Handing On What We Have Received

By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

When St. Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he was addressing a doubt that had arisen among those early Christians about the resurrection of the dead – not the resurrection of Jesus, but of the fate of those who died before the coming of Christ. St. Paul’s answer reminded them of the gospel he had preached to them saying, 

“I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than 500 brothers at once, most of whom are still living, although some have fallen asleep. After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.” (1Cor 15:3-6)

Like all the apostles, St. Paul, the most hard working and prolific of them all, handed on to the early Christians what he had received! To preach the resurrection of Jesus was certainly counter cultural, indeed folly to the Gentiles and an insult to the Jews, both of who persecuted the apostles to death for their preaching it. Yet, it was fidelity to the gospel of Christ that defined their mission. It was not their own message of “cleverly concocted myths”, as St. Peter wrote, but as St. Paul said to the Galatians: “I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”!
(cf. Gal 1:11-12)

This is the nature of “tradition”, it is what we have received and what we, as disciples of the Lord and members of the Church, must hand on to others. It is the fundamental criteria by which the Church lives and grows and maintains its life! The apostles were not chosen by the Lord because they were the most intelligent or talented; in fact, He showed them early on that even in their expertise as fishermen it is He who would direct them and enable them to make the abundant catches miraculously if they kept His Word and did what He asked them!

To reassure the Corinthians of a secondary point, St. Paul appeals to the most basic tenets of the creed, “reminding” them of the gospel he had received and which he handed on to them. The resurrection of Jesus was the answer to the Corinthians for “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain; you are still in your sins”, “but now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”! (1Cor 15:17 & 20) 

Happy Easter to all our readers! May the joy of the Resurrection of Christ fill you with hope and strength!