In the spirit of silence-breaking, a small Sunday offering...

From time to time, I share a sermon on the blog and this one was preached yesterday, 20th Nov 2016, at Wesley City Mission in Suva. 

'May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen'

Colossians 1. 11-20

 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers — all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

 

Luke 23.33-43

 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ 34 Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ 38 There was also an inscription over him,‘This is the King of the Jews.’

39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ 42 Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’ 

 

 

Christians in the Pacific often speak with great reverence about the Bible. ‘It’s very important to know God’s Word through our Bibles,’ we say. So, what do we know about the Letter to the Colossians, the first gift from our lectionary passages today? It’s not a long book. Only four chapters. What do we know about it? What was it trying to teach the first Christians? And what of us today? 

It’s a wonderful letter. Most probably we can say – because these things have been painstakingly researched by faithful scholars over many, many years now – it was written 80-90 years after Christ. A young Church was growing up. Maturing. When we take a look at letters written earlier, like 1 Thessalonians - maybe 50 or so years after Christ – the big issues remain immediate and practical. Most urgently, believers are waiting for Jesus to come back – waiting for the Son’s return, as he promised. In 1 Thess. 5.2, for example, the urging is to ‘be ready’. The end times might come upon us like ‘a thief in the night’. To look at earlier letters like those to the Corinthian Church is also to discover a world where practical, immediate concerns dominate for those who have decided to follow Jesus. So what do we do about unbelieving partners? (1 Cor 7). Can we really eat food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor 8).

 

But in Colossians, written later, there is less about those early dilemmas. The Church has moved on a bit. And one reason given for the kind of preaching and teaching here is explicitly stated in Col. 1.28. So that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (NRSV) We read here the theology of a maturing Church. By the time this letter was written, the Church has done some mature thinking and mature reflection on who Christ is. They’ve done some Christology. We like an ‘ology’ don’t we?! Biology, psychology, theology of course… Here, Colossians is doing some Christology. What is our knowledge about Jesus Christ at this stage of the Church’s life and how can we communicate it so that it makes a difference?

Let’s look at this Christology. First of all – what’s happened already? Let’s summarise.

13 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

 Colossians 1.13 is a pretty good one verse summary of Christian belief, if you’re ever looking for one! These things HAVE happened. We are not to live in a way that pretends they haven’t: that doubts or diminishes them.

And now, what about this 'beloved Son'; this Jesus Christ, into whose Kingdom we have been transferred. Who is he actually? 80 or 90 years on from his death, what have we learnt about him? Here’s the Christology again, and it’s immense:

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers — all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. 

 Can we see how mature a statement about Jesus Christ that is?

- The church has matured enough to grasp the intimate relationship of God and Jesus Christ – he is the image of the invisible God: in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

- The church has matured enough to realise that Christ in God was therefore present at the creation of all things and takes first place in all things. Alpha and Omega – beginning and end. That’s quite something to get our heads around, the idea of a pre-existent Christ.

- The church has matured enough to understand Christ through the cross as reconciler, bridge-builder, peacemaker. v17…. in him all things hold together. They’re not supposed to fall apart – could the Church wake up to that, please? And v20 – just one of the most awesome verses of the Bible for me …and through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. 

This is a mature Christology, isn’t it? We listen to this text and hear that so much has been learned. What happened through Christ’s cross was for the purposes of reconciliation not division. One of the hallmarks of a mature Church, we can confidently say, is its passionate desire to hold all things together as a way of honouring and respecting all that was done for us on the cross. When our hallmarks as Church appear to be so often opposition, division, separate camps – surely we are disrespecting, we are dishonouring Christ’s cross?

I invite us to stay with this theme of the reconciling, peace-building work of God-in-Christ for a moment, not least because we need to bring in our Gospel passage for today from Luke 23. Here is Luke’s account of the crucifixion. There are two criminals – one on the right and one on the left of Jesus. At first it seems that Jesus separates them: his presence divides them. He’s even in the midst of an argument going on between them about who is condemned and who is saved at this point. Then an amazing reconciliation happens. It’s the Gospel of Luke’s foretaste of a reconciled world because Luke is very interested in the universal implications of the Good News and the reach of the Kingdom. One criminal says: ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus replies, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

 

 

Can we now hold that crucifixion scene in our minds and hear afresh these words?

Colossians 1.20 – and through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
 

Making peace between criminals; sharing their tortured, human flesh; in the agony of a human body; Christ’s blood was shed only to makes peace, because that’s the way God wants it.
 

A mature Christology is one of reconciliation. A mature Church is a reconciling Church.

There’s particular theme that Churches in Fiji have been asked to think about and recognize today: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World – Make Education Safe for All. Some call today ‘Break the Silence’ Sunday: a sharp reminder to us all about colluding with the sin of keeping silent when women and children – sometimes men too – are violently abused and attacked. The Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma’s Facebook and Website pages have much that is worth taking a look at and we’re grateful to the Communications team.

When Christian people – those who claim to follow Jesus - are perpetrators of such violence, or remain silent about such violence, we crucify Christ again. We continue the torture of the cross in 2016. I’ve heard some opinions expressed in the Church that these campaigns are just some sort of secular, United Nations propaganda – they’re not really the stuff of the sermon and the pulpit. My humble question in response: does a mature Christian or a mature Church dare to say that in the light of the Christology in Colossians and the crucifixion account in Luke?

Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Making peace in homes: making peace in the world. This follows, surely, from the mature Christology of Colossians and the practical demonstration of peacemaking from our Lord and Saviour between two criminals on the cross. If we ever wanted justification that ‘Break the Silence’ Sunday has Biblical foundations – here they are.
 

We pray that God will keep us maturing in the Word and maturing in our Christian lives, convinced that a sure sign of that maturity will be our ability to reconcile and make peace

Amen

The Revd Dr Val Ogden, MA MPhil
Director: Education by Extension
Pacific Theological College