The Daily Office: Easter Week

Mon. – 1 Cor. 15:1-11
Tue. – 1 Cor. 15:12-28
Wed. – 1 Cor. 15:29-41
Thurs. – 1 Cor. 15:41-50
Fri. – 1 Cor. 15:51-58

In this first week of the glorious 50 days of Easter, the Daily Office lectionary takes us through ch. 15 of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, his full-throated defense of Jesus's Resurrection, and ours.

The Gospels tend to focus on just the "big names" among Jesus's disciples – The Twelve, Jesus's mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene.  But we have Paul's testimony that the risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 people.  They are all witnesses that this man was more than a man.  He was God in the flesh.  And those 500 became witnesses of the Resurrection, testifying to what they saw.  They "handed down" that testimony to others.  In Latin, "handing down" is tradition, from which get tradition, that living witness handed down through the generations.  The doctrine of the Resurrection is not a philosophical statement.  It is a witness statement.

And Jesus's Resurrection is to be ours as well.  One of the key verses is this chapter is v. 44: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."  What exactly is meant by "natural" and "spiritual" bodies.  One false turn would be to assume that Paul is referring to the "physical" body we have now and the free "spirit" we will have when we die and go to our resurrection.  That is not what Paul means.  The Jerusalem Bible is probably the best translation of this verse: "when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit."

When we are finally raised, on the last day that will one day for ever and ever, our resurrected body will be physical, just as we have a physical body now.  But the physical body we have now is enlivened by own power, which will inevitable fail.  But the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will raise our bodies also.  And they will be as new and fresh as the day we were born.  But they will not age.  We shall serve our God for ever in the fullness of physical strength, in peace, love and joy, for ever and ever.  That is the Good News of the Resurrection.  Jesus's Resurrection is ours as well.