Scripture 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
When I was growing up
there was a very popular show on tv call “Pimp My Ride.” I know, it’s a
horrible title, but it was a pretty interesting show. They would find people
with some of the most beat up, run down, ugliest and broken cars, and then they
would go over the top in fixing them. Not only would they fix it, but they
would add things like racing kits to the car, they would lower or jack up the
car or truck, They would give it a crazy new paint job, they would redo the
interior of the car with new upholstering, and usually add some crazy gadgets
like T.V.’s in the headrest and rear view cameras, which unbelievably are now
common in many new cars. Then they would reveal the car to its owner and watch
the pure joy come across their faces. There are many shows on today that do
similar things. For example the show “American Restoration” does exactly what
it says. They find really cool, older American relics, from anything to cars,
to old signs or whatever you can think of, and they restore them to make them
look new. Or there are a bunch of house shows on today focused around this idea
of remodeling and restoration. One in particular, “Flip This House” is a show
about taking old, decrepit houses, restoring them to a beautiful like new
house, and then selling them back on the housing market for a huge market.
Whether it is cars, houses, or memorabilia, We as Americans, and I would dare
to say simply we as humans, love to see old things become like new.
We truly do love this idea of transformation, and while
we do like seeing it happen with cars, and houses and the like, I think deep
down it is because we want to see it with us. On a superficial level, how many
ads and commercials do we see targets us by telling us their product can
transform our appearances. There is aging and beauty cream, weight loss pills,
teeth whitening strips, Rogaine, and Just For Men, all products made to make us
feel like a new person. And still I believe that our desire for transformation
is even deeper than this. So often we get so fed up with the way things are
going in our lives or simply with the way things are going in the world in
general. We wish things were different, and often times for Christians this
leads to us playing the waiting game. I can’t wait until things change when I
get to heaven. I just have to endure this life and all will be made right in
the next.
Our scripture today focuses around the same hope and
desire, in fact the section of scripture right before our passage echoes many
of these sentiments. “For we know that if the earthly
tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we
groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— 3 if
indeed, when we have taken it off[a] we will not be found naked. 4 For
while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not
to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life.” Paul recognizes hardships of this Earth
and the joy and hope of heaven. He understands that we long so much to be in
the dwelling of God, that we long so much not to live in this broken and sinful state, that all we really want is the
joy of transformation, the joy of being new, the joy of being close to God that
comes when we get to heaven. And yet hearing and understanding all of this, in
our passage for today, Paul reminds us of a new transformation, one that is
made possible through Jesus Christ.
Paul tells us, “From now on, therefore, we regard no
one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human
point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” Here, Paul is reminding us of an extremely important fact
to remember, He is telling us that to think about God and heaven and then
reflect about us and Earth, and then hoping and waiting for the time in which
we can leave Earth for Heaven, creates a false divide. It makes us feel as
though we are here alone on this Earth, That God has nothing to do with us
besides a few instructions that are written down for us to follow. It leads us
to thinking that the only true interaction that we have with God is once we die
and go to heaven. It is as if we are young homesick children dropped off at
camp crying and waiting for our time at camp to be over so that we can go back
home. Though we don’t ever say it this way, and though it surely isn’t our
intention, when we think about God in this way it is as if we are saying that
God is not here for us.
Paul is reminding us that
exactly the contrary is true. Paul says that we once knew Christ from a human
point of view. In the original Greek it is probably better translated,
according to the flesh. We knew Christ according to the flesh. What does this
mean? It means that Christ was human, that this notion that there is some great
divide between God and ourselves is bogus, that this notion that God does not
interact with us on Earth is false, and that the idea that our bodies and our
time on Earth is not valuable, is an idea that is just flat out wrong. Because
Jesus Christ was human, we knew Christ according to the flesh. God walked
amongst us, talked with us, ate with us, and of course died for us. There is no
divide between us and God, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And yet, having known God,
Having God dwell with us, and die for us, we no longer look at Christ the same
way. When Christ first came into this
world all we saw was the flesh, his humanity. Yes there were prophets predicting
his arrival, there were visitations and signs, but all of these things pointed
to Christ being a Messiah, being a special man sent by God, another great
prophet or leader or king. And Yet as people started to follow him, started to
witness his miracles, and of course when he died and rose again, people started
to look at Jesus not just a great man, but realized that God had walked among
them. The same is true when we reflect back on Jesus, we don’t think of him as
just a man, we think of him as our Lord, our savior, our God.
