Parish Messenger

April 2012

                “Is this going to be on the test?”

                That is a question most of us remember from school days.  Perhaps you might attribute it to simple laziness.  The students didn’t want to bother paying attention if it wouldn’t affect their grade (as if it were a sin to learn for the sake of learning).  But perhaps we could look at it another way.  Wanting to make good use of our education, we wanted to know what the teacher considered important, seeing as the teacher was so much wiser than we were.

                Yeah.  That must be it.

                 So what do you suppose God thinks is most important?  That is surely a question that matters, especially seeing as, in a manner of speaking, there will be a Test.  (“It is appointed to mortals to die once, and after that the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27)

                Fortunately, God’s Word makes this pretty clear.  In fact, the Apostle Paul gives us a good clue in I Corinthians 15.  (Psst!  He says it’s what he delivered “as of first importance”.  That means it’s something we want to be sure and know.  And guess what!  It’s not too hard.)  Here’s what he tells us:

Christ died for our sins.

Christ was buried.

On the third day, Christ rose from the dead.

All of this was “in accordance with the Scriptures”.

After Christ rose, hundreds of people saw him, most of whom were still alive when Paul was writing.  (It’s as if he were saying, “If you don’t believe me, ask them.”)

(Psst!  This is the best part.)  Those of us who belong to Christ get to rise from the dead, too.  Yeehaw!  (Okay, so the “yeehaw” part isn’t in Paul’s letter, but it fits, don’t you think?)

So, that is what is “of first importance”.  Do you think you can live with that?

Happy Easter!
Pastor Doug Norquist