Sermon from St Andrew’s in the Bay Takaka – Sun 23/02/2020
Reading – Colossians 1: 15-20
Image credit: NASA
I often wonder why I struggle to make sense of the Apostle Paul.
And why I seldom preach using his letters as sermon text, delighting instead in texts from the First Testament or the Gospels.
I never arrive at a satisfactory answer. Paul eludes me. He seldom captures my attention. Nor do I sense much of an interest in the transformative behaviour that the prophets and Jesus became passionate about and insisted on…and pursued…often to a bitter end.
It may not have been Paul’s fault of course!
He often found himself in situations where he felt obliged to correct Christian communities about their believing or their behaving and he became involved in moralizing…
A low-level religious task which far too many in the Christian church have picked up on. That’s about creating an ego-identity that apparently places us on moral high ground. But that’s not the primary concern for love or mature spirituality.
The goal of faith isn’t a perfect moral stance, but about being formed into the likeness of Jesus.
So I’ve had to work hard this week to make sense of this passage from Colossians and put into words something that makes sense. I’m still not sure if I get it. But at least Paul breaks into praise – doxology – and makes use of what most scholars think is an early Christian hymn of praise.
Though of course no one knows where it came from!!
So now… recall the last three weeks.
The great creation story drafted by the Israelites as they pondered their terrible lot as hostages, prisoners in a strange land where they could no longer sing the Lord’s song. And as they wondered “How the heck did we end up here…how did we get ourselves into this mess, they were still able to claim that
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The rock we live on in a universe sized beyond our imagination – planet earth – is a good place to be. No…No… it’s better than that – it’s a very good place to be alive. Yahweh’s big announcement on Day Six (Genesis 1:31)
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We are children of the eighth day….And we live by the grace and mercy of Yahweh who raised us from the dust of the earth and breathed life into us so we became living souls. (Genesis 2:7) But remember…our hold on this life is wafer thin – it depends entirely on our next breath.
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And they said something then went badly wrong – we chased after other gods – and hid because we were ashamed.
Ashamed because we’d forgotten what your covenant that you would be our God and that we would be your people…we’d forgotten what that covenant required of us.
You’d already made it plain how we’re to live and what we’re to do,
what you’re looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple:
“We should be fair and just to our neighbour,
and compassionate and loyal in our love to you and others.And thankfully…mercifully, You came searching for us.
And found us.
And re-claimed us.
And re-covered us.
And offered us our rightful minds – again”.
So we come to the text. Remember, Paul’s writing a letter…that’s all he’s doing here.
Writing to a group of Christians at Colossae, one of the most celebrated cities of southern Anatolia (modern Turkey).
In this lively Christian community that we’d describe as multi-ethnic there were almost certainly former Jews. The church was embedded in a culture where there were, of course, local religions and the pagan cults of the Roman empire. The beliefs and practices of numerous religious traditions were likely fused together and apparently, this was all too much for the community which seems to have lost its bearings.
Paul’s letter aims to correct their view on life which had been influenced by a group who believed that God and “the flesh”—normal bodily existence—as being at war with each other[1]. And we know that this is a corruption of the Israelite account of how things began and had then gone wrong.
So here’s a plausible hypothetical letter that might have been written by these ascetic ‘philosophers’ to the Colossian believers:
Dear Colossians, we know you’re experiencing hardships: no doubt you’re aware that there are evil spirits and powers that have authority over our mortal world. These powers prey on the weakness of human bodies and flesh. Thus our world is fraught with cosmic chaos. We can offer, though, (here’s the sales pitch) knowledge, wisdom, and teachings (traditions) that can protect you from these malevolent forces. By controlling, combating, and disciplining your own frail body, you can resist these powers. Circumcision and strict ritual Torah obedience are particularly effective in counteracting these hostile spirits. Once you have submitted yourself to such disciplines of the body, you will gain access to the celestial world—receiving divine wisdom, visions, and provisions to fight against the weakness of the flesh that the evil powers use against you. We can offer you the proper route to spiritual fullness and perfection.
(Crafted by Nijay Gupta, Associate Prof of NT Studies at Portland Seminary, Or. USA)
Well, Paul’s knows that none of that is true and he’s up for the challenge.
You’re wrong he says and then he makes this outrageous claim
‘Christ Holds It All Together’
Christ is all you need for your spiritual life. So resist and decline any suggestion that you need anything more than that you participate in Christ’s death and resurrection. That’s all you need to live life humanely and fully.
