New Creations

New Creations!

2^nd Corinthians 5:14-17

A few months ago when I went to pick up Ainslee and Eli from preschool, Eli’s teacher asked me, “Can I see you a moment?” Of course, every parent knows the range of thoughts that follow a question like this: “What’s he done? Is he OK? Who has he bit? Is my child not keeping up with his peers?” When we went inside, Eli’s teacher asked me, “Do you know what a kanga master is? Eli has been saying all day he’s The Kanga Master and we have no idea what he’s talking about.” I had no idea, at the time, who or what a kanga master was and no one we’ve talked to since does either. Every once in a while, Eli will be playing and imagining and he’ll say, “I’m the Kanga Master.” When it’s time to pick up toys he’ll sometimes say, “I can’t right now. I’m the Kanga Master.” When we want him to eat certain healthy foods it’s, “I can’t. I’m the Kanga Master.” This has almost become Eli’s mantra in life: “I’m the Kanga Master!”

Is my son some kind of superhero and I don’t know it? Is he suffering from an identity crisis? My assumption is that this is simply a child’s imagination at work, and that this will pass, but it’s been several months now and each time Eli says, “I’m the Kanga Master!” I can’t help but wonder if he knows who he is. Maybe he is a Kanga Master…whatever that is.

Have you ever had an identity crisis? Have you ever wondered who you are? Think about it for a moment. Someone asks you at a party, “Who are you?” and how do you respond? Most of us immediately roll into an explanation of what we do for a living, or where we live, or maybe even who our relatives might be. Sometimes our answer could even be a defense or an apology. The typical way we answer this question is a prime example of cultural conditioning. We know how people expect us to answer and so that’s how we answer.

But what if this question is really about something a whole lot deeper? Some of you have expressions on your faces right now that resemble my own when Eli says, “I’m the Kanga Master!” You’d like to understand what I’m talking about but you’re not quite sure. Who are you?

Jesse Jackson often speaks about the greatest cause of social decay in our culture. He says its not racism, poverty, drugs, war, or violence. It’s a deeper problem than these. Jesse Jackson says the greatest scourge on our culture is the lack of self-worth and self-dignity in people.[1] To put it bluntly, we don’t know who we are. Who we are is partly what we do, where we live, and who we’re related to. Who we are is also our favorite sports team, and yes, the car we drive. But who we are is most importantly wrapped up in an expression from Paul in our text today.

Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” New Testament scholar C.K. Barrett wrote this is “…one of the most pregnant, difficult, and important passages in the Pauline epistles.”[2] The hope for a new creation is as old as the prophets. Isaiah wrote: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.”[3] Yet, a lot of us could just as well be saying, “I’m the Kanga Master!” when we hear language like this because we don’t soak in the depth of what these biblical voices mean for us and our identity. What does Paul mean when we writes we are new creations?

Paul writes these words to the Corinthians after a cooling off period. Paul’s relationship with the Corinthian church was the kind no one wants to have with a church – a contentious one. Paul spent a lot of time defending himself and explaining misunderstandings with the Corinthians. And then there was that “incident” – the kind where you only have to say, “Do you remember when…” and you don’t have to say anything more because everyone’s heads are nodding in agreement. Folks know exactly what you’re talking about without saying another word. Something nasty happened between Paul, an unnamed man, and the church.[4] It’s amazing to me that Paul could even write to these folks with the attitude he does – that of a composed, wise sage.[5] Yet he does. Paul tells these people, who have been very painful to him, that they are new creations.

If you and I are to see ourselves as new creations, then we must start with the theological imagination of a child. When Eli says, “I’m the Kanga Master,” he seems to be in another world. For us, we have to nurture hope and expectation of things we might see before we even see them. What do we hope and expect to see before we can actually see it? It’s nothing other than ourselves. Being the new creation is to embrace a vision of how God sees us and live that vision in reality.

Christ’s work on the cross has brought about new creations for us all. Verse 14 reminds us that when Christ died, the penalty for our sins also died. And when Christ rose, we rise with him to new life. The resurrection of Jesus forces us to see Jesus in a new way. He wasn’t just a great teacher. He wasn’t just a healer. He wasn’t just an ethical guru. He’s the Christ!

And since we see Christ in a new way, we also are called to see ourselves and others as new creations as well.[6] Those who have hurt us are new creations. Those we work with are new creations. Our neighbors are new creations. And as followers of Christ, we ourselves are much more than we could have ever imagined – we are the loved, forgiven, and transformed children of God. And we’re to live like it!

Daniel Boorsten, the Librarian of Congress, has written three big volumes on the history of exploration and discovery. He chronicles how certain inventions and discoveries were made. Boorsten writes, “The ability to make a discovery is the ability to see beyond the common sense of the day.” He also says that the first step toward discovery or creativity is taken, “…in the geography of the imagination.”[7] Our first step as the new creations in Christ is to see ourselves and others as the forgiven, loved, and blessed children of God. Yes, it may confuse some. Yes, we may not fully understand what it’s all about and it may not always make sense. But the best news in all of this is that this is not just a mental exercise. This is the reality to which God has called us. And maybe people will begin to say about us, “Maybe those folks are new creations in Christ.”

Amen.

[1] Quoted by Rick Miller, “Ordinary People and the Spirit of God,” The Upper Room Disciplines, 2006 (Nashville, TN: Upper Room Books, 2005), p. 176.

[2] Quoted by W. Hulitt Gloer in “2 Corinthians 5:14-21,” Review & Expositor, Volume 86, Summer 1989, p. 397. C.K. Barrett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Harper’s New Testament Commentaries (New York: Harper and Row), p. 117.

[3] See Isaiah 65:17 and also Isaiah 66:22; Isaiah 42:9 and 43:18ff.

[5] Victor Paul Furnish, “Paul and the Corinthians,” Interpretation, Volume 52, Number 3, July 1998, p. 229.

[6] Glenn T. Miller, “2 Corinthians 5:11-6:13” Interpretation, Volume 54, Number 2, April 2000, p. 187, emphasizes a reconciliation perspective to Paul’s words.

[7] I found this quotation in William H. Willimon’s article, “Another Point of View,” Pulpit Resource, Volume 34, Number 2, April-June 2006, p. 54.