Short and Very Sweet
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1 Timothy 3:14-16
14. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, 15. if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. 16. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
This is kind of the “short and sweet” version of Christ’s life, isn’t it?! Born, lived, died, ascended into heaven and came back to say good-bye. Now he’s in heaven at the right hand of God, his rightful place. We know there is so much more to the story! But how to begin. That must have been a struggle as the events of the life of Christ were recorded--what to include, what to omit--and what about those 30+ years between his birth and when he met John the Baptist at the river? We’ll probably never know - but what matters is that he lived - and how he lived - and that we know about him! The description of the church as a “pillar and a bulwark” indicates a defensive stance. The world is a dangerous place for the faithful; the church is the one place we can go to be safe and to arm ourselves against the power of sin-and the false teachings of the world.
Romans 1:3-6
3. the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4. and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5. through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6. including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;
As Christians, we are automatically apostles, and so tasked with spreading the Good News of the Risen Lord to the world. We belong to Jesus. He has paid the price for our sins, washed us clean, and commissioned us to go forth into the world - remember we are not to take a cloak or a purse - just our faith. He assures us it will be all we need.
Life is pretty complicated, and I think sometimes we want the condensed version of everything -- bullets about that report at work -- book reviews to determine if we should even read a book -- cable news to get our information about politics and the world, rather than studying and researching situations from various sources. Our world moves at lightning speed -- I get impatient if I have to wait a few too many seconds to connect to the internet!
So here it is again, in case you don’t have time today to think about everything Jesus did and said while he was on this earth: Born, died on the cross, rose on the third day, ascended into heaven. To me, just the fact that he was born into human form tells me how much God wants an intimate, loving relationship with us. He became like us so we would understand -- he already knew us -- after all, He’s our creator!
I hope today you spend some time “reading between the lines” of the “short and sweet” version of Christianity. And apply the only law Jesus told us we need: “Love your God above all others, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mary
