Good News...Therefore

Good News...Therefore (April 16, 2006)

“Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news, which you in turn received….Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:1...58

If I were to list the five most inspired chapters in the New Testament the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians would be right up there along with the first chapter of John and the 5th chapter of Matthew, the 8th of Romans, and the 2nd chapter of Acts. That would be my list. Some might say it is the most important chapter and a very good case could be made for that. It tells us clearly that Christianity is an historical religion with its focus on historical events, not on nature or philosophy, and on a God who acts in history.

It tells us what the very earliest proclamation of the Church was, and by early I mean even before any of the gospels were written. There are, for instance, probably a good four decades or more between the writing of 1 Corinthians and the gospel of John. Paul is reporting what was already in wide circulation and which, as he said, he “received.” This is the fundamental message: Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose again on the third day, and the sum total of all this was nothing less than good news.

It is here in this chapter that we catch exactly why Christianity in the first century was a faith on fire. It is the resurrection of Jesus. The wonderful Presbyterian theologian Dr. Shirley Guthrie, who died two years ago, wrote: “The foundation and center of the Christian faith is not death but life, not a tragedy but victory beyond tragedy, not a gloomy, world-denying fascination with a dead sacrifice, but a triumphant, world-challenging faith in a living Lord; not a passive, breast-beating moaning about how sinful the world is, but an active, joyful moving out of sinfulness to obedient fellowship with him. He is risen! That is where the Christian faith begins, and for Christians it is the one event in history which gives meaning to all of history, including our own.” It is for this reason, he said, that the empty cross is the most appropriate symbol for the Christian faith. It says clearly that He lives, which is the basic meaning of this day.

One of the things I think is so great about the way the New Testament presents this story is that it doesn’t hide the fact that this message went out into a world of skeptics. Somewhere there’s a book waiting to be written called “How the New Testament Differs from a White House Press Conference.” By White House I mean under practically any administration, at least since John Kennedy openly admitted his failures at the Bay of Pigs.

Since then it’s been one week of spin after another. Are fine young men and women being killed daily in Iraq? Never mention it, we’re making great progress. Are they coming home in coffins? Don’t let the cameras near the airport. Not so the New Testament. Did Jesus die the death of a common criminal? Yes, he did, put that in. In fact, make it the center of the story. Are the disciples incredibly slow to believe? Put that in. Do people openly scoff at the resurrection? Put that in. Do the women get it faster than the men? Even though it’s a male dominated world, put that in. (Remember, Peter called the resurrection “a woman’s tale”.) Did the Greeks react negatively to the disciples’ resurrection message? Yes, put that in. Is the early church filled with people arguing with another? Put that in. Let it all hang out, that’s the motto. Unlike the White House, any White House, the New Testament believes in people’s abilities to make their own decisions. Why? Because it is all really Good News, even Christ’s death, especially Christ’s death, because it points to the power of God who offered his only Son for the sins of the world and our salvation and then raised him from the dead for our justification.

It is still and always will be a matter of faith, not proof. Even the empty tomb of itself is not proof. C. S. Lewis said that nothing except the resurrection itself is sufficient to explain the extraordinary turn around for the disciples, who were totally devastated after the crucifixion, but even that he said should not be taken as proof. It still comes down to faith. But what a faith!

Through 58 verses in 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul pounds away at what the resurrection of Christ means for life beyond the grave. “I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” These words stirred Handel and they stir us as well. “Where, o death, is your victory? Where, o death, is your sting….thanks be to God, he gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This life is simply not all there is.

And then in the final verse of this absolutely incredible chapter on life after death the apostle comes to one of his favorite words: “therefore”. The “therefores” in the New Testament are always about what we are to do and how we are to live. Theology for the New Testament is never abstract. It’s not for a debating society. It’s for living, in the here and now. And for Paul it is clear that the whole idea and power of the Resurrection of Jesus must be applied to each of us: “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

Here after 57 verses all about the resurrection and the mysterious certainty of the afterlife and the conquering of death and the grave, Paul comes to one of his famous “therefore’s”: stand firm in the Lord, be steadfast, and know that all that you do in and for the Lord will not be in vain. I like the way Clarence Jordan paraphrased this verse in his “Cotton Patch” version: “Always keep up the good work for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for him is ever wasted.” How’s that for a lesson from the resurrection of Christ?

This is the great and grand conclusion of it all, right down to where we live, going through the difficulties and trials of life, faced often with questions and temptations to give up, and Paul’s idea is: look at this remarkable event that happened and continues to happen wherever people encounter the risen, living Christ, and let that be your encouragement. Because he lives, nothing you do for him will ever be wasted.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews had the same thought. After going through all the great heroes of faith in the Bible the writer comes to another “therefore”. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.”

In March of 1980 I was in Geneva, Switzerland, at the World Council of Churches when word came that Archbishop Oscar Romero had been assassinated in El Salvador while saying mass. The next day we all gathered in the chapel for a service commemorating this great man. Romero was the first bishop slain at his altar since Thomas a Becket in the 12th century.

Here was a man who to the surprise of practically everyone, because he was from a very conservative background, became “a voice for the voiceless”, the champion of the poor against the rich and powerful. His weekly sermons, broadcast by radio throughout the nation, always were about human rights violations, which he listed in great and embarrassing detail. He became the conscience of his nation and the poor embraced him. Just two weeks before his assassination Romero said in an interview: “I have frequently been threatened with death. I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadorean people.”

Romero is a classic example of someone who not only believed the Good News of the resurrection but lived out fully its “therefore”. He was unmoveable and steadfast, abounding in the work of the Lord, and there is no doubt his labor was not in vain in the Lord.

Thank God, we are not all called to give our lives in the way Oscar Romero did. But we are called to ask ourselves how Christ’s resurrection influences how we live. After rejoicing in this glad day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, what is your “therefore” this glorious Easter day?