The community, the body of Christ, within which you live and love is characterized by a rich variety of individuals, connected in Christ. That’s how it started and that’s how it is now.
Prayer: Thanks to God for giving us the solid connections to others in Christ. Amen.
31 – . . . Ends with a Bang, Not a Whimper
Colossians 4:16–18 — (16) And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea. (17) And say to Archippus, “See that you complete the task that you have received in the Lord.” (18) I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.
Putting your education into practice; that is “where the rubber meets the road.” In olden times, education or training for a vocation was often conducted in an apprenticeship. Then schooling went indoors, into the classroom and library. In the last few decades it has come out again and moved, in part, from College Hill to Main Street in the form of work-study, practica, and field experiences.
Paul ends this letter with a bang! Instead of winding down the letter with a “sincerely yours,” he speak harshly to someone named Archippus: “Do your assigned job!” Normally that might not be problematic, especially if “the task that you have received in the Lord” was either an easy one (visit the sick, raise a collection) or one known only to Paul and Archippus. However, it is possible that this task was both difficult and controversial.
In trying to answer the question, “What task?,” one scholar offers an intriguing possibility. It rests on the probability that there is a close connection between this letter and the briefest of all Paul’s letters, Philemon. [Take a minute to read it. The gist of it is that Paul wants Philemon, another of Paul’s good friends, who lived in Colossae and owned a slave named Onesimus, to free this slave so that the freed slave could help Paul in his missionary work.]
The suggestion is that Archippus’s task was the freeing of Onesimus and that Paul did not spell it out in Colossians because Archippus knew well enough what it was already from reading the letter to Philemon (Phlm 1–2). Explicit mention of such an assignment in a letter to be read publicly would be unnecessary. Archippus knew the assignment. It was crunch time for him.
More to the point, what is “the task that you have received in the Lord”? Whatever it might be, you may be confident knowing that Christ is all in all and that you live in the hope that is solidly laid up as your inheritance with God.
Prayer: Lord, grant me wisdom and strength to know and to do the tasks you have assigned to me. Amen.
Matthew
Jesus the Teacher, Up Close and Personal
It is no surprise that Matthew is the first writing in the New Testament. Matthew provided what the early Christian church most needed—instruction for the church and its members as they formed themselves as Christians in the hostile environment of the Roman Empire. In that situation, the early believers needed resources to help them understand what it meant to be a Christian, how to live with Jesus as their Lord, and how to do all of that in a world that was run by people and institutions who had conspired to kill Jesus and did not like his followers.
Therefore, the Gospel According to Matthew is a document about Jesus, the one who teaches the church what it means to be people of faith. It is the story of help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless; a series of glimpses into a world that the creator intended it to be; and the assurance of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Son of God.
From that brief introduction, it should not be difficult to see what the first Gospel offers to college students: a Lord and Savior who is also a Teacher! When you get to college you expect to meet many teachers. But here is a reminder that—as a Christian—you will have your very own Teacher, accessible and eager to help you understand what is going on and to accompany you in meeting the challenges of the college experience.
But you don’t read Matthew just because Jesus was a great teacher. You read it because Jesus is the Lord, the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, and you want to know what all of those dimensions of Jesus—the christological titles that pepper the biblical texts—have to do with you and how they can help you become the person God intended you to be. Not only will you see who this Teacher is, how he taught, and what he taught. In some important ways you will be just like the disciples whose stories you will also follow as you follow Jesus through this text.
And you will be reading a great story—the greatest story ever told—that you can embrace and be embraced by, day by day. College may even help you write your own story in a more faithful way.
1 – Introducing Jesus
Matthew 1:1–17 — (1) An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (2) Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, (3) and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, (4) and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, (5) and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, (6) and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, (7) and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, (8) and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, (9) and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, (10) and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, (11) and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. (12) And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, (13) and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, (14) and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, (15) and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, (16) and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. (17) So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Jesus may be new on the scene, like you, but his “story” goes way back. We discover sorrows, “interesting” female relatives, and political catastrophes. You can see how Jesus is positively, but selectively, shaped by that past. Will you build on the positive in your past, and leave the other baggage behind? This is a new day, a fresh start, with new opportunities. Can you pick out someone in your past who might be an asset as you move on in your college career?
Prayer: Lord, help me to know Jesus Christ who is the best teacher in helping me know myself. Amen.
2 – The Best-Laid Plans
Matthew 1:18–25 — (18) Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (19) Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. (20) But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take