Moment of Meditation: The Resurrection Body (1 Corinthians 15:36-38)

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies....
What you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel ...
But God gives it a body as He has chosen.
(1 Corinthians 15:36-38)

The Resurrection Body

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!!

Jesus gave many parables to the crowds that followed Him through Judea and Galilee. Many of them took imagery from agriculture. Paul picks up on that thread here and goes with it to tell us about the Last Day--the day we will be raised to a new glory just as a corn or soybean plant has more glory than the seed sown in the ground.

Paul says, "What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable" (v42). What is sown into the ground--the body that we bury--is perishable. In fact, it's already dead because of sin. But St. Paul is talking about the great harvest of Jesus Christ on the Last Day. It will be much like the day when He came to Bethany, four days after Lazarus had been buried, and raised him from the dead with the shout, "Lazarus, come out!" On the Last Day, there will be no names being called. Jesus will come with the shouts of the archangel and say, "Everyone, come out!" All the dead will be raised--the faithful and the faithless--to be judged. And each and every person will be given the glorious resurrection body to spend eternity either in Heaven or Hell.

The resurrection body is imperishable and immortal. It is the spiritual body that will be given to you as you finally become the image of the Redeemer who has saved you from your sins. That glorious thought leaves us with nothing to say other than, "Alleluia!" Amen.