Painting by Japanese artist Soichi Watanabe
The early Christians were faced with a difficult choice. Which aspect of Christ’s life should they emphasise when they were experiencing tensions and divisions in the communities they had founded?
Should they emphasise Christ the miracle worker who performs miracles and heals?
Should they emphasise Christ the philosopher, the logos who embodies human wisdom, or Christ the teacher who teaches and reveals the mysteries of the Kingdom of God?
Should they prioritise the ethical teaching of the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’? Should we emphasise Christ who sheds new light on the law of Moses?
All these aspects are important, but they are universal: Christ is not the only one to perform miracles, to deliver teachings of wisdom, or to propose the golden rule as a synthesis of behaviour.
The heart, the centre of the Christian faith, is the Cross and Resurrection of Christ, scandalous to Jews and foolishness to pagans, but for those who are saved, they are the very power of God – the miracle of miracles – the very expression of God’s wisdom and the secret of the unity of the Christian community.
Let us look at some of Paul’s writings!
The key to unity
To a divided community, Paul’s message is ‘Jesus crucified,’ with whom he is in such deep communion that his whole person is imbued with his humility. Thus, the Risen One acts through the Holy Spirit when his cross is lived and proclaimed. His work is to reconcile us, in God, with one another.
A divided community…
The community of Corinth is indeed divided. And deeply so. Within it, clans are opposed to each other. Some claim to follow Paul, others Apollos (1 Cor 3:4). Enmities arise between members to such an extent that lawsuits are brought (6:1-11).
Moral issues were shaking the Church (5:1ff), particularly sexual misconduct (6:12ff). Paul had to remind them of the meaning of marriage and celibacy in the Lord (7:1ff; 11:1-16).
Some members lack discernment and continue to participate in rituals of their former religion (10:14ff).
The rich do not care for the poor. The latter are discriminated against during the most sacred moment of community life, the Lord’s Supper (11:17-22).
Its worship services sometimes descend into anarchy (14:26ff). Some believe that the dead do not rise again and reject the resurrection of Christ (15:35ff).
But God continues to love it
Despite all these problems in the Corinthian community, Paul continues to cherish it and consider it chosen, which is extraordinary. He begins his letter thus: ‘I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in him you have been enriched in every way…’ (1:4).
And he ends it thus: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. My love is with all of you in Christ Jesus’ (16:23ff).
Jesus crucified, the key
Let us now see how Paul went about calling on the Corinthians to overcome their divisions! He tells them one thing, which he explains in many ways:
‘I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ—Jesus Christ crucified’ (1 Cor 2:2).
Jesus crucified: this is the key to unity for the apostle! But what does he mean by these two words? And why did he want to know nothing else among this community but Jesus crucified?
For Paul, the cross is not only that terrible moment when Jesus was hung on a piece of wood in Jerusalem. The shadow of the cross hangs over the whole life and ministry of Jesus. It is the symbol of the humility with which Jesus lived his entire life.
The incarnation of Jesus is already an act of humility: the eternal Son humbles himself and takes on the flesh of a young woman. The circumstances of his birth clearly demonstrate this: the wood of the manger foreshadows that of the cross.
His hidden life in Nazareth for thirty years also bears witness to this humility. So does his three-year ministry, during which he gives words of eternal life, heals the sick and raises the dead: he always withdraws into the desert to kneel before his Father.
Faced with opposition from the very beginning, Jesus always remains confident.
During his last meal with his friends, he washed their feet.
In the Garden of Gethsemane and the next day on the cross, he experienced the extreme of humility. At the very moment when he felt abandoned by God, he turned to him and forgave his executioners: ‘Father, forgive them! … Father, into your hands I commend my spirit!’
When Paul describes the qualities of love in his famous hymn in chapter 13 of the first letter to the Corinthians, it is in fact the love that animated the crucified Jesus that he sings about:
« Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. » (13:4-7)
The key to unity is…
the love of Jesus crucified that Paul emphasises,
that love which is ‘the highest way of all’ (12:31)
that love which we must ask the Holy Spirit to pour into our hearts,
that love which is greater and more desirable than the most excellent charismatic gifts,
that love which is the promise of the messianic age: ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh,’ says the Lord (Ezekiel 36:26). Rereading paused here, 25.9.
Paul was convinced: death could not hold Jesus crucified. God raised him up, and now the Risen One lives forever among us.
He desires to infuse our hearts with his humility. He gives us his Spirit to make us workers of truth and justice. The fruit of his work in our lives is peace and unity in the community.
Paul’s call is always relevant: only by looking to Jesus crucified can we find a little truth amid the confusion and a little peace in a world where we constantly accuse one another.
Jesus crucified, a window open to the Holy Spirit
Paul proclaims Jesus crucified not only through his words, but also and above all through his life.
He humbly presented himself to the community in Corinth: ‘I came to you weak and trembling with fear’ (2:3).
But what happens when the crucified Jesus is proclaimed? What happens when we welcome opposition and difficulties in communion with him?
For Paul, the Holy Spirit acts with power!
Proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ allows the Holy Spirit to act. Paul was convinced of this. Reconciliation in the community is therefore his work, not that of Paul, who is only an instrument.
