Christ Dies No More

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/062826.cfm

Today, I am going to preach about an incredible religious experience that Kate and I had while visiting Peru ten years ago.  I am going to start by speaking about the Peruvian custom of mummifying the dead that was practiced during the Incan Empire before the Spanish conquistadors arrived.  I will then apply those customs to Christian beliefs about the resurrection, okay? Got that: Peru, mummies, resurrection.  Here we go. Most of us learned about mummies when we studied ancient Egypt as kids.   You can go to the Louisville Science Center and see a couple of examples on display here in town.  But the Egyptians are only the most famous of dozens of cultures that mummified their dead.  

In the days of the Inca Empire (the 1400s) in what is now Peru, the Incan emperors were believed to be descendants of the sun god Inti.  When they died, the emperors were taken up to the frozen peaks of the Andes Mountains and mummified.  These royal mummies were then taken back down to the sacred capital city, Cusco, and were treated as if they were still alive.  The mummies were dressed in fine clothes and jewelry, served food, housed in palaces, and cared for by attendants.  They were consulted on critical political decisions, and at major festivals, they were paraded through the streets.  We might scratch our heads at these Inca practices, but I believe that they reflect a deeply human longing for our physical bodies to have a permanent reality that defies death.  

To be human means being both body and soul.  We human beings are not angels or spirits who are just temporarily housed inside a physical container of flesh and blood.   The Christian tradition teaches that our bodies are just as much of our “real selves” as our souls are.  All of us are familiar with the concept of the immortality of the soul and the belief in heaven and hell after we die.  But our faith tells us that heaven and hell are not actually the ending point, they are more like waiting rooms before the resurrection of the dead.     

In the Letter to the Romans today, Paul writes, “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.”  All throughout the Easter season, we heard stories of Jesus’ resurrected and glorified body.  He rose from the dead as a living human beng. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus calls himself, “the One Who Lives” and says, “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever” (1:18).    

The Risen Lord is alive.  In the Gospels resurrection accounts he eats and drinks, touches and is touched. He breathes. And the wounds he received at his crucifixion remain. And yet, he has changed—he can appear in rooms behind locked doors and can disappear from sight. He is not always immediately recognized by people who know him. 

St. Paul tells us, “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, [so that]

we too might live in newness of life.  If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.” Paul is telling us that our former bodies will become like Jesus’ glorified body after the resurrection, and that, too, we be alive with living bodies.  

Of course, we have to die first.  That is part of the deal.  Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow him because the path to new life passes through death.  That is the paradox.  Jesus says, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The hope of the Incans of Peru that was expressed through mummification has been fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ.  It should not be surprising that Peru is one of the most deeply Catholic countries on earth today, a place that nurtured the faith of Pope Leo XIV, and adopted him as a citizen.

Instead of mummies, Peruvians now venerate the saints and worship the Holy Eucharist.  Kate and I brought several groups of Bellarmine students to Peru in the 2010s.  During one of those trips, we were present for the feast of Corpus Christi, which you may remember we just celebrated last month.   During the feast of Corpus Christi, tens of thousands of people crowd the central square in Cusco, which is called the Plaza de Armas.  They come to see the statues of 15 saints, which are mounted on huge floats, and carried on the shoulders of local men.  The saints are followed by a pickup truck completely covered in plates of silver.  In the bed of the truck, a Catholic bishop displays the Holy Eucharist in a massive silver monstrance that is paraded through the square.  

After the procession, mass is celebrated outdoors in front of the cathedral.  Here we are today, preparing to do the same.  By receiving the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ are preparing our own bodies for eternal life.  We are sharing in the life of the living God, who gives himself to us as food and drink.  When we receive him, he begins the work of glorifying us and remaking us into what we become.  As we approach the altar today for communion, 

may the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ keep us all safe for eternal life.