A Western Theology Of Reconciliation

Sin estranges and alienates people from God and each other, but God reconciles the world to himself through Christ. Christians celebrate their reconciliation to God in Christ by means of baptism and the Eucharist. Yet, admission of guilt and genuine sorrow for sin, as made evident in fasting, almsgiving, and other acts, are part of the way the church deals with sin after baptism.

Paul and the Theology of Reconciliation in Christ The message of Jesus is a message of reconciliation. His words, his actions, in fact his whole life, death, and resurrection are concerned with reestablishing a loving relationship between God and the individual; between individuals as brothers and sisters to one another; and between humankind and the world God created. Reconciliation forms an integral part of gospel living. Reconciliation can be understood simply from its secular usage as a coming back together, a restoration of harmony after some separation or alienation (e.g., Acts 7:26; Moses trys to reconcile his countrymen who are fighting among themselves). To be reconciled also means to be at peace within oneself in relation to a situation or circumstance (e.g., 2 Sam. 13:39; David's becoming reconciled to the death of his son Amnon). Paul becomes the theologian of reconciliation. His use of the term puts it into a complex relationship with redemption, salvation, and justification. The very use of reconciliation to describe the relationship between God and human beings acknowledges the human awareness of some kind of alienation or separation. In Colossians 1:21, Paul describes Christians before their redemption as "?estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds?" (nrsv). In Romans 5:10, these people are described as "?enemies?" of God. Reconciliation is the result of God's initiative in Christ: if by Jesus' death we as Christians have been reconciled, Paul reflects then how "?much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life?" (Rom. 5:10, nrsv). In 2 Corinthians 5:17–21, Paul repeats that "?in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.?" The effect on us, Christians, is that we are reconciled by God's action; for our part, we must receive the gift. So Paul begs us to "?be reconciled to God?" (2 Cor. 5:20, nrsv). Not only is reconciliation a gift we freely receive from God, but in so doing we are also entrusted by God with this message of reconciliation. As Paul boasts, we have been given by God the ministry of reconciliation. Paul in Colossians reminds us again that although God has now reconciled us, this gift of reconciliation demands that we remain steadfast in the faith, "?without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel?" (Col. 1:23, nrsv). God is the initiator of reconciliation. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God has completed this divine action of reconciliation. The responsibility of humans is to receive the gift offered. In addition, as Christians, we must be faithful in order not to reject the gift. Furthermore, we are entrusted with preaching the gospel message of reconciliation. We are to be ministers of reconciliation, ambassadors of Christ. The action of God in Jesus not only affects the relationship of human beings with God, but also affects the relationships between persons and groups, particularly joining together Jews and Gentiles into the one body of Christ (Eph. 2:16). Reconciliation focuses first on the initiative and the definitive action of God, and then on our human response and the ongoing conversion within the community of faith. Finally, Paul envisions the created world in solidarity with sinful humankind, rejoicing in the reconciliatory gift. Paul proclaims that through Jesus "?God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross?" (Col. 1:20, nrsv). Paul's theological vision builds on God's dealing with humankind from the very beginning, as the Hebrew Scriptures testify to it. From the creation story in which everything, including man and woman, is created and declared good by God, the Scriptures testify about the movement of these first humans, by their disobedient choice, away from and to alienation from the God, who had intimately walked with them in the garden. The rest of the Hebrew Scriptures consist of a single long narrative of God's continual reaching out to human beings, who consistently choose to do evil and to reject the life and love which God offers. If the Hebrew Scriptures tell us a story of humanity's or our sins, they also relate our human attempt to acknowledge our sins, to make amends, and to expiate the wrongs which we have done. And so, for example, the Mosaic ritual outlines expiatory sacrifices and other rites, such as the wearing of sackcloth and ashes, which give direction to human admission of guilt and to our readiness to receive God's forgiving love. Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are God's definitive action to offer forgiveness and to establish reconciliation with God forever. No sin is so great as to stand outside the scope of God's forgiveness. No person, regardless of age, sex, ethnic origin, or whatever else divides humanity, is excluded from the reconciliation God offers in Jesus. There is recognition, then, that sin is the breakdown of relationship between God and humanity, a breakdown between us as human persons, a breakdown also between us and our world. Christian faith believes that God in Jesus heals these division and establishes a love union so wonderful that Paul identifies it as making us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Baptism and Eucharist; Confession and Penance Granted the need for reconciliation and God's provision of this reconciliation through Jesus, how have we as Christians understood our own entrance into reconciliation with God? Being baptized has always meant the personal receiving of God's reconciling gift. And so we are baptized into Jesus. This primary step establishes the new creation relationship between God and baptized individuals. Another major step in reconciliation is the baptized Christian's participation in the Eucharist. Not only do we as Christians remember and enter into the central reconciling act of Jesus' own life, but we also identify with Jesus in Communion and so find ourselves in communion with all the members of the community. These two major moments in reconciliation, baptism and the Eucharist, are celebratory in that they focus on the restoration of union, of new creation, and of life. But there is another aspect to reconciliation in which the focus is more on the confession of faults or sins that cause the breakdown of the reconciliatory relationship and on the performance of penance to mark the sincerity of our human response to these sins. Fasting, almsgiving, and various acts of penance such as self-inflicted pain have traditionally been a part of a penitent's reconciliation. Admission of guilt, of being a sinner, is an even more central piece. As the early Christian church discovered, certain sins by its members were not only public offenses against God, but they also were disruptive or harmful to the life of the community. The only recourse seemed to be excommunication—a declaration that these persons had cut themselves off from the community of faith by their sinful action. The three most common sins eliciting this response of excommunication were apostasy, adultery, and murder. The church in its reflection on the words of Jesus about forgiving seventy times seven times slowly came to identify a certain ritual action specifically aimed at the confession of serious sin and at forgiving repentant sinners and receiving them back into the community and its Eucharist. At first, it was a ritual action to be experienced only once in life after baptism. Later development in the church identified the ritual action as one that could be used as often as necessary. The elements of this ritual action remain the same, even if there was some slight change in the ordering of elements in its earliest days. The sacramental elements are the confession of sins; the absolution or forgiveness of sins by the priest minister; and some sort of penance performed to demonstrate a firm purpose of amendment. Today, the important areas which need to be developed in the theology of reconciliation are threefold. First, we as Christians need to better understand the ecclesial and social nature of reconciliation in its various forms. Second, we need to develop a greater appreciation for creating reconciliation rites as an integral part of ecclesial worship. Finally, we must forge a true union of celebration between an individual's reconciliation and the church's mission of reconciliation.