Today's Reading: Colossians 1:9-14
Daily Lectionary: Jeremiah 5:1-19; Matthew 22:23-46
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14 )
We can learn something from the Colossians and the problems they faced. Christians and congregations of Christians were bound together in Christ, and the question being asked amongst the Colossians was simply this: “Who and what is the Christ?” It was a question that threatened to divide and destroy the fellowship and communion of the church, for when Christ and what He has come to accomplish among us is forgotten, the unity of the church is shattered, and the content of the faith is dissolved.
Why do we bother with theology? Why do we get involved in theological controversies? The Christian Church in every age faces the temptation to sidestep questions about which there might be disagreement and allow the individual to sort out for himself just what he will believe and what his faith will mean to him. If we fall victim to this temptation, we will have in fact little to unite us in the Gospel. Take Colossae as an example. Paul reminds the congregation that Christ is none other than the true Son of God who has delivered us into the hands of his loving Father. He has redeemed us and given us the gift which none of us could buy or earn for ourselves —the gift of forgiveness. It is in Christ that the church is gathered into a fellowship that extends from Rome to Colossae and from age to age. It is in Him that all our hopes come to rest.
When this foundation is forgotten or neglected, the communion and fellowship of Christians can only crumble and disintegrate. Communion in Christ is destroyed. And so it is that St. Paul prays for the saints and those who are faithful to Christ at Colossae and writes them an urgent letter to confirm them in the apostolic faith and hope.
This is our prayer as well: that we listen to the apostle Paul and that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in the Word, believe what Jesus has done for all of us.
Christ is the world’s Redeemer, The lover of the pure, The font of heav’nly wisdom, Our trust and hope secure, The armor of His soldiers, The Lord of earth and sky, Our health while we are living, Our life when we shall die. (LSB 539:1