What does an armed robber from Wisconsin and a headhunter from the Himalayans have in common?
It’s impossible to experience what receiving that angelic message must have felt like for those shepherds the night Jesus was born. Nobodies, probably with no aspirations of an education for their children, perhaps plagued by patterns of abuse and dysfunction, were visited with the greatest announcement the world would ever know. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Just like that, there was more than hope… more than a promise… there was an announcement that things on earth would finally begin to be reclaimed in a way that would bring God’s true Shalom.
Today’s passage contains that familiar verse, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (v. 17 NKJV). The armed robber and the headhunter have this in common: I have personally witnessed their “old” life having passed away and their “new” bringing life to their communities because of the transformation of the Holy Spirit. My god-brother, Martell, who grew up around Eastbrook, committed multiple armed robberies long ago. Atsem Konyak is from one of the last headhunter tribes on the planet in the Indian Himalayas. Yet, God Himself imputed the accountability for the trauma, fear, grief, and loss caused by these men… onto Himself. Jesus “became sin” that Martell and Atsem might “become the righteousness of God”. When these men trusted Christ, the old passed away. “The flesh” was to be regarded no longer.
Today, Martell’s sole passion is to bring the peace of Christ back to his community through his real estate investment business, serving otherwise vulnerable tenants with understanding, and working together, no matter their record. Atsem Konyak is the pastor of a church in a persecuted part of India where believers often lose their jobs and are even disowned when they follow Christ. But these men have something else in common—they will one day celebrate together before the throne marveling that they were reconciled at just around the same time for the most unlikely of reasons. Will you be reconciled, too?
For Reflection:
- Work this week on memorizing 2 Corinthians 5:20.
by Ryan Atwood
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