Twenty-eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Octoechos Tone 3. Holy Prophet Nahum (7th century BC).
The Epistle and Gospel are taken from the 30th Sunday after Pentecost.
Colossians 3:12-16. Luke 18:18-27.
Read Colossians 3:12-16
With Christmas approaching, we become more aware of what we are wearing for different occasions. With the onset of winter, we are paying more attention to what we wear every day. The question that guides our decisions is, “What are we getting dressed for?”
Last Sunday, our epistle reading had us getting dressed for spiritual battle, putting on the “whole armor of God” because “we are contending against…the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Today’s epistle reading has us getting dressed for something else. Everything we are to “put on” is relational: compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, patience, forgiveness, love, peace, and thankfulness. Our reading begins by referring to the reason for this, but we must look at the preceding verses of the chapter to find it.
Because we have been “raised with Christ”, we are to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is”. Because of that we are to “put to death” and “put away” – like putting off our old clothes – other kinds of relational things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, foul talk, and lying. Because of all this, St. Paul writes, “Put on then” these new relational clothes.
So, what is today’s epistle reading getting us dressed for? Resurrection life lived now. And that life is profoundly relational. The “you” in, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”, is plural, not singular. The activity that flows from that is not solitary: “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” This is a vision of hospitality of heart in the daily lives of our homes and parishes. This is what we are getting dressed for every day.