1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (NRSV)
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Chapter 15Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, Verse 2through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you-unless you have come to believe in vain. Verse 3For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, Verse 4and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, Verse 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Verse 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Verse 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Verse 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Verse 9For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Verse 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them-though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Verse 11Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
Devotion
In today's text, the apostle Paul is making the point to the Corinthians that God in Christ is made known through the body as well as the spirit. Christ appeared, post-resurrection, to all those mentioned, including himself, in the flesh.
We, like the Corinthians, perhaps prefer to think of God relating to us solely through the soul. Martin Luther exhorted his readers to be "little Christs" to one another so that God might come to us in human form here and now. At the Lord's table we also encounter Christ in his very body and blood poured out for you and me. Our hope is in the one who will come again in the flesh to make the past, present and future one again in his body.
Prayer
Help us not to put you in a box and seek to limit the ways in which you make yourself known to us. Open all our senses, our hearts and souls, to you and your Spirit. Amen.