Upcoming Sunday Epistle
Readings
Sunday 10 September
2017
Romans
13:8-14
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who
loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit
adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and
any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. Besides this, you know what
time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation
is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the
day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor
of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness,
not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead,
put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify
its desires.
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Paul
calls the faithful to continue in faithfulness.
Chief among those aspects of faithfulness which he highlights is the
sharing of love of God and love of neighbor which fulfills the Summary of the
Law. He urges the faithful to press on
in this way seeing that salvation is constantly drawing nearer. There are many who speak of this in terms of
the end of days. Certainly, Paul would
fit that description. Paul believed
firmly for much of his ministry that he would witness the triumphant return of
Jesus before tasting death. Obviously
this did not happen, for we number Paul amongst the saints who are martyrs, who
have laid down their life for Christ.
From the perfection of vision that comes in the life to come, I think
Paul would wish for us to focus more on the end of our days rather than the end
of the days. None of us knows how much
more time we have in this life. With
each passing day, we draw nearer to the time when we shall stand before Christ
in the life to come. As we prepare for
our death, no matter how soon or how far off that might be, we do well to press
on and grow in love of God and neighbor.
By doing so, we make public witness to the hope that is in us, the hope
that enables us both to live and to die in confidence and in hope that the best
is yet to come, that we have not followed Christ for this life alone. We belong to Christ, and we live for
him. These are eternal truths.
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Father Timothy
Alleman
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