So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:20–21 (RSV)
St. Paul pleads with the Christians at Corinth to be reconciled to God. It is a plea that has no hope of fulfillment if it is to come from us. To be reconciled means to repair that which has been broken. Sin has broken our relationship with God. How can we repair it when our sin is ever before us?
We cannot restore what we have broken. We may long to do so, promising God all manner of repentance and holy living, we know it will not happen. St. John reminds us, 'if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.'
In the act of love, the Father sends His only Son to bear in Himself what we cannot. Jesus, the sinless One, become sin, our sin, taking it into Himself, and by His death on the cross, breaking its power over us. As the Father raised Jesus from the dead, the victory over sin and death is complete. God has reconciled Himself to us through Jesus.
We enter this reconciliation through our baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. The Holy Spirit calls us to live by faith in the righteousness given to us through the reconciliation we have received from our Father.
Reconciled, we become ambassadors of Christ, sharing this Good News through all we say and do. We make Jesus known to all who can receive it and bless God for so great a gift.