And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:11 (NIV)
Three Things Already Done
It was 2011 and it was hers, and it was the kind of thing people are let go for. The man whose name was on that office at the time put it away. She has never known exactly how, and she has never asked, and he retired four years later without either of them having said a word about it out loud.
She is on the panel now. There’s a younger one in front of them this morning with something of the same size on the table, and around that table she is the hardest voice in the room, and she has been from the first meeting.
And that is what some of you were. Paul writes that to a church, and he means a list he has given them of the kinds of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of them had been on it, and he tells them so to their faces. Then he leaves the whole description behind them.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
All three of those happened to them. God did the washing. God set them apart as his own. God declared them in the right with him. Three separate things, all three finished, and the Corinthians on the receiving end of every one. He puts all of it behind them while they are still hauling each other into court.
Then he uses it on them. Paul reminds them in order to argue with them, and the argument is one line long. Because of what was done to you, stop doing this to each other.
That is the whole of it. Not be grateful, not remember how far you’ve come. Stop.
What was done for her was never said out loud, and it has never once settled. Paul says his out loud, in front of everybody, and then says it is over.
She votes the way she came in meaning to vote. On the way out she passes the office where it was done for her, and there is somebody else’s name on the door now, and she knows both of those things at once and goes down to the car.
A Prayer to Remember
I keep going back to check whether my name is still on that list, picking at it like a scab. You closed this a long time ago and I’ve been reopening it on my own. Settle me in what you already did, and put me to work today on the one person I’ve quit on.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
