Death has been swallowed up by a victory.

        Where is your victory, Death?

        Where is your sting, Death?

(Death’s sting is sin, and the power of sin is the Law.) Thanks be to God, who gives us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

-1 Corinthians 15:54b-57

 

I do love a good April Fool’s joke. There’s something about it that brings me such joy: the moment when expectations are subverted, when an illusion tricks the senses, or when a bluff is smoothly pulled off. The best kind of April Fool’s joke, in my opinion, is that kind that plays off what is expected and then offers a twist. Such jokes are not made at the expense of anyone. Instead of being cruel, as humor too often is, the sorts of jokes I enjoy today are the cleverer, kinder ones that offer a surprise for the punchline.

Humor can be an effective way to cope with stress, loss, or fear. A good laugh lifts grief. Humor can strengthen resistance to evil, too: Martin Luther famously suggested that anyone feeling oppressed by sin might simply fart at the devil to scare him away. This is sometimes called “punching up,” or choosing the subject of a joke by making sure it’s the ones in most power who are being teased, not the most vulnerable and suffering becoming the butt of a joke. Of course, it is risky to have a laugh at those who are both wicked and in positions of power. Such jokes can bring retaliation from the mighty who feel threatened by being laughed at.

On this April Fool’s Day, consider how the tone of the verses out of 1 Corinthians changes the meaning. If, for instance, they are read with even the slightest hint of taunting or sarcasm, it starts to sound like the early Christians were having a joke at death’s expense. And what a joke it was! 

Death was a real threat to Christians living in the first century. Even though the dramatic persecutions of Christians wouldn’t begin until after the books of the Bible were written, death was a present threat. Infant and child mortality was high, with between 30-40% of children dying before 15. If a person lived to age 15, they might reasonably expect to live to 50 or 60, perhaps 70 or 80 in rare cases. Sickness or injury could be deadly. For Christians who had been put out of their family when they joined the church, access to food and shelter was less certain. Death was scary, it was real, and it was powerful.

Despite death’s frightening power, Christians then and now might find that, in the end, the joke is on death. All death can do is kill us– and God’s power in Jesus Christ is to raise us up to a life that can never end. Death might be more powerful than you and I, but Jesus Christ is even more powerful than death itself.

Where’s your victory now, huh, death? Where’s your sting? You don’t look so scary when your greatest threat is swallowed up in the victory of Jesus Christ! You can take my life, but you can’t keep it! God has given us the victory, so there!