Before my days of seminary, I
had imagined myself as being on the musical stage, and so pursued a college
degree in vocal performance. One of the highlights of this time in my life was
being asked to sing the bass solos for a Christmas performance of Handel’s
famous work, “The Messiah.” As I began to
look at the various arias from the work that I would sing, one of them seemed
to resonate in me in a particular way.
It was called “The Trumpet Shall Sound”; a beautiful rendition of I
Corinthians 15:51-53. It begins slowly
and reflectively:
“Behold; I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be
changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (I Cor. 15:51, KJV)
At the time, I only knew these words in the musical
context of Handel’s oratorio, yet it had for me an enduring quality that was
unique to the rest of the repertoire. It
spoke of what was to come; it spoke of things we cannot know and of things we
can only hope for. Ultimately, it spoke of
things we are to become ourselves.
Since then, I have come to
realize the beautifully prophetic way in which these words have come to represent
my own path to God. But, as much as it
has enlightened the desire in me to behold that mystery of everlasting life, it
has invited more questions to arise, questions that come from looking for what
I cannot understand in order to answer the question of existence itself.
When one reflects on this
passage from I Corinthians, it is helpful to know that the context of these
words came amid theological confusion and frustration as well. St. Paul, earlier in the same letter, said
that “Someone may say, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?’
(I Cor. 15:35, NAB). For them as for us
today, the miracle of the renewal of fallen humanity in such a vivid and
physical way was a hard thing in which to firmly believe. How could such redemptive power be brought to
such a broken race, where division is seen in the very fabric of the human
person?
St. Paul went on to state
that “that which is corruptible must cloth itself with incorruptibility, and
that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.” (I Cor. 15:53, NAB) But how can this be? How can humanity reverse its sinful and
self-destructive course? How can it have
victory over death if it has fallen away, again and again, from the life-giving
summit that is God’s Love? In the end,
how can we change at all?
As brothers and sisters who
share in the faith of Christ Jesus, we know the answer to this question. We profess it by the very name of
“Christian.” It is not our victory, but Christ's
in which we find our hope. Yet how often
do we stand firm to His sure foundation in the face of adversity? How often do we stand steadfast upon His
victory over the grave in the daily struggles of our lives, when each moment
brings us that much closer to our own physical end?
Yes: it is Christ’s victory
in which we find redemption; it is in His death on the Cross that we are
brought to new life and find our garment of incorruptibility, with which we are
irrevocably changed in the “twinkling of an eye.” But this act can only affect us if we engage
it.
It is a living faith that we
are a part of, and because of this, we must be living members. We can only allow the sap of Grace to flow
through us if we are branches still found on the vine, and we can only bear
witness to the power and love of God in the fruit of our labor if we have been
pruned and cultivated by His Life-giving Spirit. In receiving God’s grace, we find our
salvation. But we must accept that grace, or it will never have a chance to change us.
This acceptance of grace is
so important for those of us who genuinely seek reconciliation, mutual respect,
and fraternal charity among our Christian brothers and sisters. By accepting the love of Christ we find in
our neighbors, we are raised out of the deathly shadows of isolation and
condemnation and are lifted up to the destiny we share of fulfilling Christ’s
mission on Earth. But this is up to
us. We have been given the gift of salvation
in the life, death and resurrection of our Lord; now, we must carry it with us as the heavy gift and precious burden
that it is, sharing it with the world in the way we live and love each other as
fellow Christians. In doing so, the
mystery of Christ’s redemption is made manifest to the world. Our lives become a mirror for the reality of God’s desire to change and
love us all.
My friends, it is in clothing
ourselves with the Cross of Christ that we recognize the gift of God’s Love in
our diversity and in our
commonality. As we embrace each other in
love, we embrace Christ, allowing him to evangelize our very hearts. It is only then that we truly come to know
what it means to hold the name of “Christian”; it is only then that our eyes
see the salvation which God has prepared in the sight of every people in His
Beloved Son; and it is only then that we are truly changed, as swiftly and
powerfully as a trumpet’s blast, into God’s instruments of revealing to the world
the glory and power of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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