Colossians 1:21-29 (NRSV) And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.
It is usually quite easy to find a title for a section of scripture for the newsletter. This month’s selection is so full of insight it is hard to choose:
He Reconciled You! The hard scriptural truth is that everyone is born hostile to God, hostile to others, hostile even to ourselves. Our old nature is always at war, beneath the smiles, etc. Things are not the way they ought to be. But the Lord, through His death on the cross, makes God no longer hostile to us who live by faith in His salvation. Evil deeds are done against Him. We are now empowered to do good.
You-Holy? “Holy” suggests people who are super good. Good refers to how we assess someone’s deeds. You did a good job on that assignment. But here “holy” means what God makes us to be in Christ. Equipped for good deeds that He engenders, we are holy, blameless, irreproachable before the judge.
Provided! There’s the catch. Always a catch. Keep trying? No, stay rooted, stay steadfast. Stay on dry solid ground in Christ, not on melting ice on a lake in spring. Interesting! Paul knows people can wander and shift away from the faith. This calls for deep soul searching. We are enlivened to stay rooted.
Commissioned. I am your called pastor, commissioned to tell you, the members of this body of Christ, the full story. The full story is both law and gospel. Law describes the perfect life of loving the Triune God and our neighbors, so that we see ourselves unable to do that. Gospel unleashes the good news in our hearts that “in Christ, we are living that.” Just telling nice moral stories would mean I do not love you or anguish over your faith and life. We are equipped to hear about the depth of sin and grace.
Mysterious Maturity! God revealed that Christ is in you, a different wisdom than proclaimed in the world. Smarts gets us nowhere here. The mighty power of Christ works through us to love others in Christ. Do not try to figure it out. Be fed in Word and Sacrament, enabled to examine your life in Christ, and to celebrate eternally.
Pastor Tom, Mission Pastor
Walking the Emmaus Road with the Risen Lord!
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XVI, Number 8, March 2015)