24th Week in Ordinary Time : Friday 18th September 2020

The gospel passage today describes that Jesus takes a preaching tour of the local towns and villages, accompanied by the twelve disciples and several women and others who help provide for their needs. These women had been healed by Jesus and were expressing their gratefulness in this way. Two of the women, Mary Magdalene and Joanna, will be named as among the first witnesses of the resurrection.

In the first reading, we hear Paul entertain the argument of some Corinthian Christians about the falsehood of the resurrection of Jesus. These Corinthians who had demonstrated certain false assumptions about the significance of the human body, deny the resurrection of the dead and, with it, the resurrection of Christ. Paul asks whether the preaching that Christ was raised from the dead is false, and if so, is faith in Christ in vain.

It is a crucial point of Christianity that the resurrection of the believers hinges on the resurrection of Christ. If those who have died do not have hope, believers are the most pitiable of all people, because they would be the most disillusioned. And without hope, what do we have? If we only have this life, we are doomed to despair and absurdity. According to Paul, the argument put forward by the Corinthians leads to the solution. Paul dismisses the Corinthian argument as false as it is based on the falsehood that Christ is not raised. To Paul, Christ is already raised and his resurrection is a promise to all those who die, who believe in him.

 Lord, I believe that You have risen!