1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 (NRSV)
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?"
Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
Thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Song: “Abide With Me” by Audrey Assad
Lyrics: See below
When I was a pastor in Scotland, as one of the parish ministers I would be available to preside over any funeral that needed a pastor. As a result I sometimes found myself doing 3-4 funerals a week. At one point the funeral directors offered to set up a cot for me to rest on between services, I was spending so much time there.
When someone would pass away who had no church affiliation, the family would often struggle to come up with hymns or songs to share during the service. As a result, the “old standby” funeral hymns made a lot of appearances: “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” “The Lord is My Shepherd”…
…and probably most of all, “Abide With Me.”
As a young, upstart pastor I originally balked whenever I saw “Abide With Me” in the service order. I considered it morose and depressing. I wanted something to cheer my soul and the souls of those present.
Thing is…I hadn’t really spent any time with the words. Once I really considered them, my attitude changed 100%.
In our passage from 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul is speaking of resurrection. Not just the resurrection of Jesus, but also the resurrection body that awaits all those who trust in Christ. This is a continuation of his theme summarized in 15:19,
“If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Paul wants the Corinthian people, and all people, to have hope for something beyond this world. And while it is shrouded in mystery, that doesn’t make it any less hopeful or any less certain. We don’t have to have all the answers about the resurrection to have confidence in it.
Over the past couple of years I have thought a lot about hope, and how it is desperately needed in our world today. And it is hope I find in the words of “Abide With Me.” It’s not just about dying and going to be with Christ, although that theme is certainly present. It’s also about the hope Christ gives at every step of the journey, hope that is rooted in his resurrection as a “first fruits” of our own.
If you find yourself needing hope today, or if you know someone who does, can I encourage you to take some time simply praying through the words of “Abide With Me?” Take it a verse at a time. Read slowly, prayerfully. Savor the poetry, but more than that…savor the truth. The truth that death’s sting is ended, that the grave has no victory…the truth that God is the “help of the helpless” and the one who “changest not.”
If we will invite him to abide with us, and if we will abide in him, hope cannot be far behind.
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day
Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death's sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee
In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me
Abide with me, abide with me
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What phrases from “Abide With Me” speak to you most today? Why?
Who, besides, yourself, do you find yourself thinking of when you read these words. How might you pray for them today?
What “change and decay” in the world today affects you the deepest? Spend some time in prayer that God’s abiding love would carry you and lift your head in the midst of it.