From the Pen of St. Paul
In
the name + of Jesus.
From creation, God designed us for relationships—husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, friends, neighbors, business associates, and so on. We establish friendships over mutual interests or experiences. Sometimes that interest is “My kid is in the same class as your kid.” Other times it is an occupation, a hobby, or a sports team. Then the bonds of friendship grow through conversations, shared meals, and time spent together.
But relationships can be dashed quickly. A poor choice of words is enough to do
it. Sometimes it is an inconsiderate act
or an oversight. A friendship can even
be ruined by an insult that is merely perceived. Strained relationships can be mended, but
pride often prevents it. We feel righteous
in holding grudges and withholding forgiveness.
We insist that we are right regardless of the cost. For a friendship to be restored, we must put
our pride to death—either acknowledging that we are wrong or graciously forgiving
the wrong done to us. This produces a
reconciliation, that is, we become friends again.
While God created us to enjoy relationships
with one another, our closest relationship is to be with the Lord. He has created us to be the objects of his
affection now and for all eternity. As
the author of life, he tells us how it is supposed to be lived—what is good and
what is evil. He gives us the Commandments
and holds us accountable to them. He forbids
us to follow another god or an alternative truth. For, there is no other god and his word alone
is truth. If we do not follow the Triune
God and his word, we trust in lies and worship idols.
That is what it was like for most of the Colossian
Christians. Paul reminded them, “You … once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds”
(Colossians 1:21).
They had followed idols and were hostile to the true God and his
word. But they were not unique. All of us enter this world as enemies of
God. To this day, we can find ourselves
fighting against God’s word. When we don’t
like what God tells us, we abandon God’s word for our own personal truth. In doing so, we are self-deceived. If you and I both believe that we possess the
truth but we believe completely different things, we both can’t be right. We might both be wrong, but we can’t both be right,
because the truth cannot disagree with itself.
Personal truth is a lie.
We are, by nature,
alienated from God, hostile to him, and doing evil deeds. This natural sinful condition still rears its
ugly head. We are hostile to God when we
challenge his commandments, actions, or wisdom.
We can’t escape this sinful condition; we must be rescued from it. We have a Savior who has done just that. Jesus Christ “has now reconciled (you)
in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and
blameless and above reproach before him” (Colossians 1:22). Jesus has revealed to you that God the Father
is not a God who is motivated by pride, but by love. He seeks to reconcile all who are hostile to
him. He wants those who are alienated
from him to be gathered to him for their good.
Jesus Christ has rescued us from our sinful condition and restored our relationship
with God the Father. We are reconciled
to God in Christ.
Jesus is in very
essence God—worthy of all glory, honor, and worship. Rather than coming into the world prideful
and boastful, he humbled himself to become a man, in fact, the servant of all
mankind. Even more than that, he humbled
himself to take upon himself the responsibility for all our evil deeds. He made himself the target of God’s wrath and
put himself under God’s enmity because of our stubborn hearts and hostile
minds. He was pierced to the cross and
there consumed all of God’s wrath against all mankind. Jesus was alienated and forsaken at the cross
by his Father so that we could be restored to the Father.
We are
reconciled in Christ. Because of Jesus’
death, he presents you as “holy and blameless and above reproach”
(Colossians 1:22). Jesus has taken
away all your guilt. Therefore, you are
blameless before God. Jesus has consumed
all of God’s wrath. Therefore, you are above
reproach; no judgment speaks against you.
You have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Therefore, you are holy—set apart from sin
and death, and set apart for God and for godly living. There is no condemnation for you, no
judgment, no accusation, no anger whatsoever.
You are the object of God’s affection now and for eternity. You are reconciled in Christ.
Paul goes on to
add one of the more bizarre comments about his apostleship. He says, “Now I rejoice in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is
lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
church” (Colossians 1:24). First, we
must recognize what Paul does not mean by this comment. He does not mean that Jesus’ work of
redeeming us is incomplete, as if St. Paul or anyone else had to add something to
Jesus’ innocent life and sacrificial death.
