1 Corinthians 15:35-41: a reflection

35But someone will say, “How are the dead raised?” and, “With what kind of body do they come?” 36You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37That which you sow, you don’t sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind. 38But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own. 39All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial. 41There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

When Paul is asked how the dead are raised and with what kind of body, he answers with the image of a seed. That which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies, he says; what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare grain; but God gives it a body as it pleased him. A seed is sown into the ground, where it seems to die; but out of that death God brings a new plant, greater and different from the bare grain. So it is with the resurrection: what is sown in death is raised transformed, given a new body by God, as the seed is raised as the plant.

Notice the image of the seed, and what it shows about the resurrection. A seed does not come to life unless it is first buried and seems to die; and what comes up is not the bare grain, but a new plant, transformed, given a body by God. So the resurrection is not merely the reviving of the old body, but a transformation: what is sown in death is raised new, given a body by God as it pleases him. The seeming death of the seed is not the end but the way to a greater life; and so the death of the body is not the end, but the sowing of what God will raise transformed. What looks like an end is, like the buried seed, the beginning of a new and greater life.

That is worth resting in, for it is our hope: that what is sown in death will be raised transformed, as a seed becomes a plant. We can look at death as the end, the burial of all we are; but Paul shows that death is like the sowing of a seed, which seems to die but is raised by God as something new and greater. The body sown in death will be raised transformed, given a new body by God. When you face death, your own or that of those you love, do not see only the end; like the buried seed, it is the sowing of what God will raise transformed. Rest your hope on the resurrection, that what is sown in death will be raised transformed by God, as a seed is buried and raised as a new plant, and God gives it a body as it pleases him; for death is not the end but the sowing of what God will raise, and the body sown in weakness will be raised anew, transformed, by the God who gives each its own body.

Lord, when Paul is asked how the dead are raised and with what kind of body, he answers with the image of a seed. That which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies, he says; what you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare grain; but God gives it a body as it pleased him. A seed is sown into the ground, where it seems to die; but out of that death you bring a new plant, greater and different from the bare grain. So it is with the resurrection: what is sown in death is raised transformed, given a new body by you. Show me the image of the seed, and what it shows about the resurrection. A seed does not come to life unless it is first buried and seems to die; and what comes up is not the bare grain, but a new plant, transformed, given a body by you. So the resurrection is not merely the reviving of the old body, but a transformation. The seeming death of the seed is not the end but the way to a greater life; and so the death of the body is not the end, but the sowing of what you will raise transformed. Let me rest in that, for it is my hope: that what is sown in death will be raised transformed, as a seed becomes a plant. I can look at death as the end, the burial of all I am; but Paul shows that death is like the sowing of a seed, which seems to die but is raised by you as something new and greater. When I face death, my own or that of those I love, keep me from seeing only the end; like the buried seed, it is the sowing of what you will raise transformed. Help me rest my hope on the resurrection, Lord, that what is sown in death will be raised transformed by you, as a seed is buried and raised as a new plant.