“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
We seldom know the whole story….that isn’t strong enough…we never know the whole story. It is impossible for us to know the whole story. Only God knows the whole story. Given this truth, this is where we must start.
For example, in all of the years that I have read the writings of the Apostle Paul, I’ve been aware that I don’t know his whole story. I’ve guessed along the way, but only guessed. I’ve read between the lines of a writer who was raised as a Jew but also a natural born Roman citizen. A young boy sent away to boarding school to study under Gamaliel in Jerusalem and therefore entering the double bind of an “outsider” who would never truly and fully be accepted as an “insider” – a position that would curse him for the rest of his life, both as a budding Pharisee and as a passionate Christian and spokesman for the faith.
Such a “guess” helps me better understand the rage that Paul felt and wrote about when he heard about the two-faced dinner etiquette of Peter eating with the Gentiles. Even though Acts tells us that Peter was the one given the vision of inclusivity, that wasn’t enough to motivate Peter to act differently when around Jewish/Christian leaders then he did when safely removed from their influence. Paul would have none of that!
So it is with all people, everyone we’ve met, everyone we’ve known, even to the extent that we know ourselves. We never know the whole story. Only God knows the whole story.
But we know what we need to know.
And what we need to know is that we have never met, never known and never even imagine a person unloved by God. For God so loved the world, the cosmos, the creation, that he sent his Son to live, die and live again. When we are baptized, when we enter into that great equalizer of death, we are raised to the new life that is ours in Christ. WE are transformed and that transformation leads us to SEE others in an entirely new light. We see others, all others, as beloved children of God.
Of course others might not see themselves in that same light. Which is the ground of our calling then to proclaim good news into their lives in word and deed, that they might also come to see life as we do. We might disagree about much, we might be very very different people, but the one thing we all have in common is the love of God. We don’t know the whole story…but we already know the end.
And so it is that Paul can say “therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view” – Paul just can’t look at someone without seeing the love of God. And that does indeed change everything. No one can be dismissed out of hand. There is no “outside”, only a broken “inside.” There is a deeper story that undergirds the mysterious stories of our lives. Our calling is to live connected to that deeper story for the good of the world.
Let us pray: Lord God, you continue to shape us, to bring to full harvest the seeds of faith which have been planted in our lives. You see what we cannot see, know what we cannot know. And yet you reveal enough to guide us in our walk. Continue to shine that Light before us as we carry the news of your new creation into these lives which we now live. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
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