2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Ash Wednesday is here, and I hear a voice calling out to make a way in the wilderness. I hear Isaiah calling out, “Now is the time! God is making all things new!” But how can ash from death and new life be reconciled together for beauty?
Can beauty and pain coexist?
Will we ever find freedom from the wars of our fathers?
How will God reconcile the suffering in the Middle East?
How do play a part in all of this?
Though there are many things uncertain to me, I know that the creator of the flowers in the fields and the cosmos that surround us wants to make His reconciling work personal within our very lives and circumstances.
And the Good News is that He wants to do that today.
In scripture you’ll notice that all of the Bible points to a savior who will reconcile us to the Father, and what we see within our passage is one of my favorite descriptions of the heart of God towards His people.
Jesus came so that we can stop trying to be good enough and receive His gift of being more than enough through His sacrificial love. 2 Corinthians 6 says, “We entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the One who knew no sin to be sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” And the good news of the gospel is that it is available to all! He did not come for the elite in society. He didn’t come to give life to those who He could benefit back from. He came so that everyone may have the opportunity to experience life, and experience that life more abundant.
Jesus came so that you and I may be reconciled through His atoning love for us.
This my friends is Enmity to Amity.[1]
John Mark McMillan paints such an outstanding picture of this love for us in his song ‘The Road, The Rocks, and The Weeds.’ (All the places that the parable of The Sower would consider to be bad ground.) Plainly put– a loss of investment.
[Verse 1]
Well, I've got no answers for heartbreaks or cancers
But a Savior who suffers them with me
Singing goodbye, Olympus,
the heart of my Maker
[Verse 2]
And what to tell my daughter when she asks so many questions
And I fail to fill her heaviness with peace
When I've got no answers for hurt knees or cancers
But a Savior who suffers them with me
Singing goodbye, Olympus, the heart of my Maker
A large part of my job as a youth pastor seems to be persuading the group that I pastor to open themselves up to a good God who loves them. Reconciling ourselves to God and others can be intimidating work for somebody young.
Whether that be reconciling them to Christ, showing them how they could possibly ever forgive their best friend for laughing at them behind their back, or walking a 15-year-old boy through a question like, “If God is so good, why would He take my dad from me?” God wants to be involved.
I believe that our God is a God who walks with us through the painful moments that life may bring to us. This is what separates mythological gods like Zeus, Aphrodite, and Ares from Emmanuel–God with us.
Ash Wednesday is a good opportunity for us to remember that there is a God who sees the tears we shed. There is a God who is well acquainted with suffering and pain.
No other god would suffer in our place so that we may be considered righteous and good in His sight.
This week we have the opportunity to lean into the love of God that seeks after us despite the very little that we can offer.
Paul references Isaiah when he says, “In the time of my favor, I heard you, and in the day of salvation, I helped you.”
Then we are told that the time of favor is now!
Which means that God hears us now!
And the day for the help of the Lord is also now!
Thanks be to God.
Now is the day! Today is the day of salvation. Even on a day when we smear ash on our bodies to remind us of death and finitude, we are given the invitation to remember that at the end of death, comes life abundant.
The sins that once separated us from God will no longer have a say in our relationship. Through Jesus, we are reconciled to our good Father. Reconciliation is in the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So Paul pleads us to not take this lightly. There is a grace that is available to all! The God with human scars calls us to come in close. This is the same God that does not just want to reconcile the world, but also make reconciliation personal within our lives and circumstances.
Pray with me,
God I open myself up to your work within my life.
I cannot earn it. I can only receive it; like a gift.
Work within me, Lord.
Take all of my pain.
Because only you can raise life from death,
Amen.
[1] “Reconciliation-Katallage (Greek Word Study) | Precept Austin.” n.d. Www.preceptaustin.org. https://www.preceptaustin.org/reconciliation-katallage-greek-word-study.
[2] McMillan, John Mark. 2020. The Road, the Rocks, and the Weeds. https://youtu.be/rcAazEpsUJY?si=zJHQ6O9ZWGXDFVNd.