Post-feast of the Transfiguration; Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Lawrence (249-51)
2 Corinthians 2:4-15; Matthew 23:13-22
Dormition Fast.
Read 2 Corinthians 2:4-15
The one to whom Paul is referring, the one who caused pain for all, was a man who fornicated with his stepmother, his father’s wife (see 1 Cor 5:5). When confronted, he was not repentant, and Paul advises the Christian community in Corinth to exclude this man from the eucharistic assembly (which they did). However, this man became sorrowful over his sin and repented. Paul now advises those in Corinth to forgive and renew (the text above uses the word “reaffirm” whereas the Greek uses a rather legalistic word, “ratify”) their love for him. As he has publicly repented, so the community’s forgiveness must be public, and the forgiveness must happen so as not to permit this man to despair of God’s love and the community’s love, and forever be lost to Christ.
Is there anyone I know who has committed a grave sin against the Christian community? Against me? Do I hold them at a distance by not forgiving them? Can I be open to the Lord moving in my life so that I may be an agent of forgiveness and healing to them, and to the Christian community, even to me? Can I let the Lord use me to be the aroma of Christ God to others?