Ambassadors for Christ
Lent takes us on a journey with Jesus. A journey towards Jerusalem, through confrontations with leaders and religious arguments with Pharisees and even in-fighting among the disciples.
The journey will end on Good Friday, when we will hear the story of Jesus being judged — being judged guilty by both the state and the religious leaders — and Jesus being executed.
On Good Friday, as we hear the account of Jesus’s trial and the questions Governor Pilate asks him, we will remember this moment:
Governor Pilate says to Jesus: “Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”
Jesus answers: “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the [Jewish leaders]. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” [John 18:33-38]
Maybe we need that reminder: that Jesus’s kingdom does not belong to this world.
When the news we hear of global politics or local management strikes us going entirely against the Gospel —
—and when the news we hear encourages us that God really is at work in our world, doing God’s will on earth as it is in heaven —
Still Jesus’s kingdom does not belong to this world.
The Kingdom of God is built in and around and outside of and through and despite the governments and management systems of this world — but it never belongs to this world. God’s kingdom is free because it belongs to God.
And so we live in a strange place: of living in both this world and God’s kingdom at the same time. Of being formed by the culture that’s around us and by God’s Word. It’s a difficult thing.
In 2 Corinthians, St. Paul gives us a metaphor to help us understand how we can navigate our precarious position:
…[God] reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us… [2 Cor. 5:18-20].
We are ambassadors living in a foreign kingdom, and we are here to represent God’s mission – which is reconciliation between God and people.
And remember: over and over again Jesus connects that cosmic, divine reconciliation with the way we live in human relationships:
- Love your neighbor as yourself.
- Love your enemy, and pray for those who persecute you.
- Love one another, as I have loved you.
Jesus calls us to live reconciled and reconciling lives. The adjective and the verb share an unbreakable bond: because we are reconciled, we practice reconciliation.
We have been so welcomed and forgiven and celebrated by God that it changes the way we see ourselves and other people.
“From now on…we regard no one from a human point of view…So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!” (2 Cor. 5:16-17).
What is new – what is always new and surprising in this world – are the words and actions that flow from God’s reconciliation.
What is always new and surprising in this world is that a desire for healing and relationship could override our egos, our insecurities, our jealousies, our prejudices, our greed. That a desire for healing and relationship could override social norms and weak policies and the havoc of ungodly leadership. And it does have that power, my friends.
The world is constantly shocked to hear that God’s Kingdom’s number one foreign policy agenda is reconciliation.
We are ambassadors of Christ. We are ministers of reconciliation.
How will we advocate for God’s mission today?
– Pastor Kate
Rev. Katherine Museus and Rev. James A. Wetzstein serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing weekly devotions.
April 9, 2025