Testimonies

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2 Corinthians 5:17-21
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The text today calls us to be ambassadors for Christ. An Ambassador speaks freely and with authority. I am about to become Christ’s ambassador to you and speak to you with the freedom and authority that comes through faith alone in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I spent a year and a half as a chaplain at Hope Ministries’ Bethel Rescue Mission in downtown Des Moines Iowa while I was completing my BA in Religion at Grand View University. I have more stories about the men that I came into contact with then you have time to hear them. But in reading today’s passage I was reminded of a particular man that became and is still my friend; a man who was transformed after being crushed by the law and resurrected by the gospel. A man named Jerry.

Jerry was from Chicago. He was baptized and raised in the Catholic Church and as an altar boy could recite the Latin mass, from memory, in Latin. But Jerry could not by his own understanding or efforts believe in Jesus Christ his Lord or come to him. But when I met him he was about to be called by the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel, enlightened by his gifts, and sanctified and kept in the true faith.

Jerry was a Vietnam Vet, a marine who served two tours. He fought and killed the enemy in the name of patriotism. But when he came home he was spit on and called a baby killer. What is a twenty something kid supposed to do with that? He became filled with guilt and self hatred and carried his scars into a marriage that produced two daughters. His family didn’t approve of the woman he married so they move to Phoenix Arizona and he never spoke to his parents or his three brothers or three sisters again. Jerry came home from work one day to find that the locks on the door to his house had changed and another man had moved in with his wife. Broken hearted and crushed he left home and lived the life of a transient.

At a coffee shop in Phoenix he met a girl and was smitten. She was from a small town in Iowa and convinced him to move home with her. He came to find out that she was an intravenous drug user and suffered from multiple personality disorder; one of the few documented cases. She kicked him out, or at least one of her personalities did, with nothing but the shirt on his back. He was walking along I80 toward Des Moines when a truck driver picked him up, in the pouring rain, and drove him to the Mission that I was serving. He was sick, really sick. We assumed that it was pneumonia, so I took him to the Vets hospital in Des Moines. We were relieved to hear that he didn’t have pneumonia but horrified to find out that he had full blown Aids and was give two months to live. What do you do as a Christian with a man or woman with a person who has nothing and has been told that he is going to die? I didn’t know so I asked him, “What can I do for you Jerry.” He said, “hug me just hug me, I feel like a leaper.” Not only did I hug him but I brought my then 4 month old daughter to him for him to hold. My trust in him and lack of fear for this wretched disease was like a shot of pure adrenaline to him. He felt like a human again.

Over the next couple of weeks we got to know each other very well and I shared with him that I to was raised in the Catholic Church. He started to ask me about Jesus, he asked what it is that I knew that set me free. So, I gave him what freed me; I gave him Christ and him crucified for him as well as the distinction between law and gospel.

As a terminal case and at age 57 there wasn’t much hope for Jerry. The VA offered him a chance to partake in an experimental study which involved a new cocktail, that’s what they call the mixture of Aids medications. With nothing to lose he accepted. Three homeless men were chosen for the study. One overdosed on meth, one committed suicide, and then there was Jerry. Over the next seven months I continued to preach to the man that God had sent to me for that very purpose. I saw his faith grow as my affection for him grew. When I originally took him to the VA he had 300,000 Aids cells attacking 6 white blood cells. Over the course of seven months his body started attacking and killing the HIV virus and he now had 300 HIV cells attacking 60 white blood cells. The doctors were amazed and they asked, “Other then the meds what are you doing,” just as John the Baptist did, Jerry immediately pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They then asked him permission to publish his case in the JAMA. The Journal of the American Medical Association. He was in remission. They are still trying to duplicate the results in other patients today.

Reconciled to Christ with a new faith and a new found hope he asked me if I could help him locate his brothers and sisters all of whom he assumed were dead. In 5 minutes I found his older brother John outside of Chicago. After a few days Jerry mustered up the courage to call his brother and I was blessed to witness this reunion. I heard his brother answer on the other line and then Jerry said, “John its Jerry.” No one could talk everyone cried for what seemed like forever. John had been looking for Jerry for years but with no permanent address Jerry was impossible to find him. John informed us that Jerry still had two brothers and two sisters still living. I talked to Jerry this afternoon and he informed me that he had just returned from his older sister’s funeral. John was in Des Moines and had his brother out of the shelter in a hotel room in less than 12 hours. John invited Jerry to come and live with him and his wife in Illinois. It took a couple of weeks to make the transition because we had to get his information and medicines transferred to the VA hospital in Illinois.

Jerry lives with John to this day two years later. I talk to him on the phone about once a month and he tells me the work he is doing with recovering alcoholics. No one I know is a better ambassador for Christ to the folks than my friend Jerry. At Christmas I called Jerry and he told me that his disease has remised to the point where he is classified as HIV positive instead of full blown AIDS. He has been reconciled with his Lord, his brothers and sisters, his daughters, his health, and his life and is now a new creation. He will be the first to tell you that none of this was done by his own understanding or effort but through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our reading for today starts out by stating, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” I think you can all see how this relates to my friend Jerry.

Jerry was baptized as a child. Christ’s promises were bestowed upon him and he was claimed for the kingdom of heaven. Last week I talked about humans not being able to escape from God’s all powerful grasp. Jerry is the perfect example of this. He tried all his life to break away but God kept sending true preachers to call him back.

The reconciliation that comes through Jesus Christ is not a onetime event it is a lifelong process. But we can rest assured in this one promise Jesus has done it for us once and for all. It is finished, not matter how it looks to the world. If you saw Jerry three years ago you would never thought of him as one of God’s chosen but today he spends his life loving and serving his neighbor. If you knew me three years ago you may not have had much hope either. Maybe you don’t see much hope now who knows. God can see the whole picture from the beginning to the end and knows the outcome of all that we say and do. He uses the law to make you aware that you are sinners and if necessary to crush your prideful flesh. Like myself, Jerry needed to be broken more than others. But as St. Paul says Jerry rejoices in his suffering. You see it was from his suffering that he was made weak so that God could be strong. It was in facing his own death that Jesus showed him eternal life.

Verses 20-21 in today’s reading says, “20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” You are the ambassadors for Christ. You are his preachers. You are the priesthood of all believers. For your sake God made Jesus sin who knew no sin so that you may be righteous before God.

Our champion has arrived. He is Jesus Christ and him crucified, for you! You are forgiven on account of him, now go in peace free to love and serve you neighbor to speak with authority and be an ambassador, the instrument that God uses to deliver his gift of faith to others. And please keep Jerry in your prayers.

Amen

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