delivered 18 July 2010
by Rev. Dr Wes Campbell
Paul writes:
Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God; in him the fullness of God was pleased to make a home.
In the name of the reconciling God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN
Have you ever found yourself reading someone else’s love letters? Perhaps accidentally, or maybe published correspondence of a famous person; or maybe the overheard telephone conversation in the tram.
It can be embarrassing to be taken into another person’s intimacies.
Believe it or not, when we read from the letter to the Colossians, we were overhearing a love letter.
But we should not be embarrassed – it was written to be read aloud. It is hard to take it in – the language is so rich. In the original Greek, the sentences are long, one thought tumbling after another. The translators of the New Revised Standard Version have broken it into shorter sentences.
Powerful and passionate. What else would you expect from a lover? This is no carefully written text; it is a passionate love song.
True, some want their love songs to be kept simple: like Paul McCartney’s song:
‘You’d think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. … Some people wanna fill the world with silly love songs. / And what’s wrong with that?’
There is nothing wrong with that!
And some appreciate his simple, light instrumental backing.
Now, I am no opera buff, but I venture to say that in this letter we are taken into something much fuller, closer to opera, to the full orchestra, to the full throated song of lovers whose arias soar, whose song expresses an impassioned love that fills the whole world, the cosmos.
Or if you are not into classical music, consider the power of Queen’s music, in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, for example!
When we are listening to such songs, we don’t expect to understand every word; rather we are carried into the passion of the lovers, and the power of their song. That is the best way to approach this letter. In fact, part of what we have heard here is an early Christian hymn: in verses 15-20, printed on the green sheet which we’ll say together after the sermon.
map showing the location of ancient Colossae in modern-day Turkey
This letter was first written to be read aloud to Christians in the Greek city of Colossae, and it then became a circular letter, read to a variety of congregations in the Roman Empire.
It served to link scattered congregations, holding them together as they heard it read; and, presumably as they sang the hymn. (Much as Methodists did when singing Charles Wesley’s hymns.)
The New Testament presents the letter as written by the apostle Paul. In recent discussion, biblical scholars have noticed that the language of this letter sounds different from other letters by Paul. Many have warmed to the view that the letter was not actually written by Paul, but by someone writing in his name.
Can we trust anything, you might ask! Is it right that someone should pretend to be who they are not?
We may be suspicious of that, but in the ancient world, it was quite acceptable to write in the name of an important person. To translate their thought into a new time and place. And that’s what we have here. The letter is written, you could say, in the ‘spirit’ of Paul.
We don’t know if it was written while Paul was still alive, or after his death.
In any case, it reminds us that Paul worked with others, Timothy especially, he often suffered hardship, and he wrote many of his letters from prison.
So we need not lose confidence in this letter. Instead, we can take confidence that the letter was read by many early Christian communities, and was finally included in the New Testament for us to read.
Why was the letter written? Why is it still important to us?
There was a controversy brewing. There was trouble afoot in the congregation. It seems that members of the congregation were becoming uncertain about Jesus and his power to make them free. They were being attracted to teachers who claimed to have special knowledge or ‘wisdom’.
Their message was that if they wanted to be truly free they would have to work at it. They would need to keep holy times and worship heavenly powers if they really wanted to gain wisdom and have access to God.
This might sound pretty distant from us, twenty-first century people. We don’t have much time for heavenly powers; but we are pushed and pulled in every direction by powers:
what the family needs; work and its demands; the care of our bodies; even our leisure has turned into work. These are the unseen powers that claim us.
(Consider the powers at work in fashion: eg. it leads people fatally to smoke; women force their feet into stiletto heeled and narrow toed shoes.) And because we can’t do everything at once, we rush from one thing to another, and sometimes feel as though we are being pulled apart by the various claims on our time and energy. These unseen powers make their claim on us, and fracture and fragment our lives.
So we are not that far from our ancient Christian sisters and brothers.
And to speak to this fragmented life, the writer of the letter takes up an early Christian hymn which speaks of Jesus Christ as the image of the invisible God; in the Greek it says he is the ‘icon’ of the invisible God. And in him this God chose to be fully present, to ‘dwell’ in him; to make a home there in Jesus Christ.
