(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
St Paul wrote about the resurrection of Christ in today’s reading. He wrote this part of the letter to answer questions and clarify issues. He wrote about the resurrection of the dead, probably because some must have believed that a spiritual resurrection of some kind was all that mattered.
In response, St Paul wrote that if Christ himself had not risen from the dead. Then all Christian preaching would be lie and the Christian life a complete foolish thing. Paul saw that our resurrection depended on Christ’s resurrection, that, if he had not been raised, neither would we be raised. This would mean likewise that we should have no forgiveness of sins and no eternal life. It would also mean that all our deceased family and friends would have died into oblivion.
Paul could draw two conclusions. He could conclude that the resurrection of Christ did not happen and that it would logical to go back to our old way of life of eating, drinking and making merry before we die into nothingness. This conclusion would say the current way of life, which involved holiness, was a farce.
Paul in fact did draw the other conclusion, that Christ had been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who believe. He would say that the life of Christ for Christians had meaning and would lead to a happy share in the resurrection of Christ.
I suspect that some of the Corinthians did not believe in a bodily resurrection. They did not like their bodies. The bodily resurrection of Christ, however, is testimony that human bodies are good, that bodily functions are good and that our bodies will rise from the dead. Therefore, the resurrection of Christ tells us to accept the goodness of our physical bodies.
I think that the stories of the burial of Christ and of the empty tomb after three days emphasize the fact of the death of Christ and the fact that God raised Christ from the dead. We do not bury people who are alive; we only bury dead people. If we bury a person and later discover the person’s grave is empty, then either someone has stolen the body or the person has risen from the dead. Our stories tell us that Christ died, was buried, and rose from the tomb.
St Paul taught that Christ did actually die and did really rise from the dead, the first-fruits of all who believe. He, therefore, also taught that we, who come along after Christ would rise as the second-, third-, fourth-, and-so-on fruits of the resurrection.