2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Put Humpty Together Again
It's a children's poem generally ignored as nonsense by adults.:
HUMPTY DUMPTY SAT ON A WALL,
HUMPTY DUMPTY HAD A GREAT FALL;
ALL THE KING'S HORSES, & ALL THE KING'S MEN,
COULDN'T PUT HUMPTY TOGETHER AGAIN.
Just a clever little rhyme often animated with a funny egg figure perched on a wall. But today I want us to stop & take a closer look. I am often amazed at the profound meanings that come from children's books & children's nursery rhymes like this one. Perhaps the poem remains popular among children because it has a deeper meaning that we all can sense.
In this silly little poem, we have portrayed our human condition & the futility of most efforts to fix the world in which we live. & today I want to suggest that it can serve as an outline for understanding what Paul says in our text for today.
+1st line says, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall." This line is the beginning of +poem but it also parallels the beginning of humankind.
The poem sets up the action with a simple statement. Perhaps it was a lovely spring day with flowers blooming & birds chirping. From his perch, Humpty declares that All Is Right With His World.
We can all identify with the Peaceful Tranquility of Humpty as he sat on the wall. Things are mess now, but we can look back to a better time. Can you remember back to such an idyllic time? How far back do you have to go to recover the innocence of your youth. Back before the Fall. Back before you made a MESS of life. Back when relationships were right. After the Fall, we look back with envy at the simple times of sitting on a wall.
The Bible says the same thing happened in the beginning of time. God sat humankind on a wall. Genesis 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: & let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, & over the birds of the sky, & over the livestock, & over all the earth, & over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created humankind in his image as the Best of creation.
It was as if God made humankind & set them on a wall.
People were able to Relate Perfectly With God, To Feel His Nearness, To Communicate Personally With Him. God sat humans high on the wall with Wisdom, Power, Knowledge, & God-Likeness.
Another analogy portrays God as a burning campfire at night & all God's new creation are All Joined Hands In A Grand Circle Around The Light. In this idyllic state, every person could see the light & everyone saw all their fellow humans with the light of God reflected in their faces. Like Humpty perched on the wall, this original state perfectly reflected the Divine plan.
But then something happened in our poem, something happened in creation, & something happened in our lives. In all three, we can describe it as the Fall.
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a GREAT FALL…"
The poem gives us no clue to the cause of Humpty's fall. Maybe the wall was SLIPPERY. Maybe he became DISTRACTED OR TRIED TO REACH TOO FAR. In the poem, the Fall is a mystery, but not in creation, & not with us.
The Bible says that humans tried to reach higher than they were meant to. We Can Picture Adam & Eve On Their Tiptoes Reaching Just Beyond Their Grasp. God Said They Were Not To Eat Of +Fruit, But They Wanted To Be Like God. Just A Little Further. The Snake Said This Fruit Would Be Good.
When the First Man tried to Reach that which was Out of Reach He FELL & GREAT WAS THE FALL THEREOF! HEAR GEN3: 1-6
This FALL represents the entry point of sin & failure into creation. This sin problem lies at the root of all the struggles of religion. The sin problem will occupy the next 66 books of the Bible.
ALL OF US TODAY HAVE FALLEN TOO. Our Fall has to do with more than just the Garden of Eden past. The fall IS NOT something in the past. It is something VERY MUCH PRESENT right now. It is personal for each one of us. For each of us comes to a point When We Want That Which Will Be Harmful To Us. We Stop Listening To God & Let The Snake Tell Us What To Do! We Change Our Loyalty From The Creator To The Creature. We Reach For The Forbidden Fruit.
The Bible warns: "PRIDE Goes Before Destruction,& A Haughty Spirit Before A Fall" (Proverbs 16:18)."Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn't fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).
In the analogy of the campfire where everyone was gathered in a pleasant circle, holding hands facing the Light of God, suddenly one & then another turns their back on the light, Faces The Darkness & Moves Away From God. Before you know it all of the creatures are wandering in the darkness, far from God, & now instead of seeing others reflecting the light of God on their faces, we see the SHADOW SIDE of life. The dark shadows loom before us & bring FEAR & ALIENATION. We are GROPING IN THE DARKNESS trying to find our way. LOST & AFRAID.
One False Step & Suddenly We Find OUR LIVES TUMBLING Out Of Control. We Never Intended It To Turn Out This Way. We Only Turned Away From The Light For A Moment. We Just Stretched Out For One Enticing Bit Of Fruit. But Suddenly The Consequences Of Our Sin Are Far Greater Than We Expected.
Suddenly, we all lie, like Humpty, at the bottom of the wall - BROKEN, SHATTERED, FRAGMENTED. We lie there, knowing that Unless Something Drastic Happens Our Fall Will Be Fatal.
"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king's horses, & all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again."
