Fourth Sunday in Lent [c]                           March 31, 2019



 



2 Corinthians 5:16-21



16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 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. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.



 



In the Name of Jesus.



 



Paul gives us to know how we may regard one another in the Church—one another in these pews, one another throughout the Church, one another in the Body of Christ.



 



In writing this letter to the Church in Corinth, Paul is writing to a congregation that has had much judgment among themselves. They have been freely making assessments about each other and holding themselves over one another.



 



Some members have not communed with other members. And not due to doctrinal differences which must be reconciled, but they have not communed with fellow members because of cultural differences, even differences in status and wealth, the well-to-do members looking down on the less well-to-do, treating the church as if it were some sort of social group, instead of the Body of Christ.



 



In this Corinthian congregation, some members have been aligning themselves with one pastor, other members with another pastor, and others with another, treating the church as if it were some sort of youth soccer league where you choose your favorite team, instead of the Body of Christ.



 



Some members have looked down on other members because they don’t seem to be as spiritual—their faith doesn’t seem as strong and vibrant, or they can’t speak the Gospel in other languages, or they don’t seem as important and as driven in the congregation—in their judgmentalism, they’ve been treating the church as if it were some sort of spiritual cult, instead of the Body of Christ.



 



We regard,



says Paul,



no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh.



[2 Corinthians 5:16 ]



 



To regard one according to the flesh is to regard that one according to the judgments of this world. It is to use the measurements and diagnosis that our fleshly world uses, but now we’re doing it as we look at a brother or sister in Christ.



 



We once looked at even Christ this way, says Paul.



 



Judged according to the measurements of this world, Christ Jesus doesn’t stack up well.



 



When, according to the reckoning of this world, Christ should have used the accusation of the Law, he instead spoke the mercy of the Gospel. This is Christ Jesus seeing a sinner such as Zacchaeus, and, instead of accusing him, went to his home and ate and drank with him, counting him as friend.



 



When Christ, according to the way flesh judges matters, should have shown discernment and stayed away from someone covered in shame, he instead looks at the woman caught in adultery, and says to the Scribes and Pharisees who wanted to stone her, Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.