Before my mind begins to wander in another direction, I feel it is appropriate to continue my thoughts on Christian community. As I try to follow Jesus, I find myself increasingly passionate about the idea of reconciliation. I don’t think this passion is something I should keep to myself. Paul writes in his second letter to the church in Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (II Cor. 5:17-19)” Reconciliation with God through Christ is the foundation upon which the Kingdom of God is built.
Because we made the choice to follow our own way instead of God’s, our relationship with God was severed. This not only marred our relationship with God himself, but also with all of his creation, including the world around us and other people. We even have disunity between our own body, mind, heart, and soul. All of existence is screwed up because we cut the only tether keeping it all together. Christ came to repair that broken link, so that existence would become as it should be. Our reconciliation with God through Christ is that new bond through which all other reconciliation is possible.
What I find very interesting though, is how much reconciliation with each other is tied up with our reconciliation with God. Jesus puts it beautifully, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (Mat. 5:23-24)” We dare not approach the perfect God for forgiveness while we are not willing to approach another sinner. If we are in fact committed to following Jesus, and we truly desire to be forgiven by him, we should have no problem asking forgiveness from each other. And if Jesus, who did no wrong, can forgive even the worst we can do to him, shouldn’t we, who do wrong constantly, be able to forgive each other?
I’ll leave my rant there for the time being. I have so much more to say about this most important subject.
1 comments:
Ah, reconciliation. Without it, I don't see how we have any hope of coexisting with one another as the imperfect beings that we are. Giving and receiving forgiveness are two of those messy aspects of community that I think people leave out in their fantasies that Bonhoeffer was talking about, but are so essential to growth.
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