RECONCILIATION: BEGINNING AGAIN

On the church’s calendar, Advent marks the beginning of a new year. So on this eighth day of the new year which Advent marks, I’m thinking about starting afresh, beginning again. In essence every Advent season strikes that same note of hope and grace. Kind of like a clean slate, a do-over. And whenever I think of beginning again, starting over, being given a clean slate, being graced with a do-over, I think of that magnificent passage of Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth: "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.

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 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. (2 Corinthians 5:16-18)

For just a moment, allow me to cast a spotlight on the practical wisdom and heavenly principle of reconciliation that Paul proclaims in II Corinthians and to us. Allow me to do so by highlighting the three R’s of Reconciliation:

REGARD others as Christ regards them: as precious creations of God. Look on others in a Christlike way– whether they are different from you religiously or sexually. Regard every person as a precious creation from God’s own gracious and holy hand.

REMEMBER that God’s ultimate agenda is to reconcile the world! The word in Greek is "katallagete," meaning be reconciled, be made whole, be part of the whole family of God’s household, no longer counting their trespasses against them. God has done it. God has made us right and now we have been given the responsibility to be made right with all other human beings.

REPEAT the good news message of reconciliation. What do you do with a message you’ve been given? Simple. You repeat it. So, we are to repeat the message of reconciliation to any and all, as long as we have breath.

You know, I’m not sure I would have done such a gracious act as God did in Christ. I think it’s really much simpler to set up the world with an us-against-them dichotomy and then simply blast to smithereens whoever is the other, the opponent, the different one, the so-called enemy.

I’m sure my adversaries would be different than those assumed by other folks, and they might even regard me as an adversary or perhaps even an enemy. But I’d be just as sinfully slimy if left to my own designs. I’d love to blast certain entities to smithereens and send them to perdition for their incessant malfeasances. But God didn’t do that. No, God simply reconciled the world to God’s Self. And since God did so, I can’t afford to blast anyone.

Which leads me to this conclusion: Those who commit all sorts of hellish acts or express reprehensible attitudes or opinions or who express such sickening condemnation toward people who are different from them are not outside God’s grace either. They too are among those whom God reconciled whether they humbly acknowledge that fact or not. It’s enough if we do, with or without their consent, on their behalf.

[Adapted from "Overcoming the Hell of Hatred" in LIFE IS TO BE CELEBRATED, Caroline Street Press, 2021, pp. 20-24.]