Reflections on "of All People" I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 6: 17-19

I ended the Luke reading about 4 verses earlier than the lectionary called for to focus on "all the people" trying to touch Jesus.  This upcoming week, I add the missing verses back to extend the Luke reading from the lectionary.  I had to do some work to make this sermon fit the sermon series, but I think it worked.  Another week in Paul's letter to the Corinthians and on resurrection.

“Of All People”, February 16, 2025; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; I Corinthians 15: 12-20; Luke 6:17-19

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; ¹⁴and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. ¹⁵We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁷If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.

Introduction:  confession - I’m Not sure this sermon fits exactly in the contours of the sermon series.  

We’ve been reflecting on the expansive nature of God’s call and God’s claim on us by looking at how “all the people” or “everyone,” as the biblical text might describe it, were impacted by God.

This week, however, Paul’s use of “all people” is not about God’s claim on us, but about our claim about what kind of God we believe God is.

⁹If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

if we only have what Christ did in earth,

if all we have is his teachings, his healings, his miracles,

as great as they might have been, 

If that’s all we have,

we, of all people, are most to be pitied.

Of all  people, 

Really?  All the people?  All the people of the world?  Any group we might imagine?  

My 20+ year old nephew is a Dallas Cowboy fan? He notes that in his lifetime, the Cowboys are the worst franchise in the NFL.  Are we to be more pitied that Cowboy fans?

I believe Paul is using the extreme, exaggerating a bit, well, exaggerating a lot,  to emphasize how important the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to the faith of God’s people.

not just his life, but his death and resurrection.

Move 1:  What does it mean to believe in the resurrection

a. Notice, Paul does not try to explain resurrection.

1. He is not giving a technical analysis of what resurrection is from a scientific perspective.

2.  Paul simply describes what God has done and affirms the resurrection of Jesus Christ because it speaks to the God who resurrects.

b.  Jesus simply coming back from the dead is not enough.

1.  In other words, if Jesus had just been brought back to life,

maybe like his friend Lazarus,

if Jesus had just been given a few more years of life  it might have brought joy to his friends and his family,

it might have produced a few more miracles and healings,

but it would not have changed the world.

2.  Luke Timothy Johnson's book Living Jesus (1998): “The resurrection of Jesus has nothing to do with his avoiding death by luck or design in order to continue his former life without any real change.”

3. The resurrection of Jesus ushers in a new reality.

4. In resurrection, God has acted:

the world as we know it has been radically changed forever:

we may die an earthly death, but we are no longer bound by death.

the world and its power may be able to kill, but it cannot overcome the power of God to resurrection.

Luke story ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

The world needed, and God provided, a resurrection.

5.  For Paul, the Decision point for followers of Christ is not whether you can prove the resurrection or not.

Decision point is whether you believe in the God of resurrection,

 

the God of resurrection who continues to be at work in your life and in the world.

Paul calls us to believe in the God of resurrection as if our lives depended upon it.  

Because the lives we live and the hope we have do depend on the God of resurrection.

Move 2: because Our faith is not in vain when we live our faith.

a.  Bishop N. T. Wright, the New Testament scholar, contends that only three interlocking things can give us confidence that Jesus is risen – the empty tomb, the multiple apparitions, and the seismic change in the followers of Christ.” What jesus Meant Garry Wills (124)

1. Because our faith is not in vain when we live our faith.

2. Frederick Buechner, the Christian writer, notes that we act as if we want a God who will write across the sky in big letters “I really exist!”  

But, Buechner goes on to say that such a message displayed in the skies might have a temporary impact initially, 

people might flock to the churches

but then it would be just those words in the sky that are there every night.

what we really need, Buechner says, is a God who is right here, knee-deep in the mud and mire of human existence-

a risen Christ who comes to us every day to give life and hope. (Tom Long, So, What about the Resurrection?, 2/15/14; http://day1.org/476 so_what_about_the_resurrection)

b.  To believe in the God of resurrection shapes how we live our lives:

1.  We can go into the world even on days when the world seems hopelessly messed up because the God of resurrection is still at work.

2.  We can dare to believe we can change our lives because the God of resurrection is still at work.

3. As hopeless as we may feel in the moment, we can dare to hope in the God of resurrection,

who not only resurrected Christ, but continues to be at work in our lives and the world, resurrecting and giving new life.

Conclusion:  this morning, we gather around the waters of baptism and celebrate the sacrament of baptism.

