The Ministry of Reconciliation (Continuation)
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[14] For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. [15] And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. [16] From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. [17] Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
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14-15. The Apostle briefly describes the effects of Christ's death, a death he underwent out of love for man; elsewhere at greater length (cf. Rom 6:1-11; 14:7-9; Gal 2:19-20; 2 Tim 2: 11) he goes into this doctrine which is so closely connected with the solidarity that exists between Jesus Christ and the members of his mystical body. Christ, the head of that body, died for all his members: and they have mystically died to sin with and in him. Christ's death, is moreover, the price paid for men--their ransom which sets them free from the slavery of sin, death and the devil. As a result of it we belong no longer to ourselves but to Christ (cf. 1 Cor 6:19), and the new life--in grace and freedom--which he has won for us we must live for his sake: "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord [...]. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living" (Rom 14:7-9).
"What follows from this?", St Francis de Sales asks. "I seem to hear the voice of the Apostle like a peal of thunder startling our heart: It is easy to see, Christians, what Christ desired by dying for us. What did he desire but that we should become like him? 'That those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.' How powerful a consequence is this in the matter of love! Jesus Christ died for us; by his death he has given us life; we only live because he died; he died for us, by us, and in us; our life then is no longer ours, but belongs to him who has purchased it for us by his death: we are therefore no more to live to ourselves but to him; not in ourselves but in him; nor for ourselves but for him" (Treatise on the Love of God, book 7, chap. 8).
"The love of Christ controls us", urges us: with these words St Paul sums up what motivates his tireless apostolic activity--the love of Jesus, so immense that it impels him to spend every minute of his life bringing this same love to all mankind. The love of Christ should also inspire all other Christians to commit themselves to respond to Christ's love, and it should fill them with a desire to bring to all souls the salvation won by Christ. "We are urged on by the charity of Christ (cf. 2 Cor 5:14) to take upon our shoulders a part of this task of saving souls. Look: the redemption was consummated when Jesus died on the Cross, in shame and glory, 'a stumbling block' to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles (1 Cor 1:23). But the redemption will, by the will of God, be carried out continually until our Lord's time comes. It is impossible to live according to the heart of Jesus Christ and not to know that we are sent, as he was, 'to save sinners' (1 Tim 1:15), with the clear realization that we ourselves need to trust in the mercy of God more and more every day. As a result, we will foster in ourselves a vehement desire to live as co-redeemers with Christ, to save all souls with him" (Christ Is Passing By, 120f).
16-17. "Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view": Paul seems to be referring to knowledge based only on external appearances and on human criteria. Paul's Judaizing opponents do look on things from a human point of view, as Paul himself did before his conversion. Nothing he says here can be taken as implying that St Paul knew Jesus personally during his life on earth (he goes on to say that now he does not know him personally); what he is saying is that previously he judged Christ on the basis of his own Pharisee prejudices; now, on the other hand, he knows him as God and Savior of men.
In v. 17 he elaborates on this contrast between before and after his conversion, as happens to Christians through Baptism. For through the grace of Baptism a person becomes a member of Christ's body, he lives by and is "in Christ" (cf., e.g., Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10, 15f; Cor 3:9f); the Redemption brings about a new creation. Commenting on this passage St Thomas Aquinas reminds us that creation is the step from non-being to being, and that in the supernatural order, after original sin, "a new creation was necessary, whereby (creatures) would be made with the life of grace; this truly is a creation from nothing, because those without grace are nothing (cf. 1 Cor 13:2) [...]. St Augustine says, 'for sin is nothingness, and men become nothingness when they sin'" (Commentary on 2 Cor, ad loc.).
"The new has come": St John Chrysostom points out the radical change which the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ has brought about, and the consequent difference between Judaism and Christianity: "Instead of the earthly Jerusalem, we have received that Jerusalem which is above; and instead of a material temple we have seen a spiritual temple; instead of tablets of stone, holding the divine Law, our own bodies have become the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit; instead of circumcision, Baptism; instead of manna, the Lord's body; instead of water from a rock, blood from his side; instead of Moses' or Aaron's rod, the cross of the Savior; instead of the promised land, the kingdom of heaven" (Hom on 2 Cor, 11).
The Calming of the Storm
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[35] On that day, when evening had come, He (Jesus) said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." [36] And leaving the crowd, they took Him with them just as He was, in the boat. And other boats were with Him. [37] And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat so that the boat was already filling. [38] But He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care if we perish?" [39] And He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [40] He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" [41] And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey Him?"
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Commentary:
35-41. The episode of the calming of the storm, the memory of which must have often helped the Apostles regain their serenity in the midst of struggles and difficulties, also helps us never lose the supernatural way of looking at things: a Christian's life is like a ship: "As a vessel on the sea is exposed to a thousand dangers--pirates, quicksands, hidden rocks, tempests--so man in this life, is encompassed with perils, arising from the temptations of Hell, from the occasions of sin, from the scandals or bad counsels of men, from human respect, and, above all from the passions of corrupt nature [...]. This should not cause him to lose confidence. Rather [...] when you find yourself assaulted by a violent passion [...] take whatever steps you can to avoid the occasions [of sin] and place your reliance on God [...]: when the tempest is violent, the pilot never takes his eyes from the light which guides him to port. In like manner, we should keep our eyes always turned to God, who alone can deliver us from the many dangers to which we are exposed" (St. Augustine, Sermon 51; for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany).