The divided church at Corinth...
Illustration
The divided church at Corinth needed to be reminded that they were not to regard any
person simply from the human point of view. Eugene Peterson's, The Message, translates
this verse: "... we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look." The
Corinthian congregation had depersonalized one another long enough. Paul's two epistles
challenged them to look at others through the eyes of Jesus. We followers of Jesus, he
said, are new creations and we are not to look at others simply through secular eyes.
In every age, the church has experienced enormous divisions. There have been wars after wars fought in the name of our faith. We live in a world where the whole society brands and categorizes and brackets and pigeonholes us all. No wonder we are at war at home and abroad.
This text forces us to the hard business of reconciliation. We are to reach across the chasms and begin to build some bridges. The best model we have recently was the response of the Amish community in Pennsylvania to the terrible murders of their five little girls. Those Christians reached out to the wife of the man who murdered their children. They took food and prayed for his family. They set up a fund for the children of the man who killed some of their own. Such real Christianity takes our breath away. When we look beyond the labels of others, we really are born anew. We build bridges where there are no bridges. We reach out where there is no reaching out. Thus, Paul says, we become ambassadors for Christ in a world that knows little of wholeness and reconciliation.
In every age, the church has experienced enormous divisions. There have been wars after wars fought in the name of our faith. We live in a world where the whole society brands and categorizes and brackets and pigeonholes us all. No wonder we are at war at home and abroad.
This text forces us to the hard business of reconciliation. We are to reach across the chasms and begin to build some bridges. The best model we have recently was the response of the Amish community in Pennsylvania to the terrible murders of their five little girls. Those Christians reached out to the wife of the man who murdered their children. They took food and prayed for his family. They set up a fund for the children of the man who killed some of their own. Such real Christianity takes our breath away. When we look beyond the labels of others, we really are born anew. We build bridges where there are no bridges. We reach out where there is no reaching out. Thus, Paul says, we become ambassadors for Christ in a world that knows little of wholeness and reconciliation.