In doing so, we announce to the world, 

Our faith is not in vain because the God of resurrection is not done with us.    Amen.

Luke 6: 17-20 ¹⁷He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. ¹⁸They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. 

Reflections on "500+1" I Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11

I enjoyed preaching this sermon.  In the Time with Young Disciples, we stood up and backed up and had the congregation stand in sections to give a visual example of how Jesus expanded his viewpoint as the crowd on the beach grew.  It worked pretty well and served as a good visual that remained with the congregation as they heard the sermon a bit later.

“500 + 1”, February 9, 2025; St. Andrew Presbyterian Church; I Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11

15: 1Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, ²through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. ³For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, ⁴and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Introduction: we continue our preaching series reflecting on God’s expansive call and God’s expansive claim on our lives.

This morning, I invite you to hold the different images from our Scripture passages in tension with each other.

On the one hand, we see the expansive claim of God’s call in both Paul’s letter to the Corinthians and in the story from Luke and also the expansive nature of Jesus’ teaching in the story from Luke.

ON the other hand, we see the singularity of Paul’s experience as he receives God’s life-changing call.

two numbers summarize this tension - 500, the large number of brothers and sisters to whom the resurrected Christ appeared;

and one - the particular person of Paul who experienced the power of the resurrected Christ in the particularity of his own life.

Move 1:  500 + 1

a.  500 reflects the expansive nature of God’s reach.

1.  Is 500 a literal head count?  Could it have actually been 499, 

or 501, 

or 525, 

or even more?

probably so.  500 serves as an indication that the resurrected Christ is reaching out and impacting the lives of lots of people.

2. No surprise that the resurrected Christ is attracting followers and people interested in who he is and what he has to offer.

that’s what happened in his earlier ministry as well.

3. can you visualize the scene in the story we read in Luke.

Jesus has been teaching there on the beach.

But, he runs into a problem - the crowd is getting bigger and bigger;

4. This scene reminds me of stories told about Peter Marshall - not the game show host Peter Marshall, but the Scottish-American Presbyterian preacher who served as Chaplain of the United States Senate in the mid-1940s.

he was a renowned preacher.

when he served at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Atlanta before being called to New York Ave Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, they had to expand the church sanctuary to accommodate the people who were coming to worship.

When I was in seminary in Austin, I helped out in worship and doing visitation at St. John’s Presbyterian Church (where Twining Campbell was the pastor for those of you who might remember him) 

the church had an retired woman in it who had been in DC during the time Peter Marshall served there.  She told me stories about not being able to get into the sanctuary to hear Marshall preach, so she and the younger crowd would line the sidewalk outside the sanctuary where they had speakers blaring the sermon for those listeners gathered outside.

wow!.

4. The crowd gathering to hear Jesus preach is getting so big he has to get into a boat and push out from shore so that can been seen by all the people.

We can visualize the geometry at play.  

With a small gathering, he can stand right there at the front and engage all of them..

But as the crowd grows, he has to move farther and farther back to allow for the crowd and give better sight lines.  

the larger the crowd gets, the farther back he has to move.

eventually, he runs out of beach space and has to get into a boat to have a wide enough angle for everyone who gathers to hear him.

5. Jesus’ movement back reminds us of how Jesus’ teachings and ministry expand:

Jesus expands the number of people who are impacted;

he expands the understanding the people have of God’s care and concern

he expands the claim of God’s call.

and he expands the opportunities for new life.

the 500 brothers and sisters Paul mentions exemplifies the broad and expansive nature of God’s claim that Christ brings to the world.

b. and then there is Paul.

1. Paul, whom we first met as Saul, whose life is changed.

2. His story reveals the power of God to change one life in particular.

3. Paul is one of the great leaders in the time immediately following the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

he is the one who pushes and prods the early church into extending itself to the Gentiles.

he shapes the theology of the early church that impacts even today our Reformed theology.

his thoughts on how the church should be structured and how the church community should engage each other still form the backbone for the church we know today.

But underpinning all his theological treatises and all his church analysis is his very personal story of encountering the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and having his life changed.

4.  A very particular story that speaks to how God impacts one person.

When we speak of the expansive nature of God’s call, we can point to all the people and use numbers like the 500 brothers and sister;

but we also speak to each individual whose very particular life is changed by God.

