There came to Jesus some Sadducees, those who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and died without children; and the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife."
And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him." And some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." For they no longer dared to ask him any question. Luke 20:27–40 (RSV)
It was the second funeral that week. I was visiting with family and friends before the funeral beginning. A person introduced themselves to me and thanked me for the sermon I had preached at the first funeral earlier that week. "It was good to hear about the resurrection of Jesus in your message,' they said. 'It doesn't happen as much as it should these days.'
'If we don't preach the death and resurrection of Jesus, why are we here?' I replied.
If Christ is not raised from the dead, there is no point whatsoever to the Christian faith. The resurrection is the center of what we believe and proclaim. If we do not proclaim that Good News, we waste our time when we gather to worship.
Without the resurrection, Holy Baptism would be a pointless exercise. If Jesus is not raised from the dead, then Holy Communion is merely bread and wine with no meaning beyond that itself. If Jesus is not raised from the dead, then the grave is the final destination of everyone who has lived, is alive today, and will one day be born.
As St. Paul teaches, if Christ is not raised from the dead, we of all people are most to be pitied.
Thanks be to God that Jesus, in fact, was raised from the dead. His triumph over sin and death is the beating heart of who we are as Christians. In the face of everything that leads to death, the promise of the resurrection is our bulwark and strength. Thanks be to God that we can proclaim this Good News.