Today we begin reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the “holy ones and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae.” This letter begins with a Eucharist or Thanksgiving: “We always give thanks” (eucharistoumen). The Greek word eucharist means to give thanks. As we do at the Mass or Eucharist, Paul gives “thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul gives thanks for the faith and love of the community in the city of Colossae. Their faith is in Christ Jesus as Lord. Their love is for all the holy ones, so for all believers. We have here the basic description of what it means to be a Christian, it means to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and to love another. In the rest of this letter Paul will “unpack” the meaning and implications of this twofold description.
The source of their call to faith and love is the “word of truth, the Gospel” as they have heard it not from Paul himself but from “Epaphras…a trustworthy minister of Christ on your behalf.” We hear in today’s Gospel that Jesus also preached the Gospel: “To the other towns also I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” (Luke 4:43). Jesus not only preached the good news (gospel) of the Kingdom of God but embodied that gospel in his welcoming of all, in his ministry of healing, in his washing of the feet of his disciples, and especially in his passion, death, and resurrection.” So, when early Christian preachers such as Paul and Epaphras preached the Gospel, they preached not only the Kingdom of God as Jesus did but also Jesus who incarnated the Kingdom of God by doing the will of his heavenly Father.
Today as we celebrate the Eucharist, I give thanks for your faith in God and in our Lord Jesus Christ and for your love that you show to one another, especially to the poor and the outcasts of our society. We give thanks for each of you in the words of St. Paul: “We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.”
Image: “Jesus preaching in the temple” by elisabeth_callahan is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.