Thoughts for the Day

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been 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.

Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

In today's passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he is writing about something he has not experienced - the Second Coming of Jesus. Paul has, however, been working to create Christian communities from the moment the Lord spoke to him on the road to Damascus (Acts 9.3-9) some twenty years earlier, and he knows the scriptures and their prophecies for the Messiah. He argues that our existing material bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God because we are tainted by sin (older bibles use the word 'corruption') and sin and God are like oil and water - they cannot mix. So he says, we 'shall be changed'. Speaking of the time when Jesus will return he seems to infer that this will be in his life-time, but this, of course, was not to happen.

Paul argues that death has been defeated, it doesn't have to be the end of all things, for Jesus overcame death and through his offering of himself and acknowledge our imperfections we are freed from our sin. The defeat of death is possible for those who live 'through our Lord Jesus Christ' and who can hold fast to the faith that they have in him. Paul may not have seen death yet or experienced the Second Coming of Jesus, but he knows that death is no threat any more for him or for those who believe in the resurrection of Christ. It is likely to be "a sting" for those with no faith, but for Christians it is a gateway to God's Kingdom in its entirety.

Lord Jesus Christ,
we believe that You defeated
the power of evil and overcame death,
and that You were raised to life on the third day,
that we might be reunited with God.
Give us the faith to trust that we too
will be gathered into Your kingdom
when the time is right,
We know we have no right to this,
but trust in Your mercy.
In the meantime help us to live as faithful
members of Your kingdom.
Amen.