Suddenly, Much To Our Relief, up ride the king's men & their horses to put us back together again. But Who Are These Men? & who is their king? The poem once again leaves us in the dark. We have no idea who these "king's men" are, but we can see them picking up the broken pieces of our eggshell Humpty, trying to fit them together. Perhaps they attempt to GLUE the pieces back together. Perhaps they have TAPE. But the poem makes it clear that there was no fixing what was broken. THE KING'S MEN FAIL. They couldn't put Humpty together again.
We've had our experience with the king's men too. Perhaps today we would call these failed efforts by names like Oprah, DrPhil, some movie star?. Maybe these king's men are self-help books. Maybe the king's men are considerate bar tenders who listen as we cry in our beer. Many have tried New Age religion or felt that quartz crystals would put us back together. All of these are ONLY BAND-AIDS FEEBLY ATTEMPTING TO HEAL OUR BROKENNESS.
In the end, we have concluded that the children's poem is exactly right - "All the king's horses, & all the king's men, Couldn't put Humpty together again."
To what do we compare this part of the children's poem when we consider the Creation story? I would suggest that king's men represent the Failed Attempts To Reconcile Humans & God As Told In The First 39 Books Of The Bible. The EARLY PATRIARCHS might be king's men, but they failed to put that broken relationship back together. The LAW OF MOSES represented a great attempt. Everyone thought that finally the king's men would put us back together. But in the end, the Law failed to achieve its purpose.
FINALLY, GOD SENT HIS SON, THE KING HIMSELF . COULD DO WHAT ALL THE KING'S MEN COULD NOT.
Romans 8:3: " For what the law couldn't do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh & for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh."
Galatians 2:16: "Yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 2:15: "Having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace; & might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross."
2 Corinthians 5:18-21: "But all things are of God, WHO RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, & GAVE TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION; namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, & having committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore AMBASSADORS on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, BE RECONCILED TO GOD. For him Who Knew No Sin He Made To Be Sin On Our Behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
The problem with the law was that it worked on the Outside Of Us. It tried to Patch Us Up, Bandage Us Together, Apply A Little First Aid Cream & A Piece Of Tape.
JESUS THE CHRIST IS THE ONLY ONE
Who Can Put Humankind Back Together Again.
He Does It bySTARTING ALLOVER&MAKING aNEW CREATION The KING of Kings Does What All The King's Men CANNOT Do. The King's Men (of the World) Cannot Put Us Together Again Because They Did Not Make Us To Start With. Only The One Who Made Us In The Beginning Can Put Us Back Together Again. THAT IS WHAT THE GOSPEL IS ALL ABOUT.
The Solution To Our Brokenness DOES NOT COME When We Are REFORMED, REHABILITATED, OR RE-EDUCATED. It only comes when we are RECREATED ,& TRANSFORMED. It Will Not Do To Turn Over A New Leaf; We Must Begin A New Life Under aNew Master. We Must Be BORN AGAIN & Makea New Start.
2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore If Anyone Is In Christ, He Is A New Creation. The Old Things Have Passed Away. Behold, All Things Have Become New."
When we trust Christ, we are no longer GOD'S ENEMIES, OR STRANGERS OR FOREIGNERS to him. We have been RECONCILED to God. We have Been Brought From Wandering In The Darkness back to the light of God. When we are reconciled to God & humankind, we once again enjoy the campfire glow & the warmth of right relationships.
But there's a final part of the story told in the Scripture passage. We Are Appointed To Be King's Men, Not Ambassadors Of Those False Kings Who Failed To Put Humpty Back Together, But AMBASSADORS Of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20: "But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, & gave to us the ministry of reconciliation; namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, & having committed to us the word of reconciliation. We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."
WE DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO PUT PEOPLE TOGETHER,
BUT WE KNOW+ RIGHT KING. WE KNOW+ ONE WHO CAN!
& OUR JOB IS TO GO INTO THE DARKNESS
& FIND PEOPLE HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
WE TELL THEM ABOUT THE LIGHT OF GOD,
POINT THEM to Christ. (NOT to Ourselves!)
GOD IS STILL IN CHRIST RECONCILING+WORLD 2HIMSELF! CHRIST IS STILL IN THE BUSINESS
OF PICKING UP THE PIECES OF BROKEN MEN & WOMEN
& MAKING THEM WHOLE AGAIN.
We might finish the good beginning of the nursery rhyme this way:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
& all the king's horses & all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
THEN THE REAL KING CAME TO HIS AID,
BROUGHT RECONCILIATION, NOT A BAND-AID.
Jesus brought NEW BIRTH & A NEW CREATION,
Made Humpty WHOLE & BROUGHT JUBILATION.
Placed Humpty Dumpty back on the wall,
Then he gave to Humpty a brand new call,
AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST is his new name,
HEALING THE BROKEN is now his game.
If you find yourself broken at the foot of a wall,
To the King of Kings you should give a call,
& just like Humpty Dumpty of old,
Christ will come & make you whole.
