A Sure Thing
2 Corinthians 5:1-5
Paul uses metaphors to convey his message in the same way
that Jesus used parables. Jesus’
parables took complex concepts and framed them in a way that the common people
could easily understand. Speaking in
terms of agriculture, the weather or other commonalities familiar to his
listeners, Jesus made his message clear, and helped those who heard him (“Let
the one who has ears, hear and understand!”) absorb the gospel and translate it
into a message that would serve them well in their daily lives.
Paul, writing and speaking mostly to Gentiles, uses
figures of speech they would understand. He speaks of races and other athletic
contests. He refers to our bodies as
“jars of clay.” He uses terms from legal
language that would have been familiar to those who read and heard his letters. He compares the church to the human body.
We find one of these figures of speech in Paul’s second
letter to the church at Corinth. He has
been speaking of the ultimate destruction of our jars of clay, the passing away
of our human bodies. He talks about the
body as a tent, and says that we shouldn’t be concerned about this dwelling
being destroyed. We have a better piece
of real estate waiting for us in the presence of God—a house that will be ours
for all eternity.
He
assures his readers—which includes us, since we are also his readers—that this destruction
of our physical bodies is necessary in order to inherit the imperishable
dwelling that awaits us. When “what is
mortal” is “swallowed up by life,” we will be given clothing that will be
better and more complete than the earthly tent we now inhabit. He sort of mixes metaphors here, between
tents and clothing, but the central idea is the same—we will inherit an eternal
dwelling place.
How
do we know this will come to pass? Do we
only have Paul’s word to rely on? Isn’t
that a little scary, even given that Paul is among Jesus’ faithful apostles,
and one whose word can be trusted?
It
turns out we don’t have to take Paul’s word that what awaits us after life ends
is better than anything we have here—and he uses a real estate term to make his
point. The last phrase of today’s
reading tells us that God “has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
If
you’ve ever bought a house you know that, in order to seal the deal, money has
to change hands—not the full amount, but enough to constitute “earnest
money.” It’s the buyer’s way of telling
the seller, “I’m serious about this.
Here’s a deposit to guarantee
that I’ll go through with the purchase.
The deposit doesn’t have to be much (we’ve put down as little as $100
for some of the houses we’ve bought), just enough to say, “We intend to go
through with the deal, and here’s money to show we’re serious.”
This
is the “guarantee” of which Paul speaks.
God seals the deal with us by giving the Holy Spirit to work in and
through us. This is God’s way of saying, “I’m serious
about this. Accept the presence and work
of the Holy Spirit in your life and I’ll guarantee that, when life is over,
your real estate will be waiting for
you.”
All
we have to do to keep our side of the bargain is let the Holy Spirit live in us
and transform us day by day into the people God would have us be. Of course, our side of the bargain isn’t
easy. God requires that we be attentive
to the Spirit’s voice and leading. We
can no longer be completely in charge of our lives because the Spirit leads us
to follow God’s will rather than our own.
Still,
you’re not going to find a better deal anywhere else.
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