Fruit beyond the Grave

Easter

April 23, 2000

1 Corinthians 15:19-28

Goal: That the hearers rejoice in the “fruit beyond the grave.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

That is a good thing! It is a good thing that we can shout and declare “Christ is risen!” Those phrases declare what we believe: “There is fruit beyond the grave!”

I want you all to help me this morning in our celebration of the good news that there is “fruit beyond the grave.” Each time in the sermon I say “There is,” I would appreciate it if you complete the phrase with “fruit beyond the grave.” There are a few things about this fruit that we need to know.

First of all: We Cannot Bury It! I suppose we always knew “there is … fruit beyond the grave,” but it never seemed to be good news, only bad news. You know how it goes. Something you thought had been buried long ago suddenly bears fruit. Perhaps it was a bad word, or an unkind act, or an evil dream, or a self-centered, acted-out fantasy. For such behavior “there is … fruit beyond the grave!”

Adam and Eve found that out. They thought they had buried their eating of the forbidden fruit by hiding. They thought they had buried their disobedience. But when God walked in the Garden in the cool of the evening, He saw. He had to tell them that the life he created in harmony would now have to be lived out in disharmony. He had to tell them that they were but dust and to dust they would return. Then they realized that “there is … fruit beyond the grave.”

Cain found that out. He thought he had buried Abel’s blood in the ground. But when God asked him about his brother, he realized that he was indeed his brother’s keeper and that “there is … fruit beyond the grave.”

Moses found that out. Feeling the privilege of leadership, he struck the rock to get water instead of following the Lord’s command and speaking to it. When it was time for the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land, Moses was denied. He thought his disobedience had long been buried, but he too learned that “there is … fruit beyond the grave.”

King David found that out. You know about his sin with Bathsheba. He thought his sin was buried with her husband Uriah’s body. But when the prophet Nathan confronted him and when the child he and Bathsheba conceived died, he realized that “there is … fruit beyond the grave.”

The disciples of Jesus also knew about this kind of fruit beyond the grave. On Easter morning they remembered how they had denied him. Running away to protect their own skin, they had abandoned him. They had gone back on their promises to even suffer with Him. It was the women who went to the tomb while the eleven waited, hiding, knowing that “there is … fruit beyond the grave.” In all of these cases we see …

The Fruit Is Sickening and Destructive: We have found that out. We know about this kind of fruit beyond the grave. We all have buried something from our childhood, our adolescence, our dating years, our young adulthood, or perhaps something even more recently? At the time we might have thought nobody—or only a few—knew about it. What was it; an unkind act, stealing, or lying to achieve what you thought you wanted? It may have been denial of a long-held value or an inappropriate relationship. It may have been ending an untimely or unwanted pregnancy. No matter. It was buried, we thought. No one would ever find out.

As we discover—whether aspiring to high political office or a position as a community leader, whether a teacher, a parent, or a spouse—we eventually get found out. “There is … fruit beyond the grave.” It is ugly fruit. It has a pungent smell, a slimy feel, and a gagging taste all its own. It is a fungus, a leech that we cannot get rid of by ourselves. It will not let go.

St. Paul knew about fruit beyond the grave. He had tried to bury plenty of stuff. Some of it was his own nature. A gifted leader with unusual zeal, he acted in ways that later would embarrass him … a lot. He could remember holding the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death. He could remember getting into disagreements with the apostles. He even caused divisions among some of his comrades. But he learned and even came to see himself as the “chief of sinners.”

He was enabled to help the people of Corinth know about this kind of fruit beyond the grave. His letter is about their divisions and their immorality. He knew this fruit had the potential to make them all heartsick. What Paul wrote under divine inspiration surely is a word also for us. For we too become heartsick over our sickening and destructive fruit beyond the grave. . . . But, there os thank God, another kind of fruit.

And Christ Is its Firstfruit: That is why Paul puts energy in this part of the letter to Corinth and to us wanting us to understand a different fruit from the grave, a firstfruit. This fruit is not disgusting and sickening. It is renewing, empowering, enlightening, refreshing, glorious, beautiful, fantastic, unbelievable, even overwhelming!

Just as the Isralites brought the first ripe grain and fruit as an offering to the Lord, confident that his rewards would follow, so Christ rose from the grave as the firstfruit, assuring us that we will follow. We can be sure of that because he took to the cross and the grave our bad deeds, foul words, evil behaviors, addictions, and sinfulness. And He buried all this fruit beyond the grave with himself. In the power of his resurrection, he covers our ugly, disgusting, distasteful fruit with His own life and righteousness.

His fruit from the grave is not a harsh word, a stern look, or a rejection. His fruit from the grave is forgiveness—a personal touch as in Holy Communion, saying, “I know you, I love you, I forgive you, I renew you, I claim you as my own.” “There is … fruit beyond the grave.”

The psalmist would say: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (118:24). How could a day be any better? Just when we thought the only fruit beyond the grave was our own disgusting sinfulness, there is this wonderful declaration. Christ is risen. He is the firstfruit beyond the grave. He gives it to us! As we receive his firstfruits by faith, it removes the eternal consequences of our own plantings in the grave.

For most of us, the power of that fruit beyond the grave was first communicated to us in Holy Baptism. In Romans 6, Paul shares that we are buried with Christ in our Baptism, and as Christ rose from the grave, we too walk in new life. From that life we experience and give evidence of this new fruit beyond the grave.

That is what Paul and the apostles experienced as they lived and proclaimed the risen Lord throughout the world! That is what the church fathers shared! That is what the founders of this congregation displayed some 130 years ago! They all declared with great joy: “There is … fruit beyond the grave!”

This newfound fruit beyond the grave is not only for us. Christ wishes to release this fruit through us. As you move in the lives of those who dwell with their feelings of guilt and with the consequences of their actions—as they experience the unappetizing results of fruit they thought they buried and hid—tell them and show them that Christ is risen. He is the firstfruit. He redefines the fruit beyond the grave. He releases the hope of forgiveness through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. “There is … fruit beyond the grave.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen! (Response) He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Thanks be to God in that resurrection message for us and for the world “There is … fruit beyond the grave.” Amen.