4th Sunday of Lent (2 Cor. 5:17-21)

            St. Paul founded many churches around the ancient world. Each parish he established had its own unique character. Every church community had its own set of challenges.

                The church in Corinth was one of St. Paul’s favorite communities but it was also one of the most difficult to minister to.  Corinth was one of the most important cities in ancient Greece.  It sat on a narrow neck of land. On one side was the Aegean Sea.  On the other side was the Ionian Sea.  Ships were dragged across the strip of land on rollers from one body of water to the other.  The process saved two hundred miles of sea travel. Going around the southern tip of Greece was treacherous.  Sailors were encouraged to make out their will if they were going to travel in these waters. Seafarers would usually take the route through Corinth.  

                The city of Corinth was known for its wickedness. A seaport is always full of unseemly characters trying to take advantage of visitors.  Two of the main sins committed in Corinth were drunkenness and prostitution.  In stage plays, anyone who portrayed someone from Corinth acted like they were inebriated.  A temple to the goddess Aphrodite sat on a hill overlooking the city.  At that temple, there lived 1,000 prostitutes.  Each night they would go down to the city to engage in their trade.

                Many Corinthians longed for a moral community.  Christian ethics were embraced as a way out of Corinth’s ethical squalor.  Paul had great success preaching in Corinth.  He baptized many, but he still had problems with this infant church.  The problem he had was that there were factions that developed in the church.  Certain elders fought for control.  Rather than unity there was discord. 

                St. Paul, in the first chapters of his Letter to the Corinthians, reminds the Corithian church that when a person is baptized one of their responsibilities is to be a minister of reconciliation. Every Christian church at every time seems to suffer because of political games.  The Apostles all became exasperated at times with the unwillingness of people to mend quarrels. 

                In the Letter of James chapter 5 versus 19, the author expresses the same frustrations as Paul.  He reminds his listeners that they are to be ministers of reconciliation.  He writes, “Declare your sins to one another, that you may find healing.  The fervent petition of a holy man is powerful indeed…. Remember this: “the person who brings a sinner back from his way will save his soul from death and cancel a multitude of sins.”  The goal of Christian ministry isn’t to expel people from the church, but the goal of ministry is to reunite people with the church community. It is easy to expel people from church; many individuals sow discord in this world. Those who draw people together for the common good are few.  Jesus was a person who valued peacemaking.  We need only remember the beatitude he preached in the Gospel of Matthew, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.”

                We must wonder if peacemaking is valued in our society. Do Christians today feel like they are ministers of Reconciliation? Doesn’t it seem like the people who sow discord are held up as great leaders?  Some talk about people who are disrupters with great awe.  Many people like to be provocative. Sometimes we are called to disrupt things, but the question is what our motivation is. Do we upset things for selfish motivations? Or, do we seek change so that life will be better for everyone?  When Jesus disrupted things, he did so with the intention of remedying injustice. 

                How can we exercise the ministry of reconciliation? We do it the way St. Paul did. St. Paul pointed to Christ.  St. Paul had been a provocateur in his earlier life. He had sought to ostracize the Christian church but then he was touched by God’s grace.  When he realized that he was a forgiven sinner he became a true minister of reconciliation.  He no longer wanted to be superior to others, but he wanted to be united with others. He came to believe that if he could introduce people to their loving savior, Jesus Christ, they would no longer want to be disruptive but be agents of healing. Every Christian’s task is to demonstrate the love of Jesus in action.  If we do, then others will be drawn to Jesus.  When a person lives as a friend of Jesus, he/she will then be ready to be a minister of reconciliation.