April. 16 - In the Face of Dark Realities
Contributed by
Sheldon Burkhalter, director of church relations on Wednesday April 16
Scripture
I Cor. 15:1-11
The Resurrection of Christ
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
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Devotion
Christians are rightly encouraged by the promises of Scripture. Assurance of forgiveness of our sins by a loving, merciful God enable us move forward in life. Confidence in God’s promise of eternal life and resurrection, especially, undergird hope when we see the ravages of disease and war.
But this faith does not come easily. As Christians, we believe in God’s power to heal and in Christ’s call to be peacemakers. But in the face of dark realities, we sometimes wonder if the promises often quoted from the Bible and the convictions Jesus’ example has formed in us are mere pious, nice sounding illusions. What does faith have to do with the real world where friends die and war rages between enemies bent on mutual destruction?
I am encouraged when I read that the early Christians also struggled with hard questions. And they laid them out with their stark prospects, as we see in I Cor. 15: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. … we are of all people most to be pitied.” (vv. 17, 19)
But I am even more encouraged when the preceding verses (our reading today) ground faith in Jesus’ resurrection in real history and in the witness of real persons. God’s promises are not just nice sounding platitudes that make no sense in human realities. Jesus really died and he was really raised and “he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the twelve … [then] to more than five hundred...” (vv. 5ff)
As those who believe in Jesus, we must not live with illusions about human suffering and violence, but like the early Christians we are called to live out resurrection faith in the real world where hope for healing, forgiveness and peace is desperately needed.
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