Our third devotional from Colossians comes from Colossians 1.24-2.5.
I don’t know how many of you like a good mystery, either a book, or perhaps a movie or TV show. I really enjoy board games and at one point the game CLUE was a big deal in my house growing up. The premise of CLUE is that you are trying to discover who killed Mr. Body, with what weapon, and in which room. Each person has their own cards that reveal persons, weapons or rooms and throughout the game you’re trying to figure out which three cards are in the case file. It’s a game of deductive reasoning as you try to solve the mystery.
We may enjoy mystery in games or entertainment, but how many of us enjoy mystery in life, or perhaps uncertainty? This current time leaves a lot of mystery for us to wrestle with: will I get coronavirus? When will I be allowed to work again, or visit friends, or go to church? What will happen if the economy doesn’t open soon enough? What happens if it opens too quickly? The answers to these questions are a mystery and have made a number of us fearful and uncomfortable.
Paul in the passage today talks about mystery as well. “I have become the churche’s servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.” (1.26).
But what is theis mystery? According to Paul it is the Messiah, Christ, Jesus. And not just Jesus himself, but Christ living in us.
The good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin, and of the Holy Spirit living in us, empowering us to move forward in the world is a great mystery. This work of God, of Jesus is where all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
How God reconciled the world to himself at first didn’t make sense to the disciples, perhaps even to you. But, God’s self-sacrificing love, the cross of Christ, the empty tomb, is the hinge point of history. The moment when the great mystery of what God is up to was revealed. This is what Paul strenuously strives to proclaim every where he goes. This is what Paul wants his churches to know. This is how Paul tries to encourage people’s hearts and unite them in love as they come to terms and begin to grasp the mystery of God.
May we all wrestle with the mystery in our own lives, and may we be encouraged at how the mystery of God is at work in our lives bringing us faith, hope and love.
For our hymn lyrics today, I invite you to pray with me through “In the bulb there is a flower”
In the bulb there is a flower;
in the seed, an apple tree;
in cocoons, a hidden promise:
butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter
there’s a spring that waits to be,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
There’s a song in every silence,
seeking word and melody.
There’s a dawn in every darkness,
bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future;
what it holds, a mystery,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning;
in our time, infinity;
in our doubt there is believing;
in our life eternity.
In our death, a resurrection;
at the last, a victory,
unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
Grace and Peace to you, Amen.