Reflections on 1 Corinthians 15 (Part 1)

The resurrection matters. Together with Calvary’s cross, the empty tomb is the fulcrum of history; nothing will ever be the same. No wonder the Church spends seven weeks in celebration—the world is ready to discard Easter after one day, but in the Church the greeting continues for fifty days: Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Your eyes have not seen the risen Christ; your ears have not heard His voice. Your hands have not been placed into His side, nor have your fingers felt the holes from the nails. You are not an eyewitness of the resurrection. But others were. They saw, they heard, they touched, and they believed. Then they proclaimed what they saw, heard, and touched to you. Their testimony is preserved in the living voice of the Scriptures. St. Paul writes: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” From one to another, an unbroken chain has passed down this witness to us. Each generation believed because their fathers and grandfathers in the faith passed this witness to them. The Holy Spirit watches over this tradition as an ever vigilant sentinel, working faith through this testimony. St. Paul continues: “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” We believe not because we have seen, but because others have seen and have told it to us. We believe because the Holy Spirit has preserved this testimony, because He has used it to work faith within our sinful hearts. Others saw, others heard, others touched, and we believe.