Today marks the day of assurance that Jesus was who he said he was – and who we believe him to be. Paul looks to the resurrection and says that it is our hope. If Jesus wasn’t raised, Paul is prepared to say that we look pretty foolish. Paul doesn’t say that about the widow’s son – either of them, or Lazarus. People have been raised but Paul doesn’t point to them as our hope, or that in believing those resurrections we are shown to be foolish. But if Jesus didn’t rise to life, Paul says we have little hope. Granted, Paul writes these things for his rhetorical purpose; Paul himself has no doubt.
Paul uses the resurrection of Jesus to propel him to faithfulness, through hardship, and even “dying every day.” Paul continues despite his beatings, shipwrecks, fighting beasts, imprisonments, and even what seems to have been a severe crisis of faith or approached despair. He argues that if all there is, is this life, why does he – and why does he encourage his readers to – persist in their common faith and the hardships it brings? He says that if the resurrection isn’t true, we might as well “eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow we die.” His point is that if we have been “saved” only for this life, who cares? No, his argument goes the resurrection is real and it points us to something past this life, beyond our physical death. He isn’t sure exactly what sort of bodies we might have in our resurrection, but he is certain that we too will be raised – and the resurrection of Jesus is our proof; our down payment on that reality.
The resurrection highlights, emphasizes, ensures the reality that we are already living eternal life – it has already begun and we are participating in it now. Dallas Willard, perhaps one of the most insightful modern Christian thinkers said in The Divine Conspiracy,
“The agape love of I Corinthians 13 will increasingly become simply a matter of who we are. But the effects of our prayers, words, and deeds – and sometimes of our mere presence – will also increasingly be of a nature and extent that cannot be explained in human terms. Increasingly what we do and say is ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,’ and every part of our life becomes increasingly eternal…. We are now co-laborers with God.”
Paul agrees that we are co-laborers with God extending the kingdom of God not as a “thing,” but as a people throughout the world. As we become more and more like God, we more firmly secure at least a small part of the world more and more for God. That kingdom for Paul is not just a “this life kingdom,” but the rule of God throughout the universe forever. Paul’s assurance is that if we are now co-laborers with God, if we are to be transformed into the likeness of Christ just to eventually die, we are wasting our and everyone else’s time.
Paul considers this so important a truth that immediately after uttering the “eat, drink, and be merry…” comment, he says this,
“Do not be deceived; “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning, for some have no knowledge of God.”
Paul says, “No! Don’t eat, drink, and be merry! Yes, eventually you will die, but that isn’t the end – Jesus was raised and so will you be, into newness of life. That new life will be in a transformed body of some sort and is in continuity with the one you now have – and the life will be in continuity with this one.
Eternal life has already begun and because of that, there are obligations for those who would be the people of God. Before addressing the resurrection, Paul has penned the “love chapter” of the Corinthian letter. His discussion of love in the body of Christ isn’t about getting married or romantic love. It arises naturally from his discussion in the letter – it is love for and among disciples for each other and the body of Christ. Love Paul tells us but not in so many words, what Willard has said. We become transformed into love and it is these love-beings that will extend into the life to come, in new bodies. Physical death and entering Heaven isn’t a form of graduation but rather, a natural extension for those who are being transformed.
And so Paul says that we look forward to the resurrection because quite frankly, if we are love-being here only, we will lay down our lives for others without any hope that having done so serves any real purpose – and for Paul, the resurrection life is the real purpose. It isn’t a separate purpose from this life but it is the telos, the end-in-mind for this life. We are the image of God and we are to be most fully transformed into that likeness in which and for which we are made.
The good news of the resurrection for us is that the life we are trying to live here, right now. The life with its heartaches, its sudden and tragic losses, its insecurities, setbacks, and grief is not the end. We will be raised by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead – the power that speaks life into being will speak life again into our physically dead bodies and raise us into the presence of our God. But not only us; that power will speak life into the bodies of those we miss, those who have been taken from us, or who have finished their race before us. They too will be raised just as we will be and that day will be a glorious day indeed.
The resurrection of Jesus isn’t just an event; it is assurance. It is hope and encouragement for us so that we know that this life, this becoming love, this following our Savior continues and is perfected in the presence of God and those we love, forever.
Easter. The hope of the Christian faith.
Live into it.
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