Just before Jesus gave up his final breath, he declared, “It is
finished” (John 19:30). The sum
total of Jesus’ work of redemption completed at his death. The life of perfect obedience satisfies God’s
demands of the Law. The substitutionary
death of Jesus satisfies the Law’s demands for justice. Full payment has been rendered. All sins are paid for. There is nothing you or I or St. Paul could
add to Jesus’ work. If that were
necessary, we would never know if the work were complete. But we are reconciled in Christ. The relationship has been restored. God has declared you forgiven and beloved.
So, what could
have been lacking? St. Paul was one of the
apostles entrusted with preaching the whole counsel of God to the church. The letters he wrote were written for
us. That’s why they have been
preserved. That’s why we read them in
church. The apostles recorded the words,
works, and will of Jesus Christ. But for
Paul’s faithful proclamation, he was despised, arrested, beaten, and imprisoned. Jesus had said this would happen. Jesus’ words had to be fulfilled. Paul suffered for the body of Christ, the Church,
so that the Church would have Christ’s word etched in print for the entire New
Testament era. So, Paul was not suffering
to complete Jesus’ payment; he was suffering to fulfill Jesus’ prophecy.
Through this
written word, the Holy Spirit works so that “you continue in the faith,
stable, steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (Colossians
1:29). By God’s grace, you hold to
God’s word, confess it to others without bending, and live your life according
to it. You do this because you’ve been
reconciled to God and now recognize that God’s commandments, actions, and wisdom
are good. But by continuing “in the
faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians
1:29), you will also suffer for the sake of his name. I don’t think you have to worry about beatings
or imprisonment, but people will criticize you when you confess Jesus the only
hope for sinners and mock you for living as a child of God. Now, you are the body of Christ. The body of Christ still takes beatings, and Jesus
said that this would happen. And this
will go on until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.
But you need not
fear or even shrink back. You and I continue
to come into the Lord’s presence where he encourages and strengthens us to “continue
in the faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians
1:29). Any ridicule or suffering we
endure in this world is nothing compared to the glory that is to come. We are reconciled in Christ. In Christ we remain under God’s grace and
care. Our reconciliation, our rescue,
our resurrection to life everlasting come only through Jesus Christ, and he
comes to us only through his word and sacraments. This is why it is essential that we continue
to meet in God’s house. Here, the Holy
Spirit will keep you “in the faith, stable, steadfast, not shifting from the
hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:29).
And the Lord will not forget your sufferings or those who caused you to
suffer.
We are
reconciled in Christ, which means that you know God loves you, and you know
what proves that God loves you and has saved you. You have learned “the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now
revealed to his saints. … God chose to make known how
great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).
The Gospel is
not a secret. Once you have heard a secret,
it is no longer a secret. A mystery,
however, is something that you continue to ponder even after you know it. Among the mysteries about God is that he who
is all-glorious chose to humble himself to become a man. He who is almighty made himself weak, even
submitting to the cruelty and injustice of sinners. He who is immortal died. He who demands obedience from mankind and
holds us accountable for our sins made himself accountable and suffered and
died for our disobedience. We continue
to ponder this, for this reveals a God who pardons the guilty and restores the relationship
which was broken.
The mystery is also
that Christ is in you. Although you and
I confess we are sinners—and rightly so, for we prove it—we also confess that
we are saints—and rightly so, for God says so.
You trust in a holiness that is not yours. You put your pride to death and boast in the
risen Savior. You are credited for doing
good even though you still do evil because the blood of Jesus cleanses you and
the Holy Spirit has cast out the unclean spirit in you. You are a glorious people, but your glory is
now hidden. When Jesus Christ comes
again to judge the living and the dead, your glory will be manifested by
Jesus. For now, we marvel at this
mystery by faith. But then, we will rejoice
to see this glory revealed. And Jesus
will prove to all creation that we are reconciled in Christ.
We are reconciled in Christ. He is pleased to call you his friends. This is a relationship that Jesus has established for all eternity. It is not fragile; for it has been founded on Jesus’ perfect love and his steadfast commitment to you. You are the object of his affection now and for all eternity. This is what God has designed you for.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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