“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” – 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
William Carlos Williams. Not a name that most know. He was an American poet from the 20th century who wrote in a style or genre called Imagism. His most famous work, The Red Wheelbarrow, is read in grade schools frequently. It’s short enough to print here:
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
Without turning this devotional into a poetry lesson, we should say simply that the point Williams is trying to make is that so much depends upon the value of clear and concise imagery. Words only make sense if we can see what they are saying. There is no ambiguity about what Williams says that so much depends upon. Simple, clear descriptions of things we are all familiar with.
I was taken by the first words in preparation for this article. “So much depends upon.” This being the Easter season, we find words in the passage above that Paul says are of “first importance.”
Christ died.
Christ was raised from the dead.
Theologically, we state that without the truth of Jesus’ resurrection, the entirety of our Christian faith is dead. What is it about Jesus being raised from the dead that provides the stability our faith requires?
Imagine for a moment that Jesus died on a cross but stayed dead. He lived a sinless life, He did amazing miracles, and He laid down His life as part of His mission, but once it was done, it was done; there is no coming back from dead.
If that were true, the sins of humanity would still require all of us to die and to be separated from God for all eternity. If Jesus died and stayed dead, that would mean that He met the same end as everyone else. There is no redemption through Christ if He stays dead. There is no valid sacrifice for the sins of the world if there is no resurrection.
So much depends upon the resurrection then. And every year, we all need to be clear about this truth. We need to recognize the heart and soul of following Jesus. Before love and kindness and compassion, we need to make the resurrection the central point of our faith. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. His sacrifice for our sins is valid because after dying He was raised from the dead. It means that each of us also are raised from the dead. We will die and we also will be raised.
Let your heart and mind dwell on this central truth this weekend. Nothing else could matter more than this. To be a follower of Jesus is to be a preacher of resurrection.