召天者記念礼拝　Memorial Service for believers who have passed away.

コリントの信徒への手紙一15:50-53　1 Corinthians 15:50-53

この朽ちるべきものが朽ちないものを着、この死ぬべきものが死なないものを必ず着ることになります。   　 （一コリント15:53）

パウロはコリントの信徒への手紙二の5章1節から4節では、地上の体を「幕屋」すなわちテントにたとえ、永遠の命の体を「建物」すなわち堅固な住まいにたとえています。「わたしたちの地上の住みかである幕屋が滅びても、神によって建物が備えられていることを、わたしたちは知っています。人の手で造られたものではない天にある永遠の住みかです。わたしたちは、天から与えられる住みかを上に着たいと切に願って、この地上の幕屋にあって苦しみもだえています。それを脱いでも、わたしたちは裸のままではおりません。この幕屋に住むわたしたちは重荷を負ってうめいておりますが、それは、地上の住みかを脱ぎ捨てたいからではありません。死ぬはずのものが命に飲み込まれてしまうために、天から与えられる住みかを上に着たいからです。」

地上の体は、私たちの魂にとって仮住まいをするための「幕屋」つまりテントのようなものです。しかし、終わりの日に与えられる永遠の命の体は、私たちの魂にとって「天にある永遠の住みか」です。私たちは、地上の体をもって生きるときには「苦しみもだえています。」しかし、それは「地上の住みかを脱ぎ捨てたい」つまり、地上の体など死んでなくなればいいと願っているからではありません。「死ぬはずのものが命に飲み込まれてしまうために、天から与えられる住みかを上に着たい」と願っているからなのです。つまり、キリストと信仰によって結ばれた人は、地上の体に永遠の命の体を着るようにして変えられ、この地上の命が永遠の命に飲み込まれるようにして変えられることを願っているというのであります。

これらの言葉から、私たちは永遠の命の体がどのようなものであるかを、おぼろげながらも知ることができます。つまり、永遠の命の体は、地上の体という仮の住まいをおおって建てられる永遠に住むことのできる堅固な建物のようなものであるということです。そして、永遠の命の体を造るのは、地上の体を腐敗させる死の力をも飲み込んで無力にしてしまうような、命の源である神様から出る圧倒的な命の力であるということです。私たちの地上の体は腐敗して朽ちていく住まいのようなものです。普通の人間はだれも死の力に勝つことはできません。しかし、神の子であるキリストは死の力に打ち勝ってくださいました。このキリストと信仰によって結ばれた人は、腐敗して朽ちていく住まいのような体の上に、永遠に住むことのできる堅固な建物のような体を着て、復活することができるのです。命の源である神様が、私たちの体を、そのように変えてくださるのであります。　　　　　　　　　　　（4月16日の説教より）

What is life and what is death, what is living and what is dying, are eternal questions for us human beings. Many people feel that living, or life, is never picture-perfect. There are many hardships to living that cannot be described in words. And when we are alive, we hurt people and people hurt us. Moreover, if there is a war, it can even be disastrous, either killing people or being killed by people. And when we think about war, accidents, and illness, we have to say that death is also tragic. However, death is often glorified as something beautiful. It is a terrible thing that “laying down one’s life for the sake of somethig” is glorified and promoted, and drives people to war and terrorism. It goes without saying how tragic death in war and terrorism can be.

What about a death at home or in a hospital bed, quietly passed away under the watchful eyes of family and nurses? At first glance, it seems beautiful. And the grieving family can be comforted if the body is laid in a wooden box with a peaceful face. Furthermore, in Japan, bodies are promptly cremated and reduced to bones, so it is almost impossible for a body to be left to decompose, unless it is the result of an accident or a solitary death. However, the human body always decomposes after death. A funeral specialist HIMONYA Hajime wrote an article on his internet blog entitled “How the Human Body Transforms after Death.” I would like to introduce the part of the article that relates to decomposition.

Decomposition of the body begins in the digestive system, the stomach and intestines.

The growth of intestinal bacteria is observed within an hour or so after death. In addition, when death occurs, stomach acid and intestinal digestive juices dissolve the stomach and intestines themselves, causing enzymatic autolysis.

The growth of intestinal bacteria and the melting of the gastrointestinal tract cause decomposition and the production of putrefactive gases. Hydrogen sulphide in the putrefactive gas combines with haemoglobin in the blood to form haemoglobin sulphide, which causes the abdomen to turn pale blue. This discolouration spreads to the whole body, and as further putrefactive gases are produced, the whole body swells.

As the decomposition progresses, the whole body gradually turns dark reddish brown and the swollen corpse takes on the appearance of a giant.

As the decomposition progresses further, the body dries out, the body surface turns black, the body tissues begin to melt, releasing decomposition juices, and finally the bones are exposed.

After explaining the decomposition of the body in this way, Mr. HIMONYA states that “in ancient times, funerals were rushed because of the fear that the decomposition of the body would become so severe that the dignity of the dead would be lost.”

It is not a very pleasant story, but it is true that our earthly bodies will one day die and decompose. And one day, we will surely return to dust. The apostle Paul explains in verses 45-49 before today’s passages that the nature of these earthly bodies originated with Adam, the ancestor of the human race. Genesis 2:7 reads, “Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” In 1 Corinthians 15:45, Paul quoted the end of that verse, and wrote that “the first man Adam became a living being,” to show that man is the one whom God made of the dust of the earth and gave life. However, because mankind’s ancestor Adam disobeyed God, the source of life, he lost right fellowship with God and was condemned to severe judgement: “You return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return (Gen. 3:19).” Therefore, man, who has only the body of natural life, is a transient being who can only “return to dust” when natural life dies and ends. Hence, in verse 48, Paul states that “as was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust.” In other words, the whole mankind are “those who are of the dust” equal to Adam, who was “the man of dust” and who can only die and return to dust.

