Proper 5: Epistle, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1                                      

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

There are certain truths in the Bible that are always appropriate to raise. And to remind ourselves of. One is what one of my seminary professors used to teach: “The earthly life of a believer is indestructible until Christ calls him/her home.” Well duh. Who doesn’t know that? And it certainly doesn’t take the degrees required for seminary instruction to figure that out. Ah, but here is where the rub ALWAYS comes. And that’s exactly what my professor pointed out. It’s not the knowledge, but the correct application of it that makes truth the powerful weapon it is. 

Paul writes in our lesson, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day,” and “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2Cor. 4:16; 5:1). Again, pretty basic. But I’m writing this almost sixteen months into a pandemic that has taken millions of lives worldwide. And I want to read the scripture and apply it to where I sit today. First though, as good Bible readers we need to know what it meant to the first hearers. In short, their context is this: it’s costly to be a Christian to the point of perhaps losing one’s life. This life is temporary and so are our earthly bodies. But God be praised, Paul reassures them, there is a real and true body awaiting the disciple of Jesus which is thoroughly unable to be bested through all the coming ages.

And what the ravages of persecution can do to the saint, so can the fallen world’s ravages today through disease and yes, through the current virus in our midst. But I have been somewhat grieved of late that so few followers of Jesus I have met have called to mind the great apostle’s words here in 2 Corinthians. When a culture has no hope for the future and no grounding to believe in a triumphant resurrection, then  temporal safety becomes the primary goal. That, however, should never be the thought process of the baptized believer in Jesus. In fact, one point of strength in our witness during this time is just this: we fear not death. That’s not some slogan for a bumper. That is a sober and yet joyful truth. The believer in Jesus lives neither from nor for this age. The world is passing away. And the Christian holds citizenship in a Kingdom whose future, full manifestation has no end.

We have lost many. We may well lose more. And to grieve is to love. But Christian, whether it be the result of a pandemic, a long-term illness or a tragic accident, live without fear. We know whom we have believed. And his truth is always appropriate.