Heaven and Earth, Reconciled

"Peace on earth, peace in heaven." As hard to believe as peace in the Middle East, or Eastern Europe, or Asia - or anywhere. Yet it is the Lord's will to reconcile all things to himself through the blood of his cross.

Transcript

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 (ESV)

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. 

“Reconciled” is a a heavy, powerful word. Christians often talk about forgiveness, when to forgive, how to forgive, what forgiveness means. We talk about the forgiveness of sins, being forgiven by God, etc. But the word we really should be emphasizing is this heavy, powerful word: reconciliation. Being reconciled. 

What does it mean to be reconciled? One Greek-English lexicon says it means “to reestablish proper friendly interpersonal relations after these have been disrupted or broken,” restoring friendly relations broken by either “presumed or real provocation,” and to work overtly to “remove hostility.” (Louw-Nida, 1996). 

If you have never experienced a broken relationship with anyone, you probably live on your own on a remote homestead in the Yukon. 

ILLUS: A joke is told about two men abandoned on a desert island, being rescued at long last by a passing ship. The sailors notice four buildings on the island built by these two men. They ask one of them what the buildings were for. “Well, one is my house and the other is his house. The third one is the bar, and the fourth building is the new bar. I go there because the guy in the first bar was so unfriendly.” It’s quite possible the second man forgave the first man for leaving to build his own tavern. But that doesn’t change the fact that they were most certainly not “reconciled.” 

The entirety of Luke’s Gospel is about reconciliation. You’ll hear it as we read through the Gospel this year. But it’s not just reconciliation of two men on a deserted island. Jesus is reconciling heaven and earth themselves. He is reconciling the Lord and his holy realm to us and our unholy lives in this fallen world.

Christmas

Luke 2:1–5 (ESV): In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 

 Luke 2:8–14 (ESV): And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people… And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

The shepherds receive the Good News. Caesar Augustus and Quirinius do not. The lowly and humble of the world are anxious to be reconciled. Why not those in authority of power? Because their lack of humility gets in the way. To be reconciled first means admitting a need and taking responsibility. The powerful have no interest in doing that, because they are always right. 

What was the temptation that Eve faced in the Garden, and through her, Adam? That by disobeying God they might become LIKE God. They might be able to sit in judgement, rather than continue to live reconciled with the Lord and all creation.

Jesus comes to bring peace on earth and heaven, and the story starts with the Angels singing that announcement over the fields of Bethlehem: “peace on earth.”

Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28–40 (ESV): As [Jesus] was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

This is the perfect counterpart to Christmas, here at the beginning of Advent! The Son of God who came into the world through womb of a virgin Jewish peasant girl from Galilee now rides to Zion and Jerusalem seated on the back of an unridden baby horse.

This time, though, it is not angels from heaven singing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth.” It’s lowly humans in a backwater capital, followers of a strange God they call the Lord, singing “peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.”

Who are the counterparts to Quirinius and Caesar Augustus at Palm Sunday? Are they not the religious leaders, the Pharisees? “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

Jesus entire ministry is to reconcile a holy heaven with a fallen earth, a holy Lord with a fallen, sinful people. But the powerful fear this. It’s too hard. It’s too humbling. It’s too hard to accept that reconciliation begins in humility. It starts – and ends – with a baby laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes, who grows up to become a Galilean prophet riding into Jerusalem on the back of a baby horse.

Reconciled

Jesus has come that we might be reconciled. First to the Lord, and then to each other. As Paul says, Christianity is a ministry of reconciliation. To quote the Apostle Paul one more time,

Colossians 1:15–20 (ESV): [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 

Where personal relationships are “disrupted or broken,” either by “presumed or real provocation,” hear the angels of Bethlehem and the men of Jerusalem announcing the Good News of Jesus’ victory: “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth – peace in heaven.” And seek reconciliation – for this is what Jesus has come to give. Amen.