The Gift of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
New things are so nice, aren't they? Laurie and I just decided it was time to get a new car to replace our old van. It still worked. It worked well in some ways. But more and more little things were breaking and starting not to work. And bigger repairs were on the horizon. So while a new car wasn’t cheap, it sure is nice.
I try to imagine, like Luther once did, what a brand new creation must have been like! Man and woman, plants and animals, without sin and death. Everything working perfectly and living together in peace. It sure would be nice. No war in the Middle East or in Ukraine. No divorce, broken homes, or suicides. No mean tweets, nasty emails, scams, spams, or threats. It sure would be nice.
But all this old brokenness is the result of another one: our brokenness with God. We can try to make our world a better place, and many have tried. But the old brokenness keeps coming back. My new car is going to get old and break. Old enemies may live at peace for a while, but hard-boiled hostilities come roaring back. Repairs help for a while, but we need something more. Patching up the old only works for so long. Treating the symptoms isn’t enough. We need a cure. We need a cure for the brokenness from which all other brokenness comes. We need to be reconciled to God.
All religions know this and try to do this. Do something to get on God’s good side. Even the atheist knows something is wrong, but not how to fix it. And we need something to fix us, too. The struggle inside between the mind and the body, what I am and what I should be, what I want to do and do do. I can blame you, and often do! But that doesn’t fix me. We need something else.
The Corinthians needed it, too. Our struggles within and without are not new and unique to our day and age, though we think we are so much different and advanced, both in our knowledge and in our problems. Not so much. So Paul tells them (and us!) the good news: the root of our problems, our brokenness with God, has been overcome by Christ Jesus. What we could not do, God Himself came and did. In the flesh and blood of Jesus. When we try to bury our problems and strife, sooner or later they pop back up, like weeds you can’t get rid of. But when Jesus buried our sins, they didn’t pop back up - He did! Without them. The one who had no sin and was made sin, and crucified, dead, and buried with our sin, rose from the dead perfect and new. As new as it was in the beginning. And will one day be again.
But it is also a newness that we can begin to live already here and now. For not just did Christ Jesus rise new, so did all who are baptized into his death and resurrection. That’s why Paul said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Anyone, which includes everyone! This gift of reconciliation is for all people: Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. Canadian, American, or immigrant. Rich or poor. Even French-speaking or not! A cure for all, that reconciled to God, we can begin to live reconciled with one another. Not just treating the symptoms, but giving the cure.
Which is what happens here. That’s why this is “the Good News place.” This is the message heard here that is heard no place else. That here is the newness we need. That here is the forgiveness of our sins, not just the burying of them. That here we die and rise with Jesus to a new life. That here is the food that nourishes and sustains us. And it is for you - no matter who “you” are. If you hear this word, it is for you. For anyone, which means everyone.
One day, we will see that newness. But even now, we can live it. Regarding no one according to the flesh. But seeing them as Jesus does, as those He died for and has life for. Never giving up - as tempting as that sometimes may be! - but imploring all people to receive this gift of reconciliation. Holding it out to them. And when those who care implore us, to be humble enough to repent ourselves. To die and rise with Christ again to newness of life.
Imagine a world like that! Always new, never old. Always whole, never broken. Always at peace, never at war. One day! Come, Lord Jesus.
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