Similarly, welcoming every suffering in communion with Jesus crucified is a window open to the Holy Spirit. This is how ‘your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear’ (Isaiah 58:8).
Welcome one another!
First-century Roman society resembles our own in many ways, with people of different cultures, beliefs and religions trying to live together. Paul writes to a small Christian community marked by this cosmopolitanism. An additional challenge is that some members are of Jewish origin. How can we be Church together with such marked differences?
This question remains highly relevant today. The answer in Paul’s letter to the Romans is illuminating. Yes, it is possible to live together if we trust in a God who has shown his love by giving his Son Jesus, the Messiah promised to Israel and the light of the nations! Paul calls on them to recognise that he died for their forgiveness and rose again to live among them and unite them. Through faith in him, this becomes a reality.
That is why Paul concludes his letter with this appeal: ‘Welcome one another, then, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God’ (Rom 15:7)!
The destruction of the dividing wall
Another great text is the second chapter of the letter to the Ephesians. Through the cross, Christ brought unity between Jews and non-Jews. We must always return to this fundamental text.
« But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. He abolished in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the hostility. » (Ephesians 2:13-16)
There was great hostility between Jews and pagans. The wall separating the temple symbolised this: pagans were not allowed to enter, on pain of death. They had to remain in the pagans’ courtyard.
Jesus destroyed this enmity: he reconciles us with God and with one another. He destroys the wall of separation, alienation and hatred. He creates a new, reconciled society.
This new humanity, characterised by communion between Jews and pagans, is realised and developed through personal union with Christ. In him, Jews and pagans form ‘one new man’. This reality has taken on a new dimension today with the unprecedented rise of Messianic Judaism.
But this new unity through Christ and in him is not limited to bridging the gap between Jews and Gentiles. Elsewhere, Paul applies it to all other social divisions. (Col 3:11; Gal 3:28)
The painting by Japanese artist Soichi Watanabe at the beginning of this article expresses this well. He sent me a photo of it after receiving various reports of my participation in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Jerusalem in January 2016. [1]
This was part of the ‘Ascents of Jerusalem’, where we prayed with the churches of the Old City and also with Jews who recognise the messiahship of Jesus.
He told me of his joy: what we experienced corresponded exactly to what he wanted to express in this painting, based on a meditation on this text from the letter to the Ephesians.
He depicted Jesus, the cornerstone, reconciling Jews and non-Jews through his cross, but also all the divided people of our world.
To live together in unity, we must constantly look to Christ crucified, the cornerstone or capstone.
But the Crucified One is also risen: the yellow colour expresses the light of his resurrection.
It is in him that the Church, represented by the stones, is built. The blue surrounding the building symbolises the Holy Spirit who carries the Church, the dwelling place of God, the body of Christ, the house of the Spirit.
The Crucified and Risen One is the ‘cornerstone’ (2:20). Reference to Jesus is therefore essential to the unity and growth of the Church. Unless it is constantly and firmly attached to Jesus Christ, the unity of the Church will cease to grow, or will develop in a disorderly manner, or even disintegrate.
‘Rejected stone’
In the first letter of Peter, the image of the stone is used to understand who Jesus Christ is in his relationship with the Church (1 Peter 2:4ff).
Through his cross, he is the ‘stone rejected’ by the builders, but through his resurrection he is the ‘cornerstone’.
This is a call to focus on Christ who died and rose again. Without him, no one can stand… The community collapses. With him, it grows in unity.
Jesus crucified and risen is to be placed at the heart of everything. In union with Christ, the living stone, we too become living stones. The risen one lives in us. We participate in his life. And we form a spiritual edifice, united and solid.
The Resurrection of Jesus
The cross is, of course, the summit of Jesus’ humility. But what about the resurrection? Can we say that it also demonstrates Jesus’ humility? Let us read the texts with this question in mind and we will see that humility is in fact their primary characteristic. The women who discover the empty tomb are afraid; they dare not speak. When they announce the news to the apostles, they think they are mad. Jesus’ resurrection does not impose itself; Jesus does not take revenge on those who nailed him to the wood.
When he meets his disciples, it is never in a public place, with trumpets blaring. His disciples do not recognise him at first. Resurrected, he keeps his cloak of humility on to make them understand that the most important thing for them is to clothe themselves with humility and love in their mutual relationships (1 Peter 5:5; Colossians 3:12).
As it is the sign of Christ, humility is the mark of Christians. By living it, they allow the fragile presence of the Risen One among them (Mt 18:20ff). To sit at our table, Jesus stands at the door and knocks; he does not force our freedom. It is our humility that opens the door to him. It is what attracts him.
He seeks in us what characterises him. Humility unites and contains the Risen One. But pride divides and closes the door to him. When the Risen One is present among us, there is hope for the Church. He renews her, enlightens her, heals her, reconciles her, makes her shine and draws multitudes to himself. He makes her one, holy, catholic and apostolic.
[1] See my column ‘Praying for unity in Jerusalem’. https://www.hoegger.org/article/prier-pour-l-unite-a-jerusalem/
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