This event, God on Earth, is
an incredibly important event, because Christ gave our lives greater meaning,
and redeemed our flesh. What do I mean by this? Earlier we talked about how there can feel as
though there was a divide between God and humanity. It could even lead many to
believe that humanity simply doesn’t matter. The arrival of Christ changed that
though. God became human in Jesus Christ, and in doing so showed us our sacred
worth. God would love us so much that he would humble himself, take upon the
flesh, and even die for us. God showed us through Jesus Christ that we are all
sacred.
This is what Paul is
saying when he tells us that just as we no longer know Christ according to the
flesh the same as we no longer know one another according to flesh. We no
longer see each other for our brokenness, for our flaws, our mistakes or our
weakness. God so loved the world that he died for all of our sins; now see each
other as those who God treasures, who God loves, who have sacred worth in God’s
eyes. What an amazing transformation! That we could go from broken and sinful
people to people of sacred worth.
The amazing transformation
doesn’t stop there. Paul tells us, “So if anyone is in
Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see,
everything has become new! Paul
is telling us that through Christ this transformation is not something that we
must simply wait for, that this transformation is not just for us once we die
and go to heaven. This transformation, this new creation, is happening here and
now for those who are in Christ. Everything old has passed away; see everything
has become new! The good news of Jesus Christ is that through Christ we can be
transformed into new creation.
This Lent we have talked over and
over again about self-reflection, about sin, about finding things that separate
us from God and then about changing those things. We do these things so that
through Christ we may be made new. Like a snake shedding it scales, or a
butterfly breaking through the chrysalis, we shed these things to reveal our
new selves, the wonder beauty of new creation that is only possible through
Jesus Christ.
But we must remember that
Paul says, “So if anyone is in Christ.” What
does this mean? It could easy to use this as a way of separating the sheep from
the goats, the saved from the unsaved. It could be used to lift ourselves up
and gloat about new creation while looking down upon those who are not in
Christ. This is not the point of the saying. This phrase is not directed to the
“others” but instead it is directed at us. It makes us recognize what it means
to be in Christ. Paul goes on to say, “All this is from
God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry
of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of
reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his
appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Paul is reminding us that we are the ambassadors
for Christ, that if we want to be in Christ, then we must be like Christ.
How do we do this? Paul boils it all down into one word, reconciliation.
Reconciliation “to make oneself or another no longer opposed.” This of course
means that we must reconcile ourselves to God, as I have been saying all along,
getting rid of those things that keep us in opposition of God’s will; yet
reconciliation is more than that also. If we think about Jesus’ ministry, his
whole ministry was one of reconciling the world to him. Even with his birth he
brought together the lowly Jewish shepherds
and the rich, Gentile magi. He ate with sinners, touched the unclean,
protected an adulterer from death, and still at the same time he dined with
Pharisees and Sadducees and taught lessons in the synagogues. Jesus’ ministry was
a ministry of bringing all people to him, because as mentioned before all
people are of sacred value.
If we are truly to live as
ones who are in Christ, if we want to see the beauty of new creation in its
fullest, the we are called to be in reconciliation to all the world. We are
called to view and treat all humans as sacred beings, ones who are loved by
God. This means that we must reach out to those who are richer and poorer than
us, those from different ethnic backgrounds, those with different beliefs. Not
only must we reach out to them, but we must allow them to reach back to us. If
we view ourselves simply as someone bringing the good news to those who don’t
have it, then we are viewing ourselves as better and not of the same sacred
value. If we truly want to be in Christ, if we truly want to see the amazing
power and beauty of new creation here on earth, then as ambassadors of Christ
we are called to be in the ministry of reconciliation. Drawing ourselves closer
to each other, and in doing so drawing the whole world closer to God.
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