Trinitarian Blessing
| Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints send their greetings. 14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2Corinthians13:12-14) |
CK Barrett suggests that the letter would have been read aloud to the congregation and that, at this point, the congregation would have responded by greeting one another. (The "holy kiss" was probably a variation of the both-cheeks kiss we see in the Mediterranean cultures today.)
Paul, after dragging them through some very tough issues, ends on a note of "normality". Although he has to stretch and reprimand them, he still ends with the standard exchanging of greetings and urges them to to do the same. This is both a sign of love and hope. It is love in the sense that Paul is saying "No matter how much I have to discipline you, my love remains unchanged." It is also a sign of hope "I'm passing my greetings and asking you to exchange greetings because I am hopeful that things will get better."
Then Paul concludes with the benediction that has now become part of the liturgies of the Church worldwide - a Trinitarian blessing that seeks to impart the grace, love and fellowship of Jesus, the Father and the Spirit on the congregation.
The blessing starts with the Son who reveals the Father and who by His death opened God's grace to us. It moves to the Father who is the source of pure love ("He gave His only Son") and ends with the Spirit who is at work in us and this is what His "fellowship" implies.
Paul leaves them in the best hands possible - he knows that he has done what he can, and now he must leave them in the hands of God. And God is able to do more than we can even think or imagine!!!
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This brings us to the end of 2Corinthians.
I hope the journey (although gruelling at times) has been helpful to you. (We started in May last year!)
We have learned:
- that God is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort
- about conflicts and how to deal with them.
- about treasure in clay pots and how our lives can shine with God's glory
- that we can become new creations and about being ambassadors
- that generosity is important
- about false teachers and false teaching
- about celebrating weakness that allows God's strength to shine
- about Paul who cared so for His flock
- that love is important and the Triune God watches over us.
For the next little while I'll be reflecting on Lent.
