A New Creation

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday, June 23rd, 2024:
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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2 Corinthians
​5.14-17

Brothers and sisters: The love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

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!

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

It’s fairly basic theology to say that we are made new through the saving work of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. That’s the why for our “alleluia.” That’s the reason we worship, praise, and glorify God.

Yet, in our current culture, we’ve lost the sense of what the nature of that change is and what it was really for. Being new sounds nice and shiny, like when a car company releases this year’s model of the same car and there are just enough tweaks to justify the claim that this year’s model is “better” than last year’s – or when we’ve had a glow up. We like that kind of newness – the kind that isn’t really new.

Because we are, after all, born “innocent,” “this way,” “for this,” and every other well-intended but theologically shallow pop lyric. If I’m already born with everything I need inside me, I don’t need any change other than a surface-level polish. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

So, why did Jesus need to die for us if we were born with everything we need? Is it because life is hard and we need a boost to get back on the right path? I wouldn’t need to be a new creation for that. If anything, I’d be a kind of refurbished creation – maybe not as nice as the factory-new version, but operating as expected. His life, death, and resurrection seem a pretty severe solution to essentially resetting us to the factory settings.

The reality is that the need in us was far greater. We weren’t like a car dented in a fender bender. We were totalled. In fact, we were a totalled lemon. From birth, we weren’t operating according to God’s original design but, in fact, had a flaw melded into our nature through the stain of original sin. The only way to get rid of that sin is to be made a new creation by God, which was made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice.

Through our baptism in Christ, we are no longer burdened by original sin and can make the choice to fully accept God in our every action, both inside and out. Through that renewal, we are truly made free.

Whenever I’m tempted to diminish the why for Jesus’ sacrifice, Paul’s words to the Corinthians stand as a reminder of the profound newness Jesus brought about in me. His death brought me new life. I am not a hastily done refurb job but a completely new creation, redeemed and renewed at great cost. And for that truth, let my “alleluia” forever resound in my heart, in my words, and in my deeds.


Stéphanie Potter

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