Mind Meld of A Different Kind

COLOSSIANS 4:7-18

Tychicus will give you a full report about how I am getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord’s work. I have sent him to you for this very purpose—to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. I am also sending Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and Tychicus will tell you everything that’s happening here.

Aristarchus, who is in prison with me, sends you his greetings, and so does Mark, Barnabas’s cousin. As you were instructed before, make Mark welcome if he comes your way. Jesus (the one we call Justus) also sends his greetings. These are the only Jewish believers among my co-workers; they are working with me here for the Kingdom of God. And what a comfort they have been!

Epaphras, a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God. I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings, and so does Demas. 15 Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house.

After you have read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it, too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them.

And say to Archippus, “Be sure to carry out the ministry the Lord gave you.”

Here is my greeting in my own handwriting—Paul.

Remember my chains.

May God’s grace be with you.

Greetings,

Some of the most important words we hear all day flow in one ear and out the other. We are greeted multiple times a day by our family, co-workers, friends, people we meet on the street, drivers in traffic and even the people on the radio and TV reading the news. We dismiss greetings because they have become a simple formality acknowledging a person’s presence giving us permission to move into the “important conversation.”

I confess, when I come to the end of one of Paul’s letters, I want to skip the section with all the names. Say hello to so and so and remind so and so to do this and that. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda! But in the midst of these greetings there stands an important principle. These people mattered to Paul and to God.

By taking the time to name individuals in the church, Paul gives credibility to the value of each person before God. Many of the people named are lay-people working alongside the pastors and evangelist. They are the behind the scenes people. They are important people.

Instead of blowing off a good morning greeting, let it remind you of the important place you fill in that person’s life. Think about the value of each person in your life and next time you say “hello” remember to thank God for the gift of other people in your life.

God of the universe who knows each person on the face of the earth, I thank you for being a personal God. Thank you for calling me by name. Help me to value each person who crosses my path today and thank you for the blessing of community. - Dan Jones

Why, Paul?

Onesimus?! It’s good to hear Mark’s name. Seems he and Paul have reconciled after the blow out before Paul’s second missionary trip. But Onesimus. Paul doesn’t mention here that he’s sending an escaped slave (owned by a member of the Colosse church!) back to his Master; back into a dehumanizing situation at best and death at worst. There’s another letter that Tychicus and company carry; this one addressed to Philemon, Onesimus’ owner.

As the 19^th century United States tumbled into Civil War this is one of those biblical precedents that southern slave owners quoted against their northern counterparts when they refused to return escaped slaves to their plantations in Dixie. How do you argue against such a clear biblical example?!

Thanks Paul for not attacking the institution of slavery from the get go of Christianity. Neither did he attack the subservient status of women. In fact, no household relational role either of parents, spouses, or slaves found itself under assault and subsequent redefinition from Paul’s pen. Well, this is almost true. Paul never mounted a frontal assault on culturally defined hierarchical household roles where men were the absolute authority over (and owner of) everyone.

I think that Colossians, and the rest of the New Testament, is a backdoor assault.

Declaring that traditional distinctions between slave and free, or male and female have no bearing in Christ (Col. 3:11 and Gal. 3:28) or, in these final instructions, calling Onesimus a “faithful and beloved brother” both undermine all hierarchical roles in the household, including slavery.

I think Paul knew that to launch a frontal assault on such socially ingrained assumptions would detract from the spread of the Gospel which, alone, would provide the ultimate undermining force. Too bad, after nearly 2000 years, slave owners in a so-called Christian nation didn’t get it. Too bad that, while it seems that the 21^st century western cultures have gotten the biblical implications (and then some), many Christians today are still locked into hierarchical models of male and female roles. Pitty our dullness indeed.

Father, I’m ready to go on the attack against some of the culturally ingrained assumptions that even many Christians hold, but are profoundly inconsistent with your Word. However, I suspect that a frontal assault only detracts from the power of the Gospel. Grant me wisdom, the wisdom of Paul, to know how to keep the Good News front and center. - Mike Leamon