Through this Head and for this Head all things 'in heaven and on earth' are to be reconciled. Reconciliation is the work of God through this all pre-eminent Christ. It took this fullness of Christ to accomplish reconciliation. The New Testament reconciliation is abundant reconciliation ('grace upon grace' -- John 1:16).
Education is ultimately concerned with man's relationship with the whole which is created 'in him.' Since this whole is now a reconciled whole in God in Christ (II Corinthians 5:19) man must be brought to realize the depth of this new educational arrangement. And is not this the grand theme and subject of education?
Thus, when we speak of reconciliation, we are speaking of salvation in which we find the goal of education. In this reconciliation, theology and education meet.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you; leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:23-24)
I see in this straightforward warning of the Lord an encounter between theology and education which is full of implications. How embarrassing and inconvenient it is to remember at the most sacred moment of divine worship that 'your brother has something against you.' The Lord says that you must delay your act of offering a gift. But you must not delay the act of reconciliation. Go! and be reconciled! Why cannot reconciliation be delayed? It is the work of the Head of the Universe and the Church. This is the mind of Christ the Reconciler, through whom the new age of worship has come.
Then does not Matthew 5:23-24 speak of the central concern of education theologically grounded? How can we find the genuine value of education apart from man's finding his place in the created and reconciled world? And how can education become real --- as real as the Word which became flesh (John 1:14) --- unless we go through the educational process of leaving our gift and have the new experience of "first being reconciled'! What a great theological educational value is discovered when we remember that our brother has something against us there in front of the altar!
The reconciliation is wrought in the freedom of God. God, in his freedom, acted 'in him' to reconcile the universe to Himself. The spirit of slavery, then, must not step into our education (Galatians 4:7). We remember, in our freedom, that our brother has something against us, and, in our freedom, leave our gift and go! When this happens education becomes a present and concrete life experience. What else is more present and more concrete than the experience of reconciliation? Is there anything more educational than the experience of reconciliation?
Sometime in the early sixties, while he was in prison, Paul wrote the message of the abundant reconciliation. 'remember my fetters!" (Colossians 4:18 cf. 3:10). He was an 'educated man' since he was able to place himself in the total saving history of God and speak of the freedom of Christian man even though he was in fetters. It seems to me that the value and character of education should be judged according to the degree to which it can bring man, in spite of all kinds of 'fetters' (you can name them!) to the experience of freedom in the context of God's act of reconciliation.
I see in this straightforward warning of the Lord an encounter between theology and education which is full of implications. How embarrassing and inconvenient it is to remember at the most sacred moment of divine worship that 'your brother has something against you.' The Lord says that you must delay your act of offering a gift. But you must not delay the act of reconciliation. Go! and be reconciled! Why cannot reconciliation be delayed? It is the work of the Head of the Universe and the Church. This is the mind of Christ the Reconciler, through whom the new age of worship has come.
Then does not Matthew 5:23-24 speak of the central concern of education theologically grounded? How can we find the genuine value of education apart from man's finding his place in the created and reconciled world? And how can education become real --- as real as the Word which became flesh (John 1:14) --- unless we go through the educational process of leaving our gift and have the new experience of "first being reconciled'! What a great theological educational value is discovered when we remember that our brother has something against us there in front of the altar!
The reconciliation is wrought in the freedom of God. God, in his freedom, acted 'in him' to reconcile the universe to Himself. The spirit of slavery, then, must not step into our education (Galatians 4:7). We remember, in our freedom, that our brother has something against us, and, in our freedom, leave our gift and go! When this happens education becomes a present and concrete life experience. What else is more present and more concrete than the experience of reconciliation? Is there anything more educational than the experience of reconciliation?
Sometime in the early sixties, while he was in prison, Paul wrote the message of the abundant reconciliation. 'remember my fetters!" (Colossians 4:18 cf. 3:10). He was an 'educated man' since he was able to place himself in the total saving history of God and speak of the freedom of Christian man even though he was in fetters. It seems to me that the value and character of education should be judged according to the degree to which it can bring man, in spite of all kinds of 'fetters' (you can name them!) to the experience of freedom in the context of God's act of reconciliation.
