Correct Rather than Cast Away

Yet Christ did not recoil from her deformity. He changed what was repulsive, reshaped her, put her into proper order, and forgave her sins. Imitate Him. Even if the wife who lives with you sins against you ten thousand times, forgive and pardon them all. If you receive a difficult woman, reshape her through gentleness and meekness, just as Christ did with the Church.

He not only wiped away her uncleanness but also stripped away her old age, removing the old human being made up of sins. Paul hints at this too when he says, “that He might present the Church to Himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle.” He made her not only beautiful but young—not in bodily nature, but in the condition of her will.

And this is not the only wonder: Christ received one who was deformed, ugly, shameful, and aged. He did not recoil from her, but gave Himself even to death and transformed her into indescribable beauty. More than that, even afterward, when He sees her repeatedly becoming dirty and stained, He does not cast her away or tear her from Himself, but remains, healing and correcting her.

How many people sinned after believing? Yet Christ did not reject them. The man at Corinth who committed sexual immorality was a member of the Church; Christ did not cut off the member but corrected it. The whole Church of the Galatians turned aside and fell toward Judaizing; yet He did not cast it away. Through Paul He healed it and restored it to its former relationship.