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For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Fick's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and online-only content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

If anyone can wax poetic about the power of a clean slate, it's Paul. In his mystical meanderings on the human body's relationship to the body of Christ, he doesn't ground his hope in the things that humans do (or don't do) in response to tradition, social pressure, or threats. He grounds it in the inclusive finality of Jesus Christ himself. Trespasses are no more, even as we pray that they be forgiven. And though ideas abound as to how human flesh should respond to new life in Christ, what really counts is where Christ's flesh has been.