Knowing The Word in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, The Ministry of Reconciliation

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

All these things have happened because God has taken up the work of reconciliation. God is the initiator of the process. Had God not sent the Son to die, humans could not have been reconciled to God, regardless of our desire or good will and works. God was in Christ accomplishing all of this. The work of and through Christ was at the initiative of God and no one else. Christ is the divine agent of the Father. Calling himself an ambassador, Paul implicitly makes his authority clear. He has God’s endorsement and his authority, so much so that it is as if God made the appeal himself. To the degree, then, that the Corinthians are alienated from Paul, they are alienated from God.

Grant me to recognize in other people, Lord God, the radiance of your own face.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, 1881-1955