Live in Awareness of The Resurrection
by Fr. David M. Knight
Thursday, September 19, 2024
Twenty-Fourth Week of the Year
Saint Januarius, Bishop and Martyr
(Lectionary 446)
1 Cor 15:1-11/Lk 7:36-50
1Corinthians 15:1-11 begins the last chapter the liturgy reads from this letter. Today Paul grounds the whole Christian faith on the fact of Christ’s resurrection. Tomorrow he will show that our own resurrection is a necessary consequence of Christ’s. Saturday he will explain how different the risen body is. He ends with what it all means for us:
Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first Christians lived in awareness of the resurrection—Christ’s and ours. It was the core of their preaching and the greatest point of controversy. For them it meant victory; the proof and promise that they would be victorious over sin and death, persecution and all the power and seductions of this world.
We seem to have lost that awareness. Belief in resurrection is buried among many other things we believe. It does not empower us to break with our culture, resist the tides that sweep us into false attitudes and values, or visibly live out our faith among those who would discount us for being different. We hardly think about it. We should.
I want to remind you of the Good News I preached to you, which you received and in which you stand firm.
We need to be reminded. The most common reminder is the symbol Catholics wear and display in homes and churches: the crucifix. We emphasize the stark reality of Christ’s death to remind us that the reality of our own death is not grim anymore: it is overcome by resurrection.
The crucifix reminds us of Christ’s love, but his love could not save us had he not risen from the dead so that we could rise in him as a “new creation.” We believe:
Christ died for our sins in accord with the Scriptures; that he was buried, and in accord with the Scriptures; raised on the third day.
The bottom line is victory: Christ’s victory over death; our victory “in him.”
Luke 7:36-50 explains why Paul said above, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” This Gospel contrasts a Pharisee and a “sinner.” For Pharisees sin is breaking the law, and, once broken, nothing can undo that. Fact is fact, failure, failure. But for “the woman known to be a sinner,” sin was a turning away from loving God, and returning to love can undo it. Jesus said, “Her many sins are forgiven, because of her great love.” The contrast is between “righteousness” as achievement or as relationship. If it is achievement, sin has power over those who die as “moral failures.” If it is relationship, sin has no power over those who return to love.
Initiative: Look at a crucifix—often. But see resurrection. And be Christ risen.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
Comentarios