The Resurrection of our Lord
April 20, 2025
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
We live in a world of transformation.
Transform the government, transform our laws, transform education, transform your health, transform your life, and transform who you are, down to your very character and nature.
But do we ever stop to ask what it means to be transformed?
The Greek here is derived from μεταμόρφωσις. It’s the process of experiencing a visible or internal change that alters what something is or who a person is. An easy example of this is when a caterpillar dies an ugly death in order to become a beautiful butterfly.
And just as this transformation is somewhat of a mystery to those of us who have not majored in biology, an even greater mystery is described by the Apostle Paul this morning as he wrote in the epistle,
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51b-53)
The passage should cause us to stop and meditate. What does Paul mean by “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed?”
He means we shall not all sleep the sleep of death.
Why?
Because Paul says you shall be changed at the sound of the trumpet, you shall be transformed, “The perishable body must put on the imperishable.”
Or, as the very literal translation of the text says, “The corrupted body must now be clothed with incorruption.”
In other words, the rotting and dying flesh that now clothes and clings to you is to be clothed and become immortal and eternal.
This is a difficult saying for us today because culture tells us that death is no longer to be feared; instead, death has been transformed into man’s friend, simply a part of life. So, embrace it, get over it, and move on.
But not so fast, the Apostle Paul writes a little before our epistle this morning, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:26)
This leads us to remember that man was not created to die but to live.
A man should fear death in the sense that it is a hostile enemy of God’s children, delivering the punishment and wages for both man’s transgression now and the sin inherited from their first parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden.
It’s in this Garden where God spoke to Satan after the Fall into sin and said,
I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.
For Martin Luther, the word “bruise” in his German Bible means “Crush, bite, or sting.”
He writes about the use of the word “bruise,”
That word really means to bite as a serpent bites as it shoots the venom in. It means to say that the serpent will bite Christ’s heel, but He (Christ), in turn, will bite its head, that He will be a mortal venom and a pestilence for it.
Here is the image of Christ’s death upon the cross, where the fatal blow of His death puts an end to death, and the power of the grave is undone.
For this reason, we can hold the cross before our closing eyes and say with Paul and all the faithful when death draws near.
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
(1 Corinthians 15:55)
Now, this doesn’t remove the physical consequence of our sin; our bodies will also enter the grave, just as those before us. However, the grave has been overcome because Christ Jesus died on the cross for you. No longer do you die in your sins, but now rest as one who has been liberated, absolved, and transformed into the likeness of your resurrected Savior.
So, where does this transformation occur for you now?
It begins outside of you, at the font of Holy Baptism, where you were clothed and received the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. There, you entered the grave of Christ Jesus and died with Him so that you might be raised again to new life.
This transformation continues even now as you gather each week with the saints on earth to confess the sins that have left you in the most wretched and corruptible state so that you might hear God’s Word of peace and forgiveness.
And it continues as we gather around this rail and receive the very flesh and blood of Christ bodily, where He now dwells and transforms our hearts from the inside out, forming our character and nature into the likeness and image of His love.
This is how we are to be transformed and made ready for the day of resurrection, the day when the trumpet shall blow, the day that comes in the twinkling of an eye, so confess with all the faithful of heaven and earth…
O Death, where is your sting?
O Hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life reigns.
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Tomah, WI
