Contemplative Bible Reading

Colossians 3:11 (New Living Translation)

11 In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.

The writer is writing about life and how to live. Prior to this sentence, the writer lists all the things that folks in the world do and that folks following Jesus Christ no longer do.

Things have changed. It doesn’t matter who I am. It doesn’t matter where I went to high school and if I went to college or if I am from the West, the East, the most, or the least.

All that matters is Jesus Christ.

Well, sure, but, you know, I have a special place with Jesus Christ. You see, I came from “good stock” and “the right people” so while everyone is welcome, there are some of my kind that are more welcome and have more special places and…

Wrong, wrong, and wrong. I am not special-er than anyone. All the matters is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ lives in all of us—no more in me than in you or “that fellow over there behind that tree.” And if I wish that fellow over there behind that tree remains over behind that tree and doesn’t bother me too much in this plush, warm coffee shop made for special-er people like me, well, I missed the point of all this.

Whether I am in the coffee shop or sheltering in the woods trying to stop the hunger and cold shivers doesn’t matter. Jesus Christ is all that matters. And I should bring warmth and comfort to that fellow over there behind the tree. That’s what people in Jesus Christ do.