15-18 We look at this Son (referring to Christ) and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death… (Colossians 1:15-20 The Message)
Now if you’ve got sharp eyes – or ears – you’ll notice immediately something really important.
He’s talking about Christ. Do you see that?
Jesus is now referred to as ‘Christ’. He’s talking about the Messiah. The Jewish believers would’ve understood this. Gentile Christians would’ve understood as well.
On the resurrection side of his life in Galilee Jesus now becomes Christ…Messiah.
Jesus has become worthy of a great hymn…and here it is in Colossians. The NT scholars tell us it represents the highest Christology in the NT. That’s something to be awed by!
But what are we to make of this?
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Christ was there before anything came into existence…a cosmic Christ? Surely we can’t be talking about time here. Are we talking about the same Jesus who lived in Galilee? Thank about that!
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‘Image of the invisible God’…well that’s not too difficult to get my head around. I’ve come to believe that if we’re to know what God is like we should look at Jesus. But that’s a strange idea. Look at this man we’re told and what do you see? Think about that too!
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‘Supreme in the beginning…and supreme in the end’. Supremo. Above and beyond everything…everything??? Christ was there before the beginning? That can only be poetry and song.
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‘And when it comes to the church (that’s us here this morning) he organises and holds us together’. Well we’ve heard it said more times than we care to remember, that Jesus is the head of the church. But we’re talking about Christ here! So what’s the difference?
These are huge questions and I don’t know what to make of some of them.
I’ve concluded this can only be a grand hymn of praise…a song, sung true.
Poetic, lyrical, extravagant…beautiful and like the creation story it’s to be believed…because that’s what it is…a song of faith.
Now just a few unrelated things in conclusion:
Even ‘thrones’ (seats of power) are created in Christ. ‘Under’ his oversight. But they can be corrupted…with the trappings that go with them and as for those those who sit upon them…whether they’re called ‘prime minister’ or ‘deputy prime minister’ or ‘President’ there’s always a temptation for Christians to cozy up to them in order to ‘buy’ prestige, or some sort of power. That’s exactly what’s happening the USA as the evangelicals – not all of them thank God – but many of them are cozying up to the President.
Paul is saying here ‘Be on your guard’.
And then again…Paul is warning here about a tendency we might have to rachet down our beliefs about Jesus Christ in order to ‘fit’ him in to the world we live in with its gods and causes. Diminish Christ until he won’t disturb or upset anyone – including us – and the powers that would overwhelm us have us exactly where they want us; harmless and tamed. Domesticated. Useless. Good for nothing. Zeroed right out. Servants of the status quo.
And finally…this Jesus Christ is the ‘head of the church’. This cosmic Christ doesn’t reign ‘on high in heaven above’ wherever that might be. When it comes to the church, he ‘organises it and holds it together’
And in this regard let’s remind ourselves about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s belief:
That “The church is that space where the world is formed in Christ;
[and] the church is that space where Christ is formed in the world”
Finally:
Every evening an email comes into my Inbox from Richard Rohr
who is an American author, spiritual writer,[1] and Franciscan friar based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Recently Rohr has been writing about what the Franciscan’s call “Alternative Orthodoxy” and this past week he wrote this:
“I often wonder if the one thing we all share in common—our planet—(Now we’re going right back to the beginning of this short series) could ultimately bring us all together. We stand on this same “sister, Mother Earth” and we look up at this same Brother Sun and Sister Moon.
Could it be that the Mystery of God is already hidden and revealed here?
I believe so. Naming the universal Christ helps us to recognize the inherent sacrality,(sacredness), holiness, goodness, and value of the whole material world.
For those who see deeply, there is only One Reality; there is no distinction between sacred and profane. [3] Humanity is becoming capable of a truly global spirituality which is desperately needed for the common good to be realized.
God has come to save us all by grace.
No exceptions.
… There is no wrath in God. There is only outpouring love”.
Which is what the creation of the universe was all about in the beginning.
The rock we live on is a very good place to be.
The life we’ve been gifted is a very good life to live.
But we’ve been off searching for other gods and mercifully, Yahweh came searching for us. And found us. And re-claimed us. And re-covered us. And restored us to our rightful minds – again.
Not only that but
everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding…all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death… (Colossians 1:15-20 The Message)
Now that is something to sing about!
[1] Gorman, M. J. (2017). Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul & His Letters (Second Edition, p. 547). Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.