Tuesday of the Sixth Week After the Epiphany

February 18, 2025Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:(1-11) 12-20Daily Lectionary: Job 13:13-28; John 6:22-40Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:12–14)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.There is only one reason that we gather for worship. It is because Christ has been raised from the dead. That is how fundamental the resurrection of the body is to the Christian faith.If there is no resurrection, there’s no reason to get up and go to church when you’d rather stay in bed on Sunday morning. Plenty of people in other church bodies hint at a “spiritual resurrection,” that “Jesus is raised in our hearts,” and that if you believe in the idea of the resurrection, that’s what really counts.Except, St. Paul says the opposite. It doesn’t matter what you think; it doesn’t matter what science seems to say; if Jesus did not come back to life after he was crucified, then there is no reason to be a Christian. Period. That is how important the bodily resurrection is.You are flesh and blood, just as Jesus, the God-Man, is. When he died for your sins, it wasn’t just for some abstract idea of resurrection, but that your body would also be redeemed, not just your mind, not just your spirit, but all of you; everything God our Father created and made holy is to be saved and renewed in the resurrection. So real water washes your physical body in Baptism. And real bread/Body and wine/Blood touch your physical tongue in the Lord’s Supper.This is how important you are to God. This is why the universe even exists! God created all you see so that he would have a place for you to live, grow, and enjoy his creation. He made you so that you would have an eternity with him in a New Creation that has no sin.So yes, the bodily resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning is a really big deal. This is how you know that God the Father has made a place for you in eternity— because he has made you a body, and he promises to raise it up on the Last Day, perfect, so that you and all the faithful may enjoy his creation as he intended. With the body he has given you.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Christ is risen, Christ is living, Dry your tears, be unafraid! Death and darkness could not hold Him, Nor the tomb in which He lay. Do not look among the dead for One who lives forevermore; Tell the world that Christ is risen, Make it known He goes before. (LSB 479:1)-Rev. Duane Bamsch, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley, CA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.