I Corinthians 15:17-26:
'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. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.'
***
'There is...a quality of 'rawness' about these [resurrection] stories, and a quality of mysteriousness: there is the strange but very persistent theme that people do not at first recognize the risen Jesus - the story of the encounter with Mary Magdalene, the story of Emmaus. That is a significant factor once again which no one has ever fully made sense of, and again doesn't fit easily into literary stereotypes. There are cases in the Old Testament when people realize belatedly that they have been talking to an angel, when the angel suddenly reveals his glory; but that's not quite how it works in the encounter with Mary Magdalene or the Emmaus story. And so, in thinking about the historical basis of the resurrection stories, about the empty tomb and the 'apparitions,' it is important to be alert to the way the story is told and to begin to see how much of a shock it actually was - and of course, still is.
'The story is told in a new way because nothing like this has ever happened before; and we are still finding it difficult because nothing like that has ever happened again. But... that is what you might expect in retrospect; what you might expect if what you're dealing with is an event that inaugurates a new phase in human history, not just another episode in the continuing story, but something that reshapes the whole way in which we talk about God, and about God's world.' - The Sign and the Sacrifice, Rowan Williams
'The story is told in a new way because nothing like this has ever happened before; and we are still finding it difficult because nothing like that has ever happened again. But... that is what you might expect in retrospect; what you might expect if what you're dealing with is an event that inaugurates a new phase in human history, not just another episode in the continuing story, but something that reshapes the whole way in which we talk about God, and about God's world.' - The Sign and the Sacrifice, Rowan Williams
Have a blessed Easter, friends!
Because He Lives!
