it takes place
for a great purpose, which is the salvation of humanity and the renewal of
all things. Paul writes about the life and death matter of human
existence, but now in a new key. Again, as Paul exclaims later in the
Letter to the Romans, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from
this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom.
7:24-25). The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ makes new life a
possibility for human beings, for those who put their faith in him. The
old pattern of sin and death is broken, and a new pattern of life emerges.
This new life becomes in Jesus Christ a part of our human reality,
rewriting and reformatting human existence so that something new comes to
birth.
This new life, by faith in Jesus Christ, is shared with us in the
Christian celebration of the sacraments. This is where our reading today
comes into play. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been
buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life”. The sacrament of Baptism is a mystery which communicates to us
the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, so that this new pattern
of life overcoming death may be set upon us. It is like a seed implanted
within us that grows and gives forth the fruit of new and everlasting life
for us. The sacrament of the Eucharist, as well, communicates to us the
benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection through his Body and Blood; as
Paul talks about in the First Letter to the Corinthians. “For as often as
you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until
he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26). It is this sacrament that brings us together,
week by week, to remember that we have been given new life by the death of
Christ on the cross.
Christian faith is a matter of life and death; a matter of Christ’s
resurrection life overcoming death, laying down a new pattern of existence
and a new reality in the world. We draw near to him in faith, and receive
the sacraments that give us this new life.
The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.
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