Reading 1 2 Cor 5:14-21
Brothers and sisters:
The love of Christ impels us,
once we have come to the conviction that one died for all;
therefore, all have died.
He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no longer live for themselves
but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh;
even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know him so no longer.
So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
And all this is from God,
who has reconciled us to himself through Christ
and given us the ministry of reconciliation,
namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses against them
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.
For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,
so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
Gospel Mt 5:33-37
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
Do not take a false oath,
but make good to the Lord all that you vow.
But I say to you, do not swear at all;
not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;
nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Do not swear by your head,
for you cannot make a single hair white or black.
Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’
Anything more is from the Evil One.”
The first reading contains a very rich Pauline theology. He talks about our identity and mission in Christ Jesus.
Three things to note;
- Because Christ died for us and was raised to life so we no longer live for ourselves but for him.
- Through Christ, we have been reconciled with God and made new, we have removed the garment of sin, guilt and condemnation, we are now renewed, sanctified, justified and made righteous.
- We are ambassadors of Christ, commissioned not to judge people but to share with them the message of God’s mercy.
This morning let us meditate on the first point.
We no longer live for ourselves but for God.
This implies that we belong to Jesus who has died for us, our life is now in him, it must be he who lives in us and it must for him that we live. We have become consecrated to him, our lives must be lived in genuine obedience to him, our task is to please and glorify him in every way. We can no longer live as we like but live to like what he wills.
This is how to understand the gospel of today and the whole new interpretation Jesus brings to the law. Today, he warns us from rash and unnecessary oath, from perjury and all forms of falsehood. In other words, we belong to the Lord and we must abstain from whatever doesn’t give glory to him who has paid the price on and for all of us.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on June 15, 2019