Rest Easy – 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

A text – 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

¹¹ Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Be restored; encourage one another; live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you. ¹³ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sharing in the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

A reflection:

Paul is writing to the very diverse and conflicted congregation in Corinth, some of whom are on the verge of discarding Paul’s work with them. He is writing strongly yet also trying to encourage them. Hence his language use is hard to translate properly, just as those gifted translators at the United Nations must be faced with the challenge of how to translate their assigned speakers accurately and also with care for the whole volatile room that is listening. All the italicized words in the passage are “better translations” of the NRSV’s choices, according to the commentaries I have read.

Translating aside, this is the end of a letter where Paul has embraced, scolded, actually yelled at, whined about, and tried to encourage a congregation that is at war with itself. How does one end such a letter?

By telling them to hug is out. Telling them to let the Spirit restore them to love. Telling them God is with the. Telling them that people all over the Mediterranean love them and wish them well. Telling them that all of the Trinity – Jesus, the heavenly Creator, and the Holy Spirit – is/are present with them if they’ll only choose to experience that instead of their ill will toward Paul and one another. God is more important than your disagreements.

God IS more important than our disagreements. God is bigger than our suffering. God is more powerful than our enemies. God is our origin and our eternal life. We, like the Corinthain congregation, need to hear that our life is taking place inside the larger and longer life of God. We may have gotten our jacket caught on a thorny bush and that stuck-ness is a problem. But our life, our path, our future is inside the actual life of God. Paul is speaking to us. Let’s follow his advice: hug it out, let the Spirit restore us to love, notice God being with us, and know people everywhere are wishing us well. Rest easy.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for Paul’s letters, no matter whether they are easy to translate or not. Help us to remember that advice to 1^st century Christians can also apply to us. Help us to rest easy and let your Holy Spirit once again take us into your life, where we belong. Amen.