Last weekend some of us attended the conference on ‘Engaging the Basis’. Over two days we heard people exploring the Basis of Union – that slim document of 14 paragraphs which brought the Congregationalists, Methodists and Presbyterians together as the Uniting Church in Australia.
Introducing the Basis, Andrew Dutney, a theological teacher from Adelaide, made the simple point: for any of this to get off the ground we have to believe in God!
Believe in God. It sounds obvious. And yet for us it is so difficult.
As modern people we have learnt that there a fatal opposition here – an opposition between God and the world: either we believe in God, or we side with the world. It’s the sort of view that Richard Dawkins holds; and, to be honest, many in church congregations: God or the world.
But for the church it is a false choice.
It is obvious to us – probably more so than ancient peoples – that if we are speaking of God, we are dealing with what is unseen, invisible, untouchable. The letter we are reading today is also very clear that in dealing with God, we are dealing with mystery.
But the church does not actually start with the unseen; it takes a start in Jesus. And more, it makes the claim that in this Jewish man God is fully present; nothing is held back. In him God is fully open to us. In this one man, (2: 3) all the treasures and wisdom of God are hidden in him.
This is where the love language threatens to swamp us.
But the point it makes is not difficult. It makes one simple point: that in the entire universe, with all its powers and claims, there is one person who has a claim on us. He is the one who expresses the point and purpose of the cosmos; his has first place among all these. That is, he is supreme.
And, in other words, in him God and world are joined together. God and world are reconciled. In Jesus Christ, God has taken the initiative to act for us.
If Christians are lured into thinking there are other more important and powerful claims, the letter simply points us to him. In the hymn that we will say, and in the verses that follow, there is a sort of cascade, a raging rapid, a waterfall; not only does Jesus show the purpose of the universe, he is also the head (leader) of the church; as the one risen from the dead, he can rescue us from powers of darkness, bringing us into the light.
And, more, where the world is fragmented and broken, he can bring even enemies together. How is this done? It pictures all those powers who parade and posture and pretend to be life-giving, whether religious or political. Then the letter says that Jesus puts them on trial. By going to his cross, (2:12-15) Jesus actually puts them on show, parades them and publicly shames them. He turns the tables. By being nailed to the cross, Jesus shows up the powers for that they are. And, with that, he nails them to the cross. In this way he has power over them.
Can we recognise those powers now? What about what is going on in Afghanistan?
More and more people are being killed, and when the bodies of soldiers are brought home, politicians talk of staying the course, of the role of troops in ensuring freedom, describing the deaths of young men and children and women as necessary to a new life there. Through tears, young wives and grieving parents speak of the way their dead one loved life.
Just as in George Orwell’s novel 1984, language turns on itself: in order to speak of peace, it is necessary to say ‘war’; the powers that claim to be life-giving exercise their power by producing fragmentation and brokenness. The situation is even more grim when these powers use religious language to make their claim.
Jesus Christ, by his broken body, the letter says, is the one in whom all things hold together. Jesus Christ, by his own his blood, makes peace.
The claim here is massive. And it challenges even those who gather in his name: the cosmos is his; he has the power to hold together even enemies – enemies of God; and human enemies and strangers. That is he ‘reconciles’; he pays the cost of bringing opponents together.
Why say all this? Because the name of Jesus is that love song which brought us here.
The challenge is for us to be those people whose Head is Christ, whose lives are shaped by him, ready to hope in him, to speak his name, even to suffer for him.
So today we have read the letter which calls us to join with Mary, attending to him alone, so we will not be distracted and overwhelmed by all the claims made on us.
Today we are reminded that the mystery of God has gathered us here.
Entrust yourself to Jesus Christ who has rescued us, transferring us from darkness into light.
And be reminded of all those faithful people, Paul included, who were willing to suffer so that we might come to know the wisdom and glory of Christ.
May we never be embarrassed by him, but once again take confidence in him, as he has taken confidence in us!
To Christ Jesus, the wisdom and mystery of God, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, praise and thanks, now and always. Amen
