“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” I speak to you in the name of the Lord risen Jesus Christ. Amen. Paul the Apostle penned the words that I just read in a letter written to the small community of Christians living in the city of Corinth. They come from the 15th chapter of First Corinthians. During Paul’s lifetime, Corinth was the capital of the Roman province of Aaya in southern Greece. Corinth was a large and a wealthy city built on an isthmus with two ports, welcoming trade and commerce. The Romans had rebuilt the city in the previous century on a grand scale; it boasted a large amphitheater, many temples, and was home to the Isthmian Games. Corinth was an important political, social, and commercial city. By first-century standards, it was a large city with a population around 200,000 people, including Greeks, Romans, and a sizable Jewish population. By today’s standards, it might be called a sophisticated city, a crossroads of people, goods, and ideas—much like Montreal, Vancouver, or Toronto.
Paul’s words are as important to us in 2026 as they were then: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is useless and your believing is useless.” The resurrection can never become irrelevant except at the price of making the faith itself irrelevant. While some today find the resurrection embarrassing or treat it as a mere metaphor for love, we gather to celebrate a literal victory. The resurrection is more than a story about human love; it is about the power of God at work. If love has the power to triumph over hatred and fear, then God, the source of love, surely has the power to raise Jesus from the grave. In a world full of “shadowy mishmashes” of ideas and useless internet information, the people of the Gospel—like Mary Magdalene—can be trusted. Mary was a warm, human person who recognized the risen Jesus not through theology, but by the sound of her own name. She became the first evangelist, blurting out the first Christian sermon: “I have seen the Lord.” She crossed the line from the realm of ideas into the reality of relationship. We shouldn’t sell ourselves short; we too know the risen Lord personally. No matter how we fumble, He is alive. That is our news to tell the world—a personal story that makes the Gospel true and real for eternity. Alleluia, Christ is risen. Amen.