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Thursday, March 20
... but indeed Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruit of the ones having fallen asleep ... (1 Corinthians 15:20)
A Scottish shepherd lay dying, and asked to be carried outside his stone cottage to the hills where he had lived his life. His children called for the elderly pastor who had been their father's best friend. The spiritual shepherd lay down beside the man, and could tell his friend was afraid. He prayed for wisdom. Just then a cloud passed over the horizon, sending its shadow down into the valley below, and he knew what to say.
The pastor pointed at the cloud, and asked his shepherd friend if he had ever seen such a cloud on these hills. "Aye, many was the time I saw such a cloud," came the reply. "And did you ever see such a shadow from a cloud in the valley below?" "Aye, many times." "And were you ever afraid of such a shadow?" The shepherd pulled himself up on an elbow in indignation and said to his friend, "Never was the time I was afraid of a shadow." Then his pastor whispered into his ear, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Psalm 23:4). And his friend was at peace.
We are all that Scottish shepherd, whether we know it or not. We are one day closer to eternity than we've ever been. Are you ready?
What God's word means
To this point all is lost—if there is no resurrection of the dead, as some in Corinth are claiming, then neither Jesus nor his followers can be raised from the dead and our faith is based on a lie. Now comes the great proclamation: But indeed Christ has been raised from the dead. But indeed ("but now, but in fact") may be the two most welcome words in the New Testament. They contradict all that precedes them, exposing such assertions as falsehoods.
Christ has been raised translates syntax that could be rendered, "Christ has been raised and is therefore now alive and will be so permanently." What happened at Easter is just as true today as then. As a result, the risen Lord is the first fruit (" first portions" or "birth certifi cate") of the ones having fallen asleep (those who have died in Christ).
First fruit points to a fascinating analogy for the resurrection. In its Hebrew context, the word was used for the firstfruit or sheaf from the crop. It could not be harvested until the entire crop was ready. As a result, it signified the larger crop now ready to be gathered, and was to be brought to God as an act of thankful worship: "The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God" (Exodus 23:19; cf. Leviticus 23:15-21; Deuteronomy 26:1-11).
In the same way, Jesus' resurrection guarantees ours. If God raised him, the Lord is just as certain to raise us. Jesus is the firstfruit of that great harvest soon to be gathered into the Father's house (cf. Matthew 3:12, which promises that he will "gather his wheat into the barn"). As Pelagius noted, "If the head has risen, then the rest of the body will follow."
In its Greek context, the word was used as a birth certificate or legal credential of authorization. It also referred to an annual gift to a god or an inheritance tax. Its meaning was similar to the Jewish usage—it guaranteed what was to come. Now believers have "the firstfruits of the Spirit" (Romans 8:23), a kind of "down payment" for our complete redemption still to come. And we are "a kind of first fruits of his creatures" (James 1:18; cf. Romans 11:16; Revelation 14:4), witnessing to the world that God's full transformation of his creation is coming.
Why Easter matters
New Testament scholar R. C. H. Lenski comments: "Like a climber in the Alps, who trembles on the brink of some bottomless gulf with the rock already crumbling beneath his feet [but] suddenly nds himself at a turn where the path stretches safe and wide before him, so we feel when, after the journey through verse 19, we step across into verse 20."13
When Jesus died, the ground beneath our feet quaked (Matthew 27:51) and all seemed lost. When our Lord rose from the dead, the Empire quaked (Matthew 28:2) and God's people were saved. The resurrection of Jesus was the rst fruit of that great harvest in which every Christian of every age is included (John 14:2-3). If the omnipotent Harvester was able to gather that firstfruit safely to himself, he is able to gather us to himself as well.
How to respond
Now we stand in the eld, waiting for our harvesting into the Father's house. King David was right: "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5). As Tony Campolo reminds us, "It's Friday but Sunday's coming."
What if it were today?
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