Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year C)
16So then, from this point on we won’t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn’t how we know him now. 17So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!
18All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.
20So we’re ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.
Other readings: Joshua 5.9-12; Psalm 32; Luke 15.1-3, 11b-32
Collect:
Gracious God, whose blessed Child, Jesus the Christ, came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
As we start the upward trek out of the dark this Lenten season, I’m so thankful that this passage is in our assigned readings. I’ve written about it before, but I think some parts of it bear repeating and expanding.[2]
Our Lesson starts with “So then …” This indicates that we need to see what was written before as this passage is based on what Paul just talked about. In some translations, the text starts with, “Therefore …” As one of my old pastors used to say, “‘Therefore’ tells us we need to back up and see what ‘therefore’ is there for.” And rightly so.
The followers of Jesus in the New Testament believed they were in the True Exodus (1 Corinthians 10.1-11) and we can see that implied here. Paul begins this chapter referring to “tents” and “buildings” (verse 1). This alludes to the children of Israel living in tents (as well as Yahweh’s “house”) while wandering in the desert. It wasn’t until after the people arrived in the land of promise that they had permanent buildings.
In the same way, Paul indicates that our physical bodies are just “tents” — temporary housing — that will eventually be replaced with our spiritual, resurrection bodies — our permanent housing. Paul briefly mixes his metaphors and states that we groan while living in these tents because we don’t want to be found “naked” but “dressed” in our permanent home (cf. Romans 8.22-23). He states that God’s Spirit was given as a “down payment for our [permanent] home” (vv. 1-5).
In verses 6-10, Paul states that as long as we live in the body, we’re away from our “home with the Lord.” This isn’t “heaven;” Paul’s still referring to our spiritual, resurrection bodies. We “live by faith and not by sight” because we believe that we’ll eventually live in our permanent resurrection bodies with Christ. The goal, though, is “to be acceptable to [Christ], whether we’re at home or away from home.” He then states something that a lot of people just don’t want to hear, especially my Reformed friends — “We all must appear before Christ in court so that each person can be paid back for the things that were done while in the body, whether they were good or bad” (verse 10). In other words, just like Jesus said, we will be judged by our works (see Matthew 16.27; Revelation 22.12)! Since we’re all going to be “paid back” for the things we’ve done, Paul and his companions try to persuade people to do what’s right and not be caught up in “superficial appearances” like so many others (vv.11-12).
Not being caught up in those “superficial appearances” is important because Paul says he and his companions may act “crazy” (verse 13). If they do, it’s because they’re controlled by Christ’s love (verse 14).
Finally, here’s the point Paul’s been driving to — and the key to our Lesson today — “Christ died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised” (vv. 14-15; NET; emphasis added).[3] I don’t think it could really be any more clear than that — “Christ died for all.”
Because of Christ’s death and, more importantly, because of his resurrection (verse 15; cf. 1 Corinthians 15.17) there are two types of people in God’s family now — those who are “dead” and “enslaved,” and those who are “alive” and “free.”
It’s because of Jesus’ death and resurrection “for all” that Paul can say “we won’t recognize people by human standards.” That is to say, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection for all, Paul no longer sees people like he did before — “neither Jew nor Greek; there’s neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you’re all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3.28).
Paul then states if someone is alive and free currently in Christ Jesus, they’re part of God’s ever-expanding Realm, the New Creation. Right now. Not when they die. Not after God’s Realm finally and fully becomes part of this world’s realm (Revelation 21.1-4). But right now. In the present moment.
This cosmic change just didn’t happen. No; it was part of God’s plan all along. Paul said that “all of these new things are from God” (verse 15). God did this. It’s God’s Great Rescue Operation of all creation in full swing! So how did God do this? Paul double-downs on Christ dying and being raised for all by saying something so profound that most people just overlook it —
“God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them” (verse 19).[4]
Let that sink in, Sisters and Brothers.
This is all past tense.
Don’t let anyone lie to you. God is “not counting people’s sins against them.” God has reconciled “the world” — the whole creation, including you and me and everyone else — back to Godself through Christ’s death and resurrection. As I’ve stated elsewhere —
Christ “died for all” and, therefore, “old things have gone away.” That is, the old way of living, the old way of being, ceased to exist. Universally, cosmically, everything changed. Everything’s moving toward the completion of New Creation — of God’s Realm and our realm becoming One (Revelation 21.1-4). And everyone who’s “in Christ” is “part of the new creation” now. They’re part of the expansion of the Realm of God that began with the incarnation (Mark 1.15), was confirmed by the resurrection (John 20.1, 19), and established by the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (Matthew 13.39-40, 49). Because of Jesus, everything changed. That’s why we should no longer “recognize people by human standards.” Human standards pit “us” against “them.” But because of Jesus, it’s now just “us” — one humanity.
This, dear reader, is truly the Good News! Christ died for all and God is no longer counting people’s sins against them. And because Jesus died for all and was raised to life again for all, we are all part of one humanity!
Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God (Ephesians 2.14-16).
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[3] Scripture quotations marked (NET) are taken from the New English Translation. Copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
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