“…in that community [the
community of faith] Christ made the other Christian to be grace for us. Now
each stands in Christ’s place. In the
presence of another Christian I no longer need to pretend…Christ became our
brother in order to help us; through Christ other Christians have become Christ
for us in the power and authority of Christ’s commandment. Other Christians
stand before us as the sign of God’s truth and grace.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, Fortress Press, 2015
(Reader’s Edition), page 88. [Italics mine].
Bonhoeffer prefaces the above
with John 20:23, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if
you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
I am not sure that the above
can be understood apart from John Chapters 13 – 17; or perhaps I should say “touched”
apart from Chapters 13 – 17, for I don’t know that they can be understood. I am
also aware that our experience informs our approach to the above, especially
our bad and painful experiences. Some of us used to think that we could not
know God intimately but that an approach to God required a human mediator;
others of us have trusted others and been hurt; others have been raised with prejudices
against other Christian traditions that cause us to instinctively react against
certain ideas without considering possible Biblical foundations. Were the “I”
of today to meet the “I” of decades ago the “I” of decades ago would label the “I”
of today a heretic, for the “I” of decades ago was a narrow-minded
self-righteous religious bigot. This was fostered, I believe, by an insecurity
born of not knowing the reality of the Atonement, of justification by faith in
Jesus Christ. My bigotry was sustained by my insecurity.
If there is a central mystery to
John 13 – 17 it is, to me, the mystery of the koinonia of the Trinity in
redeemed humanity and the koinonia of redeemed humanity in the Trinity. This
is, necessarily, a “we” experience, just as the “we” of the Trinity is shrouded
in the mystery of God is One; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I am drawn to
Christ, we are drawn to Christ; I live in Christ, we live in Christ; Christ
lives in me, Christ lives in us.
And so we have Christ sending
us into the world as the Father sent Him into the world; we have Christ telling
us that we can forgive and retain sins. James (James 5:19 – 20) writes those
who turn wanderers from the truth back to the truth “will save a soul from
death and cover a multitude of sins.” John writes (1 John 5:16), “If anyone sees
his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He
will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death…” I am quoting
verses I don’t understand, I may have touched them but I do not understand
them. I have a sense that I have probably been touched by them more than I have
touched them because I can’t imagine being where I am (wherever that is!)
without the patient intercessory prayers of others. I should be a castaway, yet
I am not – others must have prayed for me, others must be praying for me…I
would be a fool to think otherwise. If nothing else, what James and John write in their letters should remind us that there is a lot we don’t know – rather than
explain it away let’s admit there is much we don’t know.
“For as the body is one and
has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12). This is a statement of reality – the Head
is not apart from the body, Christ and His people are a unity. We then are the
presence of Christ to others, and others are the presence of Christ to us – to see
this in some measure is to be careful how we treat one another, how we think of
one another, how we pray for one another. To make merchandise of this is to
profane it, to embark on a trajectory that exalts “self” and seeks to usurp the
Head of the body.
Bonhoeffer writes above that, “In the presence of another Christian I no
longer need to pretend.” But what is our experience? Pretending is often
what is socially expected, whether explicitly or implicitly communicated. After
all, we’re talking about “church” and there are certain ways we are expected to
behave “in church” and with other Christians – we have images to live up to,
decorum to maintain, masks to wear.
When we gather I do think that
we need to be sensitive to one another, for not all things are edifying in a
large group that may be necessary and desirable in a small group or with close
friends or with those to whom we are accountable. We can learn from Paul’s
desire that “all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40). As we
love and pray for one another we can acknowledge that we are all in the process
of being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29) and that
includes God working deeply within us about some things that may be best shared
with only a few. I also think that there are some things best shared only among
other brothers or only among other sisters. Let us keep in mind Bonhoeffer’s
warning in the previous chapter that, “Other persons have their own secrets
that may not be violated without the infliction of great harm. Nor can they
divulge them without destroying themselves” (pages 81 – 82).
Pretending has to do with trying
to make people think that I am someone I am not. I am not perfect, so let’s get
that out of the way as soon as we can. I do not know everything, so let’s burst
that balloon right away. I have not lived a perfect life, so while I will not
delve into the past I will tell you that I have great remorse over many things
and am thankful that Christ has forgiven me. I am still tempted, pray that I
will flee to Christ and my brothers for help. I still sin – please pray for me
and affirm the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
If we could see the glory of
Christ in those around us we would know that we are surrounded by grace and
mercy, and if those around us will acknowledge that they are the presence of
Christ to us then we will find ourselves in a safe place, a healing place, a place
of redemption. God is in His holy
Temple, but does His holy Temple know it?
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