But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Firstfruits.
Some say that means pre-eminent.
Some say that means causal: His resurrection causes our resurrection.
Some say that means chronologically, seeing as how those who died and were raised in the Old Testament had to die again. So Jesus was the first to die-and-rise-and-stay-alive-forever.
But you know what else? It means Jesus was dead for only three days, those 36 hours or whatever it was. Our loved ones whom we've buried have to wait longer than three days to rise.
I planted beans and corn and melons. It was exciting to see the first ones pop up. It reminds you that something's coming. The others will follow in like manner. Just wait a little longer.
Jesus is the firstfruits. The others will follow in like manner. We just have to wait a little longer than three days for their resurrections.
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You know, this is one of those verses where I think the "learned" muddle things for the "simple" - I remember reading this way back as a kid and thinking exactly what you said in this post. In fact, it never crossed my mind that the verse could be taken any other way. It just seems kind of obvious.
ReplyDeleteBut then I started hearing people discuss the verse. And in their discussions, everything became very muddled.
Sometimes I wish the "learned" would just shut up. I understood so many things so much better when I was a very young child.