We’re celebrating Word of God Sunday today. The rest of the Church observed it at the end of January, some weeks ago, but we were busy with other celebrations. So we have the opportunity, now that Ordinary Time is well underway, to celebrate and honour the Word of God. That’s why you have the Book of Ruth as an insert in your copy of The Dominican today. We printed it on bright yellow paper, not only so that it’d be more easily taken and read, but also so that I can see who’s reading it rather than listening to this!
Twice in our Second Reading the Old Testament rates a mention. It's remarkable how the two Testaments interact with each other, the First concealing the Second, the New illumining the Old. He says that Christ died “in accordance with the Scriptures”, was buried, and rose again on the third day “in accordance with the Scriptures”. He’s not referring to the New Testament, but to the Old, which according to his belief as a faithful Jew witnesses to Christ.
These two mentions the Old Testament occur in an intriguing context: Paul is just beginning to address the Corinthians’ question, whether a resurrection is just for Jesus or for everyone? We can forget that the resurrection was such a novel idea that the first generation of Christians still rubbed their eyes at its implications. But we know Jesus’ resurrection is for everyone who repents of their sins and leads a holy life through faith and love. The foundation for all that we might say about the future of our dear departed is Jesus’ own resurrection.
In part, Paul invokes the Old Testament because it shows that he didn’t invent Jesus’ resurrection. He learned about Jesus himself from senior Christians, who saw him all through their Scriptures. Sure, the resurrection of Jesus is amazingly new, startlingly new, but it is not unforeseen. It was predicted and spoken of beforehand in those texts which God had inspired. It matters much that a religion-shaping event, as the death and resurrection of Jesus is to Judaism, was foreseen by the Hebrews’ heroes.
Saying that Jesus’ death and resurrection was “in accordance with the Scriptures” means that the resurrection too is part of God’s plan. Perhaps this is an obvious point to some, because we’re used to hearing “in accordance with the Scriptures” every Sunday in the Nicene Creed. I hope you’ll hear those words with new ears today: Christ rose in accordance with what is written in the Old Testament. To others it may not be such an obvious point, because we’re accustomed to demonstrating the resurrection from the Gospels, which we take to be eyewitness accounts.
We’d love to know which Old Testament passages Paul used to demonstrate that Jesus’ resurrection was foreseeable. But these remain mysterious to us. But we can imagine how certain passages would leap out to Jew who is embracing Christian faith for the first time.
What if I was to say to you on Good Friday: “God will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth” (Isaiah 25:8). It sounds like the prophet is speaking about our mourning over the Lord’s crucifixion.
Or what if you read on Holy Saturday, just before Easter: “For you will not leave my soul among the dead, nor let your beloved know decay. You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand happiness for ever” (Psalm 16:10-11). That sure sounds like the prayer of the buried Christ.
We could go on and see that the whole life of Christ is there in the Old Testament. We did something like that just this morning, comparing Isaiah from our First Reading and Peter in our Gospel. Peter’s shying away from Jesus’ divine power parallels with Isaiah’s worry at seeing God with his own mortal eyes: to see God is to die. And we went further, and saw how God chooses the one to whom he revealed himself for a special mission: Isaiah receives God’s word, and Peter receives Jesus’ mission.
In all this, we affirm that the Apostles didn’t preach from the New Testament; they were busy writing it in deed and word. The preaching came first, which is preserved in the Apostles’ letters and poured into the Gospels. The Apostles preached Jesus’ death and resurrection as the fulfilment of God’s plan from the Old Testament. And from that one, Judaism-shaping event comes our hope of eternal life. For believing in the final resurrection as we do means we carry on in hope. Day by day, we discover in faith that we’re stamped not with terrible mortality but with divine immortality.
So, this Sunday, we ensure the Word of God has a prominent place in our life. Its entirety, both Old and New Testaments, has been given to us as the heirs of the first Christians. All through them we find Christ, and in him find ourselves.
Fr Paul Rowse, OP
Parish Priest
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