Readings:
Ezekiel 47-48
Colossians 1

Ezekiel 47-48

Ezekiel sees water flowing from the temple, and this is an echo of the prophecy from Zechariah, where he said “On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter. And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:8-9 RSV-CE)

The “day” that he’s talking about is the Day of The Lord, and in this context it seems less of a judgment and more of an establishment of the new kingdom. This same imagery is used towards the end of Revelation to show a river flowing from the temple that is representing the Holy Spirit flowing forth from the Godhead and a reference back to the river flowing through the garden of Eden.

But more than even these, I see another fulfillment of this prophecy in the crucifixion. Jesus referred to himself as either the temple or as something greater than the temple several times in the gospels, and what flowed from his side at the crucifixion? Blood and water. Prophecy can, and often does, have more than one fulfillment, so all of the above are validly linked to this prophecy from Ezekiel but I can’t help to think that the one on the Cross is the primary fulfillment.

This water will be filled with life, just like the water of baptism, and everything it touches will be brought to life. The desert will blossom, and the water will even flow to the Dead Sea and bring it to life so that fishermen in En Gedi (a town on the shores of the Dead Sea) will catch fish like they would in the Great Sea (a reference to the Mediterranean).

For those who don’t know, as the name implies, the Dead Sea has no fish in it due to its salinity. But the waters from the temple will change all of that, just like Paul says the waters of baptism bring us to new life.

The book closes out with a redivision of the land just like before Joshua’s conquest. The land is reapportioned among the tribes and the city of Jerusalem is set aside as a holy city where God will dwell. Again, this is partly about the return from exile and partly about the end of all time when the new city of Jerusalem that John writes about in Revelation will be revealed.

Colossians 1

Saint Paul is writing this letter during his time imprisoned in Rome, the same period that seen him write Philippians, Ephesians and Philemon. The period is the early 60s and a Christian named Epaphras, from the city of Colossae brings news of the church in his town to Paul in Rome. This city is located inland, in what is now western Turkey, and along a trade route between Tarsus (Paul’s hometown) and Ephesus.

Interestingly about this letter is that Paul was not the founder of this church, that was actually the same Epaphras who now brings him news, and he’d never even visited the city on his missions. Epaphras most likely was converted in Ephesus during one of Paul’s visits to that city. He tells Paul of some in the community that are planting doubts in the minds of some members and so Paul sets out to correct these and set their minds at ease.

He opens up with a pray of thanksgiving and tells them that even though he doesn’t know them personally, he has been praying for them daily, just like he does for all the churches and believers. He prays that they continue to grow in faith, good works and understanding of God.

Paul turns now to address the supremacy of Christ over the entire universe. It never states what kind of errors he’s addressing, but I think there must’ve been some sort of early form of Arianism going on because he stressed the importance of Christ and his union with the Father.

The apostle calls him the first-born of all creation. Notice he says first-born, not first created, that we may believe he is begotten in virtue of his nature and first in virtue of his eternity

Saint Ambrose

He goes on to speak eloquently on Christ being the head of the church, filled with divinity, pre eminent in all things, creator of all things and sustaining all things.

Paul also touches on his sufferings and how they’re being offered as a sacrifice for the sake of fellow believers in the church. Sometimes what he says here is misunderstood, but I think this passage from Saint Thomas Aquinas’ commentary on Colossians helps to better understand it

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Daniel 1-2
Colossians 2