Easter Sunday [c]                                          April 21, 2019



 



1 Corinthians 15:19-26



19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.



 



 



In the Name of Jesus.



 



To have a firstfruits, you must have the full harvest which follows. Otherwise, the firstfruits makes no sense. The first fruits, after all, must be first to something.



 



Christ, says Paul, is the firstfruits. The fact that Christ Jesus stood up from the dead and walked out of the tomb is not some disconnected, unrelated fact in history of a lone event that occurred just once some two thousand years ago.



 



It is a fact which applies directly to you and me and our children.



 



That’s what it means to be firstfruits. From the firstfruits then comes the full harvest. From the resurrection of Christ from the tomb, then comes the harvest of you and me and our children, and all those throughout the generations who belong to Christ. This is the resurrection not just of Christ, but of all those throughout the generations who once belonged to death but who now have been justified by his Word and united to his cross and resurrection.



 



What generations are included in this?



 



For that we look at the word firstfruits. Adam was the firstfruits of creation. From Adam and Eve, all generations would be the harvest.



 



But Adam, we know, sinned, and his firstfruits became death for all the harvest which follows. 1 Corinthians 15:21 :



For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.



 



So Adam is the firstfruits, and all who follow are the full harvest.



 



Which means, as children of Adam, we have no hope. The sin of Adam, it is ours. This is what is called original sin—the sin of our very origin, the sin of who we are, of our flesh. Not just the sins we commit. Those are nothing but the outward result of the sin in our heart. And while we might be able to fool ourselves into thinking we are making ourselves less sinful because we suppress the outward sin, we remain those who are children of Adam, his full harvest, those without any hope.



 



As children of Adam—all generations—we belong to death. Which explains not only the doubts and the fears in our own consciences, but also the despair and the fear in our world, for we are all children of Adam.



 



But, says Paul,



“in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”



[1 Corinthians 15:20 ]



 



Christ Jesus is the New Adam. Christ Jesus is the Son of Man, the One who has taken the sin of all the children of the first Adam upon himself.



 



In taking our sin upon himself, he took our death upon himself.



 



He was,