/fairfaxs-website/image-f878f-i65ab.png "Fairfax Presbyterian Church")
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians was written after he became estranged from this community and wrote, “I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit” (2 Cor 2:1). Although he wanted to visit Corinth, he felt that his leadership there was being questioned, and his ministry was being disrupted by people who were “false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ” (2 Cor 11:13). If he came to the city, he feared that there would be “quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder” (2 Cor 12:20). He loved the Corinthians, and more than anything else wanted peace with them. So he made reconciliation the focus of his letter, saying: “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 ... and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ... on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:18-20, emphasis added). For Paul, reconciliation was the heart of the Christian faith —reconciliation of people to God, and people one to another.
But exactly what is reconciliation? In a sermon for the Duke Center for Reconciliation, New Testament scholar Richard Hays said that the interesting thing about the word “reconciliation” in ordinary Greek usage is that it is not typically a religious term. “Rather, it is a word drawn from the sphere of politics; it refers to dispute resolution. So one could speak of the diplomatic reconciliation of warring nations or, in the sphere of personal relationships, the reconciliation of an estranged husband and wife.” The apostle Paul said that God “reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18). God has worked through Christ to resolve a dispute with us, repairing the relationship that had been broken by sin. The work of reconciliation has been started by God, and now Christians are challenged to offer a ministry of reconciliation, resolving disputes between individuals and communities. We do this, said Hays, using “practices that show unity, love, mercy, forgiveness, and a self-giving grace that the world could not even dream of apart from Christ.”
This is a message that the highly polarized and fractured Christian community in Corinth needed to hear, and that we need to hear as well. Today, we struggle with many of the same issues that afflicted the Corinthians: “problems of doctrine, discipline, and vision,” according to professor of history Garry Wills, “problems of class, of gender, of personalities.” We need dispute resolution, and fortunately the work of reconciliation is being done today in churches around the world. In Berlin, Germany, a congregation called Reconciliation Parish sits right next to a fragment of the Berlin Wall that once divided both the city and members of this congregation. Since the fall of the wall, the congregation has worked to bring former enemies into dialogue, and they have found that reconciliation is often the result of people speaking open and honest words such as, “I am sorry. I acted in a wrong way.” Overcoming alienation and establishing new and peaceful relationships is best done through conversation, confession, and forgiveness in a safe Christian community — one that is grounded in the reconciling work of God. Reconciliation begins with what God has done through Christ, establishing a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17) in which Christ’s love governs every perception and action.
At Saddleback Church in California, work is being done to resolve disputes between communities. Promoting reconciliation is at the top of pastor Rick Warren’s agenda, so both he and his church members are trying to do this work in their community and around the world, as people who have been “reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). Every year, members of Saddleback participate in a Christian-Muslim picnic, building bridges of relationship. They partner with African American congregations in the city of Compton, California. Bridges are being built with Hispanic pastors in Southern California, and work is being done to keep young people out of gangs and in school. In the African nation of Rwanda, teams from Saddleback have partnered with church leaders, equipped pastors, and worked on the issue of reconciliation.
Disputes need to be resolved in homes and communities around the world, between spouses, family members, friends, neighbors, church members, cultural groups, races, political parties, and religions. We are challenged to do the work of reconciliation today because we are hurting from division — as individuals, as a church, as a nation, and as a world. Fortunately, reconciliation happens when we speak open and honest words, leading to new and peaceful relationships. Disputes are resolved when we show each other love, mercy, and a self-giving grace. This work can be done in our personal relationships, among groups in our congregations, in our increasingly-diverse communities, and in the world around us. This passage is one of the Bible’s greatest hits because it challenges us to be “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor 5:20) who carry forward the message of reconciliation, based on the work that God has done in Christ.
Questions:
1. How would you define reconciliation?
2. Where do you see dispute resolution being done well in churches today?
3. What can you do to build peaceful relationships in your family or community?
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