But Christ has indeed been raised
from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death
came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For
as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn:
Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. I Corinthians 15:20-23
Human history is not an entity
unto itself. It is a compilation of human lives; each person’s individual life
plays into the whole.
Adam, the first man, was the
first to be given life. In that life, he made choices about how he would live.
His choice to sin caused the consequences of his choice, death, to be passed to
his descendants throughout the generations since. Each one that inherits Adam’s
life also inherits his choice to sin and reaps the consequence of death. So it
has been throughout all time.
But the endless cycle of life and
death has been broken. Jesus, a descendant of Adam, did not give in to the
choice of sin and lived the perfect life. Then, in an act of the ultimate
personal sacrifice, Jesus accepted sin’s consequence, death, though He deserved
it not. Yet death could not hold Him since He had not sinned. The miracle of
life overcame death and He arose from the grave whole and regenerated.
Now we find ourselves faced with
a new choice – whose cycle are we on? Do we stay stuck in the same cycle of
life, sin and death as all the generations before us? Or do we choose to get on
the cycle of the Savior – life, sin, rebirth, death, resurrection, eternal
life.
Jesus has gathered the first crop
of the renewed tree of life. He reaches its fruit out to us and invites us to
partake. Sin, as we all are too fully aware, is an easy choice. New life
through our spiritual rebirth should be an easier one yet.
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