For the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time….
I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,
and before Christ Jesus,
who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession,
to keep the commandment without stain or reproach
until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ
that the blessed and only ruler
will make manifest at the proper time,
the King of kings and Lord of lords,
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light,
and whom no human being has seen or can see.
To him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
1 Timothy 6:13-16
I am a lector at my church, serving for many years. It’s hard not to notice that within many of the translations of St. Paul’s letters there are these incredibly long sentences. Like the first one above. It is 81 words long.
I’m also a writer and editor by trade. In any book, article, or Living Faith devotional I was editing, I would never allow such a long sentence to exist. It is a paragraph.
So, in my case, it’s almost as if God is daring me to dig in and pull that sentence apart. But I can’t. A good editor does not shred up a writer’s true voice. And besides, it’s St. Paul and over the years, I get his voice. For there are many moments like this. It’s a non-stop-and-barely-take-a-breath-when-he-needs-us-to-not-miss-the-point.
But let’s dig in anyway and zero in on his point: This is call to fidelity. To keep the commandment of God, specifically of Jesus, until he comes again.
Got it?
You need stamina for that. Like a lector needs it for that first sentence. This is Paul’s breathless plea to us. The immortal King of Kings and Lord of Lords is coming back.
Until that appointed time, Jesus is dwelling in the unapproachable light of Heaven, and while we are here, we need to aim for that Light.
King Jesus, make me ready by fidelity to my own noble confession, every day, for as long as I have breath, or until you come again.
