Justin Appel
Dear Friends in Christ,
Today’s epistle come from Saint Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth (I Cor. 15:51-58). In this reading, Paul is continuing a longer discussion of the resurrection of the dead.
As those who put their faith in Jesus, we Christians recognize that physical death, that unnatural separation of body and soul, is not the final reality. Instead, and following Paul’s language, we look forward to being “raised incorruptible” and “changed” through the vivifying reality of Christ’s own resurrection. As the Paschal troparion for says:
“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”
In this future life, we shall be present fully to God, reintegrated after the division of death, living beyond temporal constraints. Exactly what such an existence looks like remains a mystery, but according to Saint Paul, the transition to the resurrected state will occur “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”.
Nearly all of this Pauline passage appears in George Frederic Handel’s marvelous oratorio, Messiah, to which we may turn:
Behold, I tell you a mystery, G F. Handel
The trumpet shall sound, G. F. Handel
O death where is thy victory & But thanks be to God, G. F. Handel
Yours in Christ,
—Justin