RESURRECTION BODIES
1 Corinthians 15:35-36 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body
will they come?" How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies.
Paul is a masterful teacher to present this subject so
well and with such charm. Here he painted such a beautiful portrait. He took
what the world considers dead and created a picture of life. He used such
ordinary and small objects – seeds and kernels in a field – to portray it. So
when a person dies, we should view the process of dying in no other way than as
a seed being planted in the ground. If the seed could see and feel what was
happening, it would fear that it was ruined forever. But the farmer, if he
could talk to the seed, would paint a much different picture. He would portray
the seed as if it were already a growing plant with a beautiful stalk and tiny
ears of grain.
So we must picture in our own hearts that when we are
buried under the ground, we will come up again and grow into a new existence
and everlasting life. We don’t have to think of ourselves as dead and decaying
but rather as planted. We must learn a new way of speaking about death and the
grave. When we die, we are not dead; instead, we are seeds planted for the
coming summer. The cemetery is not a mound for the dead but a field full of
little seeds, which are called God’s seeds. They will one day blossom again and
become more beautiful than anyone can imagine.
Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional, By Martin Luther.
January 17.