Becoming an Ambassador of Christ

A lot of Catholics, when discussing the readings of the day, typically start with the Gospel and then attempt to make sense of the old testament and/or new testament readings. Some will opt to start with the old testament and compare the old covenant message with the new covenant message. I'm weird, so today I'm going to start with Paul and move outwards.

Today, Paul says,

We are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

The "we" is pretty clearly the early Christian missionaries, the apostles and disciples of Jesus who are preaching to the Corinthians. They are the ambassadors, and those who have only recently become exposed to the Gospel are the ones in need of reconciliation. Two thousand years later, we could hardly consider ourselves ignorant of Christianity, but I wonder how many of us consider ourselves "ambassadors?" We have ambassadors in our world, and are familiar with the concept (especially those of us who have gone trick-or-treating, as young-adult college kids, on Embassy Row in D.C.), but would we connect that concept with religion? When I think of ambassadors, I think of two foreign nations, foreign cultures, with many misunderstandings and competing interests, as well as many common values and partnerships, attempting to work together to solve problems. Often, we think of ambassadors as bridges across those cultural misunderstandings, as knowledge seekers and peacemakers. Occasionally, we think of ambassadors as the last line of diplomacy before the bombs begin to fall. But what does it mean when we apply any of those concepts to Christianity?



For a clue, let's jump to the old testament reading. The reading itself speaks of returning to God, "with fasting, and weeping, and mourning," in order that the Lord might show pity and mercy on the people. In a wider context, the book of Joel describes a plague of locusts, later described as "God's army," that descends among the people because of their turning away (side note, if the Bible's depiction of locusts-as-army is accurate, the U.S. marine corps COLD NOT HANDLE THESE BUGS!)). After this call to fast and repent, the balance of nature is restored and the people of Israel are once again blessed. Perhaps, then, ambassadors of God are the repentant ones, those who turn back to God, praise him publicly, and receive favor from him?

An interesting line in this passage is, "rend your hearts, not your garments," a theme which Jesus picks up on in our next clue, the Gospel. In the old testament, the Israelites are big on external signs of worshipping God. Rituals are very important, circumcision, and following all of the many laws. There are lots of reasons for this, but the Israelites lived in an area of the world where they were surrounded by polytheists, and most aspects of their religion would have seemed very strange, so the external symbols promoted unity and devotion in the face of large external odds, which God protected them from. Jesus changes this, possibly because He's working in different circumstances. In this Gospel, Jesus talks about rewards on earth vs. rewards in heaven. As in the beatitudes, he argues that the internal qualities are more important than the external ones. He says that a person who is fasting shouldn't brag about it, or look dirty, because then only God will know the holy act, which will in turn be rewarded in heaven. Perhaps Jesus is arguing that an ambassador of Christ isn't someone who plays the part, but someone who is holy on the inside.


To go back to Paul, most of us, two thousand years later, can't honestly align ourselves with either Paul's ambassadors or the Corinthians. We are neither devoutly fanatical followers who have given up everything to spread the Word of Christ, nor are we ignorant foreigners untouched and unfamiliar with the message of the Gospel. However, we have commonalities with both camps. We also have internal qualities and external symbols that might set us in both camps. Perhaps we go to church (external quality, Paul's camp) but don't pay attention (internal quality, Corinthians). Or maybe we give money to charity (internal quality, Paul's camp) but then we laugh when others say hurtful things to fit in (like sexist comments during the Super Bowl ads).

WOW! Being an ambassador of Christ is pretty challenging stuff. So this Lent, I'm going to be writing a lot about being an ambassador for Christ. I'm going to look at the ins and outs of what that looks like, how to do it, and what's in the way. I'm also going to try to look at what else, whether we are trying to or not, we've become ambassadors for. If I had to guess, we're ambassadors for a lot of things, both good and bad, that we've never even realized. Also, I think this will dovetail pretty well with PNC's discussion of hypocrisy.

Until then, be good!