Jesus’ Ministry
February 15, 2019
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
I have a problem with how dependent we people of faith seem to be on the use of the word “believe”. It is a relative word, yet we use is as fixed as stone. People believed the earth was flat until someone trusted enough to sail further than ever before and discovered it was round. There is no English verb form for the word “faith” so “trust” to me is the better word to discuss any absolutes of faith.
I thus found it interesting that the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible translated the Greek words introducing verse 20 as the word “fact” which is an absolute. On researching the Greek, I discovered the word is something akin to the English word “now” but stronger. One writer noted it as an emphatic “now” that means, “Now as it was definitely not like this before, or after”* “Fact” certainly works for this translation. Noting that something is definitely not like it was before is so much richer.
The resurrection changed everything. The Arbuckle Mountains in south central Oklahoma are the oldest known formations in the United States between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. At some point in their 1.4 billion history they were markedly changed never to be the same again**. If you study then closely, the Mountains look like they were turned onto their side. The magnitude of the Resurrection in our lives exceeds the force of mountains moving.
The Resurrection affirmed the omnipotence of God while ushering God’s children, all of us, into expanded roles designed to create a world rules by love full of grace and truth.
Prayer: Creator of All, open doors of opportunities for us the fulfill our call to move mountains with love. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/greek/3570.htm
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbuckle_Mountains