(1 Corinthians 15: 1-11)
Just the facts ma’am, just the facts. Yeah, Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday in the popular 1960s television series Dragnet. And for fifty bonus points what was Sgt. Friday’s badge number? (714) I can’t say that watching Dragnet every week is what whet my appetite for police work but Sgt. Friday’s strict adherence to the facts really stuck with me. Just like Sgt. Friday, I’d find my self responding to calls for service and listening to the victim or witness of some crime excitedly recount what they had seen or heard. More often than not, they’d go off on some wild tangent and I would have to bring them back to “just the facts”. The technique I mastered in interviewing excited fact witnesses was to just let them tell their story without interruption. Then, I’d have them tell it to me again, only this time I would stop them from time to time to make sure I was getting it right. Then I would repeat their story back to them allowing them to stop me and correct me. It was a little more time consuming but yielded a more factual and reliable accounting of what happened. It also served me well when I was interviewing my criminal defendant clients who always had their own version of the facts which fit in more with their self-interests and unrealistic expectations of what I could do for them. I would let them run their heads for as long as necessary and then take them back to the indisputable facts that couldn’t be changed no matter how they spun it. It was, whether you liked it or not, just the facts. No more, no less.
And just the facts are what the Apostle Paul is talking about in our scripture reading for this morning. Paul was writing to one of his favorite churches, a church he established on his second missionary journey, in the metropolitan city of Corinth. It was a church largely made up of Gentile converts, people who hadn’t see or heard Christ. Corinth was a seaport and a major trade center which attracted quite a diverse population. People from all over were coming and going, bringing in different ideas and beliefs, doing as they pleased with little, if any, consequences for their actions. It had to have been a tough city to have been a Christian. Without Paul there to keep them on the straight and narrow the church had fallen into divisiveness and disorder. The Corinthians had sent Paul a list of questions and he methodically answered them in a way that would correct the abuses they were experiencing and show them how important it was to stick to the indisputable facts.
He starts out by saying: Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. He’s reminding them of when he was among them establishing the church and bringing them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s reminding them that they not only received it but were living it. He reminds them that they are being saved through it if they hold on to the message he preached to them, unless somehow, they believed it for nothing. He tells them that he passed on to them as most important what he received himself: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He’s stating the facts, but hey, don’t take his word for it. He reminds the Corinthians that scores of others saw Christ in the flesh after the crucifixion, after he had been placed in a sealed and guarded tomb. Paul says that Jesus appeared to Cephas and then the twelve. Who is Cephas you might ask? Good question. Not being seminary trained I had to research it. Cephas is an Aramaic word meaning rock. Remember, it was Jesus who told Simon Peter that he would build his church upon Peter, his rock. Cephas was the Apostle Peter. And then Paul reminds them of how Jesus appeared to the twelve, minus Thomas, one evening when they were all holed up at a house wondering what was next. And remember that Jesus reappeared and had his one-on-one with Thomas who had previously expressed his doubts as he had not seen Jesus with his own eyes. And then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once, many who are still alive to this day Paul tells them. And he tells them that Jesus appeared to James, his brother, and all the Apostles as Jesus instructed them on what they needed to do once he ascended to be with his Father. And then Paul reminded them of his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus which was after the ascension while he was searching for Followers of the Way. The fact that Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead is not in issue. It’s a fact Paul tells them. He wants them to understand that because Jesus was raised, there will be a future resurrection in which they will all share. That’s a fact.
The resurrection of Christ is the foundational truth of the Christian faith, whose reality is well attested to by the Apostles. It’s not a myth or some sort of conspiracy theory promulgated by some radical fringe group bent on overthrowing the Roman government or an effort to start some new religion setting themselves up for their own personal gain. In fact, Pilate did try to lay it off as a conspiracy as there was a rumor the disciples might try to steal the body of Jesus. So after the crucifixion he had guards posted at the tomb. When Jesus arose and left the tomb the guards were subsequently bribed to say that the disciples came during the night and took the body while they were asleep. Pretty sound sleepers if you ask me, with all the noise created with the rolling away of a huge stone sealing the tomb. A story nevertheless gladly accepted by those who didn’t want to believe that Christ was the risen Messiah. Can you imagine what it would have been like if they had social media?
After laying this foundation, Paul says that Jesus did appear to him as if he was born at the wrong time. I think it’s correct to assume that Paul did see Christ before he was resurrected and that as a prominent Pharisee, he probably witnessed the trial and crucifixion. But he didn’t see Jesus for who he was in the flesh after he had been raised like all the others. He was in the next generation of believers when Christ appeared to him, after the ascension. The Apostle says: I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church. As a zealous Pharisee, Paul had been an enemy of the Christian church, even to the point of capturing and persecuting believers after Christ’s ascension to heaven in an attempt to put an end to this movement. Thus, he felt unworthy to be called an apostle of Christ. Because of his past, which still haunted him, he tells his readers that he is who he is by God’s grace. It was by the grace of God that he was forgiven. And he says that the grace granted to him hasn’t been for nothing. He appreciates what he has been called to do and says: In fact, I have worked harder than all the others, that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. So then, whether you heard the message from me or them, this is what we preach and this is what you have believed. It’s a fact.
This is the central theme of the gospel. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Without the truth of this message, Christ’s death was worthless, and those who believe in him are still in their sins and without hope. However, Christ as the sinless Son of God took the punishment of sin so that those who believe can have their sins removed. Second, he was buried. The fact of Christ’s death is revealed in the fact of his burial. Many have tried to discount the actual death of Christ, but Jesus did in fact die and was buried in a sealed and guarded tomb. And third, he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Paul wanted the Corinthian church to remember and embrace this foundational belief. It is the core of our belief that Christ died for us taking our sins upon himself, that his burial was not the end, that as he was resurrected into a new body, a new life, we too someday will die and be resurrected into our new body for a life in eternity with Christ, the Father, and all the saints who have gone on before us. It’s crucial for us to remember that we could not possibly do all we do and have done as a church without believing in this core belief in something we cannot see yet believe with all our hearts. And because we are so moved to do as much of God’s work and His will as we can people are taking note and wondering if there is something to this believing in a risen Savior who died to set us free from sin. In fact, most churches contain people who do not yet fully believe. Some are moving in that direction while others are simply pretending for one reason or another. The good news is that Jesus Christ will save us if we continue to believe it and faithfully follow it. And that’s a fact.
Let us pray.
Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Yes, gracious and loving Father, we come to you without one plea because the blood of your Son Jesus Christ was unselfishly shed for us, sinners wholly unworthy of such a sacrifice. And just as we are, tossed about by our many conflicts and doubts, filled with fight and fear, we come knowing we are welcomed. We come knowing you will graciously receive us, welcoming us, pardoning us, cleansing us, and relieving us just because of your promise that we believe. O Lamb of God, how we praise you for accepting us just as we are. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.