Unbelievable Belief

A Reflection on the Second Reading for February 17th, 2019:
​Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Corinthians 15

If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 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 fallen asleep.

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I. Can’t. Even. 

The last time I said these three words with such emphasis was in complete and utter disbelief upon hearing about the unbelievable actions of a person I thought I knew well. They made a choice I thought they would never make and I was left dumbfounded. I. Can’t. Even. This short, grammatically incorrect phrase, conveys a true, deep, and profound sense of unbelief.  

It is that level of disbelief that I hear in the words Saint Paul used to open this passage of scripture. I can almost see him with his palms up, arms wide—the universal sign for, “C’mon guys. Seriously!?!?” Paul is speaking to a community that is not far removed from the time of Jesus. There are still people alive, including Paul, who have seen the Risen Christ. So if these new Christians coming into the faith cannot quite get their minds around the idea that the dead are raised to new life because of Jesus Christ, how can they proclaim a faith that is based on the Risen Jesus Christ? 

During my ministry as a hospital chaplain, one of the things I did was accompany people to the morgue. Yes, it does sound a little creepy, yet I came to see it as a privilege and a gift to walk with families in this special way. On one occasion, I was called to bring a young widow and her friend to view her recently deceased husband. As I stepped into a side room to give them some privacy, I could overhear them praying. Then, all of sudden, I heard them clapping loudly, and forcefully and repeatedly saying, “You will not die! You will rise again!” I stood frozen from shock—ummm this is not usually what happens?!?! I thought to myself, there is no way I can go back into that room because if she raises that man from the dead… I. Can’t. Even!!!

I have shared this story in various ways over the years because it caused me to truly reflect on my belief in Christ’s resurrection. Like those early Christians, what we know of life is that it ends. There is a one hundred percent chance that each of us will die. Yet as Christians, Jesus promises us that death is not the end for us. Christ died and rose again, and in that action secured for us eternal life with the Father. This is what we believe. During a funeral liturgy we hear the presider pray, “Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended.” This life here will end, but as the baptized we will rise to new life with Christ. This is what we believe.

​Like the early Christians in Corinth, we must take to heart Saint Paul’s words, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” 

Let us not be a people to be pitied, but rather, let us be a people of unbelievable belief.

​Aurea Sadi

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