“For I handed on to you as of first importance

what I in turn had received.”

–1 Corinthians 15:3a

Year ago, a friend of mine met a young woman whom he liked immediately.  It was one of those times when two people were instantly comfortable with each other and soon they began to spend every free minute together. They laughed a lot and enjoyed the same activities.  They had similar interests and viewed much of life from the same perspective. Everything was going well until they came upon one key difference.

My friend has been an active Christian all his life while the young woman adhered to another faith. Initially he may have had hopes the difference could be overcome or at least minimized, but it soon became clear the divide was too great. One day when the issue of their religious differences came up she looked at my friend and said “What’s all this talk about a resurrection? Surely you don’t believe in that!”

It wasn’t the first time such a question has been posed to one who believed for the verse above comes from a time when the Apostle Paul reacted to word that some members of the church in Corinth were denying belief in a resurrection. The news dismayed him, that people who literally were first generation believers already doubted such a critical matter. In response, Paul uses a full chapter of First Corinthians to address the issue. On this Easter Sunday, we focus on his encouragement for how we go about telling the story, too.

“I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received,” Paul says, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter] then to the twelve.” He speaks of how the resurrected Christ came to a crowd of about 500 people and that many of them are still alive. “Then he appeared to James,” Paul continues “then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

That Apostle was demonstrating how news of the resurrection moved from an empty tomb to the Corinthians and how we begin telling the story of faith, too. We start by repeating what has been told to us. Unlike the Corinthians, we have Scriptural accounts concerning the resurrection to draw upon. Yet whether we heard first from the pages of the Bible or someone else telling us about them, we, too, started this faith journey by receiving the news from others. 

My five-year old grandson has attended a parochial preschool for the past two years. As a Roman Catholic institution, he gets regular Biblical instruction along with learning such things as the liturgical year and making the sign of the cross.  It has been a good place to start his formal education.

Just before Holy Week this week he was sharing with his mother what he had learned about the events that led to Jesus’ death. As a lifelong Presbyterian, she knows the story well, but likely not the version that came next. “Some people didn’t like Jesus because he was talking too much about God,” he explained, “so they lacrossed him.”  While I suspect that wasn’t quite the way the story had been told to him, it was a good start!

Paul realized the Corinthians needed more than repeating what had been handed on to him as well, so to that news, he added his story. That believer describes how he was unfit even to be called an apostle because he had once persecuted the church. He tells of his conversion when, as a man named Saul, he was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.” (Acts 9:1). Paul acknowledges that past, yet doesn’t dwell on it. “But by the grace of God,” he says “I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain…Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.”

Those insights reveal how we best tell the story, too. For we begin by repeating the words as told to us. I’d suggest the non-lacrosse version! 🙂 To that report we add our personal experience of Christ.  Perhaps not having a face-to-face encounter to mention, but being able to tell of a time when we first were filled with hope because of that event. Speaking of a moment when we felt a sense of peace or joy that clearly came from beyond ourselves. Describing a time when we felt led as we made a big decision. Or talking of the difference it has made to be part of a community of faith which bases its life upon the resurrection.

The details will vary, but it will be the account of God at work in the past and present; a story that still needs to be told to those who have yet to hear. And friends, you and I are just the people to do the telling.

Happy Easter. Pass the word!

Resurrected One, like a seed trampled underfoot, you overcame violence and took root. Like a flower wilted by a freeze, you lifted your head and newly bloomed. Like a stream gone dry in drought, you sought the source and survived. Like a tree bent over from the storm, you stood up, straight and tall again. Like a faithful lover returning home, I welcome your risen presence now. Amen.

Joyce Rupp, Fragments of Your Ancient Name. Notre Dame, Indiana: Soren Books, 2011)