However, Paul is not only stating that the earthly body of humanity can only die and return to dust. By contrasting with Adam, mankind’s ancestor, he is stating that Christ, mankind’s Saviour, has risen with a body of eternal life that will never return to dust. Verse 45 states that “the last Adam became a life-giving spirit,” making it clear that although Christ, the Saviour of mankind, died on the cross, he did not return to dust but was resurrected in “a spiritual body,” giving eternal life to those who believe. Then, in verse 48, he states that “as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven.” In other words, if we are united by faith to Christ who is “the man of heaven,” even those who can only return to dust will become “those who are of heaven” and receive “a spiritual body” of the resurrection. Furthermore, verse 49 states that just as we, the human race, have become beings like Adam, who was “the man of dust,” so by being united by faith to Christ, who “is the man of heaven,” we will be resurrected in the future with “a spiritual body” like Christ.

Christianity teaches that believers in Christ will be called to heaven in their souls when their earthly bodies die, and will be resurrected on the last day with bodies of eternal life. However, the believers in the Corinthian church argued that since they were already spiritually fulfilled and transcended from the world, there was no need for a bodily resurrection on the last day. Then Paul responded to them, “There is no such thing as you having already transcended from the world. You are still those who have to die and return to dust. So let us believe in the resurrection of Christ, and believe that on the last day you will be resurrected in ‘a spiritual body’ just like Christ!”

And in today’s Bible passages, Paul describes the great mystery of the transformation of an earthly body of “those who are of the dust” into “a spiritual body” of “the man of heaven.” This seems impossible according to human common sense. However, I hope you will listen to this on the assumption that nothing is impossible with God, the Creator of all things.

First, in verse 50, Paul says: “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” “Flesh and blood” refer to man’s earthly body, which is paraphrased as “the perishable.” And to “inherit the kingdom of God” is to be resurrected to a body of eternal life at the Last Judgment in the last day. It is also paraphrased as to “inherit the imperishable.” In other words, verse 50 states that the earthly body will not remain intact and become a body of eternal life.

This means that there must be some change. In the following verse 51, Paul says: “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” Paul prefaces what he is about to say with “a mystery” that cannot be understood by common sense. And by “we” he means Christians united by faith to Christ. This includes the congregation of the church of Corinth. “We shall not all sleep” means that for Christians, the death of their earthly bodies is not the end. That is, “we shall all be changed.”

What kind of change is that? This is stated in verses 52 and 53.

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.

“At the last trumpet” is a symbolic expression for the coming of the last day, when the Last Judgment will take place. The sounding of horns and trumpets has often been used since Old Testament times as a symbolic expression to announce that the day of God’s judgement or salvation has come. For example, Joel 2:1 announces the coming of the day of God’s judgement: “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near.” Isaiah 27:13 describes the calling together of the scattered nations to salvation: “And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.”

At the Last Judgment, “the dead will be raised imperishable.” Those who have died and returned to dust will be resurrected and given bodies of eternal life. And that is not all. Christians who are alive on earth at the time of the Last Judgement, will also be changed and given bodies of eternal life. Paul believed that there was a possibility that Christ would come again and make the Last Judgment while he was still alive on earth. That those who have died and returned to dust will be resurrected and given bodies of eternal life, is also a mystery that common sense cannot comprehend. But even more than that, the fact that those who are alive on earth can also be changed in an instant and given bodies of eternal life, is so mysterious that it is not only incomprehensible to common sense, it is even difficult to imagine. But that is exactly what the Bible teaches as “a mystery.”

Verse 53 tells us that this earthly body will be changed into a body of eternal life, as follows: “This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” Let us bear in mind this term “put on.” To “put on” means to put on the body of eternal life over the earthly body. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-4, Paul compares the earthly body to “a tent,” and the body of eternal life to “a building,” or solid dwelling. Let me quote it and read it out loud.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

The earthly body is like “a tent,” for our souls to take up temporary residence in. But the body of eternal life that will be given to us in the last day, is for our souls “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” When we live in our earthly bodies, we suffer and “groan.” But this is not because we want to “be unclothed,” i.e., we wish that our earthly body would die and disappear. It is because we wish to “be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.” In other words, Paul says that those who are united by faith to Christ desire to be transformed so that their earthly bodies will be clothed with the body of eternal life, and that this earthly life will be transformed so that it will be swallowed up into eternal life.

From these words we have a dim idea of what the body of eternal life looks like. The body of eternal life is like a solid building that can be inhabited forever, built over the temporary dwelling of an earthly body. And that what builds the body of eternal life is the overwhelming power of life that comes from God, the source of life, which swallows up the power of death that corrupts the earthly body. As I said at the beginning of today’s sermon, our earthly bodies are like dwellings that decay and decompose. No ordinary human being can ever overcome the power of death. But Christ, the Son of God, has overcome the power of death. Those who are united by faith to this Christ can be resurrected, clothed with a body like a solid building in which they can live forever, instead of a body like a decaying dwelling place. God, who is the source of life, will transform our bodies in such a way.

The almost three-years-long COVID-19 crisis is finally coming to an end. It has been difficult three years for each of us. The infection has made us acutely aware of the fragility of our earthly bodies and the overwhelming power of death. We were reminded of the reality that the overwhelming power of death shoots down our earthly bodies and leaves them to decay and decompose. However, God has promised that such a body of ours can be transformed into a body of eternal life that will never decay and decompose, through being united by faith with Christ. There may come a time in the future when various dangerous events will occur again. Even in dangerous times, we hope to live courageously by faith in Christ and in the resurrection of the body.