 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Saturday, February 12 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 “Christ – the first fruitsof those who have died.”  1 Corinthians 15:12-20Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ – whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this 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 died. The passage continues to affirm that all who have died will be raised, “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, and then at his coming, those who belong to Christ…” (verse 23) What do we think this means? How is Christ the “first fruits?” And how is it related to the OT and Psalm, and even to the Gospel for tomorrow? Think about this today if you get a chance! The Feast of First Fruits In Leviticus 23:9-14 we read: The Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits to the priest. He shall raise the sheaf before the Lord, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall raise it. On the day when you raise the sheaf, you shall offer a lamb, a year old, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the grain offering with it shall be two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, one fourth of a hin. You shall eat not bread or parched grain or fresh ears until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all you settlements. And here’s an unrelated funny for you.  |
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