So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Cor. 5:17)
After the man who had been born blind experienced Jesus’ healing touch, those who had known him as a beggar weren’t sure that he was the same person (Jn. 9:8-9). It was like they didn’t recognize him any more, he had changed so much. The touch of Jesus can do that to people.
Apparently, death and resurrection change a person, too. We know because Jesus’ disciples had such a hard time recognizing him after he had been raised from the dead. He was the same person, but not the same. He was the beginning of the new creation – the beginning, remember, but not the end! For in Jesus, hearts and minds continue to be changed and transformed, as what needs to be rooted out is put to death and people are raised to new life.
There are times when it is easy to become cynical and to conclude that people quite simply never change. Perhaps not, all by themselves, but Jesus continues to have the power to change people’s hearts and minds and to bring about that new creation.
On March 20th there was a joint Lutheran-Anglican event focusing on prison ministry, and an ex-offender shared his story. In his case, his life has changed, and he now has a wife and family and job. One of the things that he shared was how much it meant to him to have volunteers actually come and visit him while he was in prison. He realized that these people didn’t have to be there. However, they cared enough to come and visit and to share their faith in Jesus.
His story is one of the good ones, where change for the better has taken place, and where he has, in essence, put to death his old life in order to rise to something new. Of course, this doesn’t always happen, and I suspect that many people are prone to write off anybody who ends up in prison.
At the same event, I spoke with a volunteer who has visited and supported prisoners and ex-offenders for many years. We spoke about those times when we had been conned by people who claimed to have changed but really hadn’t. However, we both had to acknowledge that even though there had been times when we had been “taken”, God had continued to provide. We hadn’t suffered any lack as a result. At the same time, this man knew that God would continue to work through him in order to reach the people who most need his help.
The thought of prison ministry is a tough one for many people, even though it is grounded in Matthew 25 (…you visited me). However, even in prison God changes minds and hearts, and a number of studies have shown that those who are visited while in prison have a far better chance of success once they are released.
Of course, not everybody has a dramatic story about how they once were lost but now are found. For some of us, there are far subtler things in our lives that need to be put to death and buried so that new life can grow in their place. For some, it is the belief that we can do it all on our own that needs to die. For others, the belief that the universe revolves around us needs to die. For still others, the overwhelming attachment to material things needs to be dead and buried.
Whatever it may be that is keeping us away from God’s abundant life, death and resurrection have the power to change us, as does the touch of Jesus. May we, too, be part of that new creation!
In Christ,
Pastor Lynne Hutchison
