Last week was National Reconciliation Week.
According to the website of Reconciliation Australia, “National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.”
It then goes on to say, “Reconciliation supporters must stand up to defend and uphold the rights of First Nations peoples … to actively reinforce the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across this continent.”
This got me thinking: what exactly is meant by “reconciliation”?
According to the Oxford dictionary, reconciliation could be:
1. the restoration of friendly relations: "his reconciliation with your uncle."
2. the action of making one view or belief compatible with another: "any possibility of reconciliation between such clearly opposed positions."
Interestingly, the emphasis is upon getting together, uniting people, societies and cultures and living in unity and harmony, not upon the advancing of any particular causes or the achieving of demands.
It was also interesting to study the use of the word “reconciliation” over the years.
It appears that there has been extensive use of this word from about the year 2015, with the least use of this word in the 1920s and 30s.
But what was also interesting was that the word was used extensively in the early 1800s.
This, of course, is a reflection of the mindset of the people living at those times and a reflection of what was weighing on their minds.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bible also has a lot to say about reconciliation.
The apostle Paul said in the book of Colossians, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you”, and to the Ephesians he said, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
The writer to the book of Hebrews declared: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
These teachings all relate to our relationships with each other. But there is an even more important relationship requiring reconciliation.
The apostle Paul, in the book of second Corinthians declared, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
With this verse, the apostle could not have stated the matter more clearly or directly. Paul elsewhere taught, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."
Each one of us has lived in rebellion against our Lord, and as such it is we who separate ourselves from Him.
But the apostle goes on to say, “and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
When Jesus died and rose again that very first Easter, He paid the price of the sins of all mankind, opening up the way for all of us to be reconciled to Him.
It was Jesus himself who said: “whoever comes to me I will never drive away."