2 Corinthians 5

Jesus the Reconciler

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5.18)

Have you ever experienced reconciliation? True, healthy restoration of relationship with a loved one. Anyone who has felt the sting of a dissolved relationship knows the pain that takes its place. There we meet Pain and his companion, Longing, when someone we once called friend has now become a non-friend, or worse, an enemy. A loved one we once called brother or sister, father or mother now with an added prefixed word: estranged. The pain and loneliness is immense. That person occupied a space in our heart, the deepest places of our affection. Reconciliation seems impossible.

We carry the weight of failed relationships heavily, but when we recognize that in some situations we were the cause and the isolation can become unbearable. The guilt of our own self destructions makes reconciliation impossible. We long for restoration but believe nothing can be done.

And this is where Jesus steps in. Not only as our reconciler but as our model of genuine reconciliation. While we were still far from God, enemies of His holiness, Jesus died for us. He endured our death so that we might live. We are not only restored to a relationship impossible to us, we can rejoice that we have been reconciled to God, our Creator, our eternal Father who loves us. And in the reconciling love of Christ we find our calling as followers of Jesus, to be reconcilers too. We are ambassadors of Christ’s restoring good news. We are missionaries who proclaim the message of reconciliation.

Jesus, as I experience your reconciling love, give me strength and wisdom to carry that message of reconciliation to the hurting (especially loved ones I’ve hurt) in the world.

Jesus the New Beginning

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5.17)

Is there anywhere better than to start at the beginning? Like the first day of a new year brought in with fanfare and fireworks, everything is new. Everything is perfect, crisp, clean. But life doesn't often stay in pristine order. A new year is met with new year's resolutions hoping for better things. But things fall apart. Happy moments fall into waves of sadness. Life itself fades away and the beginning is lost over the horizon, left only to memory. Creation begins to creak and seams become torn.

And this is where we find an aspect of Jesus' beauty. Jesus, who was from the beginning and made all things, knew that his freewill creation would soil the image of God found in our souls. He knew as the days stretched into millennia we would lose sight of our Creator and the image He imprinted on us. We can look back over the sin and failure of our lives and recognize that Jesus is not surprised. He knew we would fail.

If we are in Christ we are not only created but recreated. We are made new again. We find in Jesus our Savior, our Creator and Re-Creator. The old and torn image of His love, distorted by our sin, has been made new. As we start this new year we can look on the face of our Lord Jesus who placed breath in our lungs and a new beginning before our feet.

So there is somewhere better to start at than the beginning: a new beginning. Thank you, Jesus, for making me new.