Only in a Christian congregation could this phenomenon be seen. It happened nowhere else. It was the single most public consequence of putting on Christ. One consequence of putting on our Lord, of putting on our new nature in righteousness and holiness, is that the congregation is a living demonstration of the collapse of those barriers which divide, isolate and alienate people from each other. We put on compassion and kindness.
Compassion is literally the state of being attuned to someone else's suffering.
We put on kindness as well. Kindness is holding our neighbour's wellbeing as dear as our own. Such wine was rich and delightful but without any sour aftertaste. When we put on Christ, continues Paul, we put on lowliness, meekness and patience. Lowliness is humility, and humility, you have heard me say one hundred times, is simply self-forgetfulness.