Move 2:  God’s movement  toward us may be personal, 

it may be particular,

but it is not private.

a.  Clearly Personal

1. Not much more personal than Saul being struck blind on the road to Damascus.

2. not much more personal than Simon Peter or James and John being asked to give up their livelihoods as fishermen to follow Jesus and fish for people.

3.  I suspect many of you gathered here can speak to the personal nature of God’s movement toward you.

You have experienced God's call in a very personal way.

b. Particular

1.  Notice the particularity of calling Saul, a Pharisee steeped in the legalisms and rituals of Judaism being sent to share the gospel in a way that offers new life that the Jewish authorities and rulers had stifled.

his skill and experience allowed him to understand the issues and see a way to lead the early following of Christ into developing communities of faith.

2.  Peter and the other disciples find Christ in the particularity of their professions as fishermen, and Jesus builds on their experience as he invites them to follow him.

3.  As we experience Gods call, it comes to us in the particularity of our lives.

c.  Personal and particular, but not private.

1. God’s movement toward us is not just for Paul, or James, or John, or Simon Peter, or me or for you.

2.  God’s call extends to all people.

3.  We never can speak of God’s call or God’s care as only being for me or for us.

God’s is always extending and expanding to include more and more people.

the image of Jesus on the beach moving backwards again and again until he finally has to get into the boat to accommodate the crowds that gather ought to serve as our operating image of God’s expanding love and call.

we cannot and do not control nor limit God’s movement toward us because God is always reaching out to more people.

500 + 1 + plus even more

Move 3:   How does God’s action toward us change us?

a.  It calls us, sends us, points us to the Opportunities for ministry and new life that abound.

1.  note  how things change for Simon and the fishermen.

2.  After teaching to this expanding crowd, Jesus invites the fishermen to not just listen, but to act in response to his command for them to put out in the deep water to catch some fish.

now, Simon Peter knows this will be a futile act.  After all, they had fished these waters all night and caught nothing.

But how can Simon resist Jesus’ command.  After all, he has seen his at work with the crowds;

he has heard his teachings.

3. So he and the others lower their nets in the same water where they had caught nothing.

and their nets began to break because so many fish were being caught.

do not miss what happens next - they call more fishermen to come help them.

the expanding nature of Christ’s teaching continues as the fishermen need other fishermen to join them in catching the fish.

4. The message Christ brings to the fishermen cannot be bound by their previous experiences, but instead grows and grows.

5.  Saul thought he had his life’s goal laid out for him.  

he was a Pharisee, zealot for the rules of Judaism who took it upon himself to chase down those who believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

but, he encounters the risen Christ and his life is changed - instead of tracking down for punishment those who believed in Christ, he begins sharing about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and expands the community of believers in amazing ways.

6.  As we experience the particular call of God in our own personal lives, it invites us to new life and new opportunities to help expand the reach of God’s claim on others.

b.  God’s movement toward us is always pushing us toward others.

1.  Jesus does not lead Simon to a huge catch of fish so that Simon can get ahead in his fishing business.

2. No, Jesus introduces Simon to what it means to follow the Son of God, 

and then he puts Simon to work fishing for people.

Actually, when Jesus says, “From now on you will be catching people,” Jesus is literally saying in the Greek, “From now on you will be taking [saving] men and women alive.” (Howard Gregory, Feasting on the Word, year C, Vol 1, 336)

3. I love that image - the people are not fish to be caught in the net and then consumed, but people who are to be given new life and opportunities, just like Simon Peter had been given.

Jesus does not send us out to just catch, but to catch and release people into God’s call and God’s care.

4.  I am reminded of a story told by  Lillian Daniel, in the book that she co-authored with Martin Copenhaver entitled This Odd and Wondrous Calling, relates that at her daughter’s elementary school musical, the printed program modestly explained:  “This musical was originally written for 15 actors, but it has been adapted to accommodate our cast of 206.”

She continues, “You know what kind of show this was.  It was the chaotic result of no-cut auditions, where no performer is left without something special to do.  Each grade had a scene they had been rehearsing for months.  They danced, they sang, they dressed up like archeologists and Egyptian mummies.  Somehow 206 children made their way across the stage that night.  It was not a short program.” (This Odd and Wondrous Calling, Copenhaver and Daniels, 1)

4. As we experience God’s call in the very particularity of our own lives, it sends us out to share how God is at work in the particularity of other people’s lives

and other people's lives,

and other people’s lives.

Conclusion:   500 + 1 

the God who keeps expanding the circle, one person at a time.

5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.