Year
C Christmas 1 2012
Striking Images
One
of the things I love about the Bible is the rich and varied images that leap
out of the pages whenever and wherever I read it. From what we might call the ‘mythologies’ of
the Creation stories in Genesis 1 & 2, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Big
Fish to the vivid visions of Daniel, or Ezekiel and St John’s Revelation with
creatures covered in eyes or wheels within wheels. And in between all of that we have poetry,
some of it pretty fruity if you read the Song of Songs anytime, we have sublime
expressions of what it means to be human, and of both the joy and despair of
the human condition in the Psalms, we have earthy wisdom with some very down to
earth imagery in the Proverbs & Ecclesiastes – for instance “a fool
returning to folly, is like a dog returning to its own vomit” (Proverbs 26.11)
And
then there’s Jesus whose storytelling was rich and filled with ideas and images,
many rooted in everyday life yet with a twist, gave new insight into a Grace
filled world which is intruding into this one, a world called the Kingdom of
God, filled with feasts and rulers and sparrows and trees and so much
more. Jesus’ images have stuck in our
collective consciousness and our language, even in the meaning behind the images
has been lost – sheep and goats, prodigal son, good Samaritan… the list goes on
and could get very long indeed.
And
then we have Paul and the other letter writers of the early Church, recycling
ancient concepts and ideas from Jewish and Greek philosophies and
traditions. They use age old titles and
ideas to talk of Jesus and of this new way, this following Jesus way, what came
to be known as the Christian Way. Rich
ideas such as Jesus the High Priest, building on the image of the Lamb of God,
talking of the Church as the body, or of following God’s way as being like an
athlete.
Paul,
and those who wrote the letters ascribed to him, (and Colossians, from which
today’s reading comes is one of those letter where authorship is disputed) but
the New Testament epistle writers were masters (or mistresses) of wordcraft –
they had to write concepts which had never been writer, explain ideas that made
use of existing philosophical and religious concepts whilst at the same time
broke out of any existing belief or faith system.
The
use of words in our Bibles is very carefully done. In the Epistles there is not a concept or
idea in there that isn’t meant to be there – either by the hand of the author
or by Divine intervention, or both… And
this long preamble is to say that the images in these five verses are, for me,
some of the most wonderful images that we have from the Pauline or
Pseudepigraphal letters. I want us to
spend some time looking at three, rich, warm, powerful and thought provoking
images – though I will refer to others from this short passage… today’s
reading, Colossians 3.12-17 – three images
Clothing
Ruling
Dwelling
Here’s
the passage again, it bears repeating:
Paul
is keen on the image of Clothing – let Christ be as close as the clothes you
wear it says in Romans 13.14 which was probably Paul’s last letter and in his
first, passionate, letter to the Galatians, Chapter 3 verse 27 has Paul saying
‘as many have been baptised into Christ have been clothed with Christ.’ It’s a wonderful image of intimacy and
closeness, and a sense of being surrounded by Christ in the same way that we
are surrounded by the clothes we have on.
If
we are clothed with Christ there are some other things, it says in this letter,
that we should clothe ourselves with alongside this too - compassion, kindness,
humility, meekness, and patience it says in verse 12 and even more in verse 14
‘Above all, clothe yourselves with love’.
It’s
important, I think, to note that this is an active process, something you must
choose to do. It’s not offered as an
option, though, this is something that goes with being a follower of Christ. And it begs the question if we are not
compassionate, kind, humble, meek and patient then in what way are we clothed
with Christ too – these are his attributes, they should be ours. And above all this we put on love – love
which is tough, forgiving and giving, which mirrors the love of Christ. Love which seeks the best for and in other
people, that loves God, neighbour and self as the greatest commandment
instructs us to. Love which makes
everything complete and whole. God’s
love. We have to put it on, and just
like the clothes we choose to wear every morning we have to choose to put on
these clothes too.
The
second image that strikes me is the ruling – or βραβευέτω (brab –yoo-o) determining,
or deciding, as the Greek says. (Yes these images were so striking I felt I had
to look up the Greek they were originally written in, just to be sure I’d got
something approaching the right idea.)
In this context we are to let the peace of Christ determine or decide or
rule our hearts. And that peace isn’t
just a bit of quiet, or an absence of conflict, it is a deep and powerful peace
– a peace of eternity. Again the Greek is εἰρήνη, \{i-ray'-nay} a word with layers of meaning, external peace, in the world
around, in oneself, between people, but also a peace of salvation and
assurance, of fearing nothing from God and being content on earth.
If we truly held on to that peace
then our Churches and our world would be significantly different. We would be seeking always to be at peace
with one another and to recognise the grace that has been given to us, holding
on not to the things around us, but to the deepest truth of the life and love
of God.
And there’s something quite
telling about the fact that we must allow this peace to rule in our
hearts. Perhaps the writer is reminding
us how quick we are to actively resist this type of peace, and that we have to
let go, perhaps to submit and allow this state of peacefulness, and the longing
for this peace, to be that which determines and guides our hearts.
And last, but not least. The third image which has grabbed me from
this passage is the one that made me want to do such an indepth Bible study in
this short time here today. It’s a beautiful and deeply powerful image found in
verse 16. This time it takes the theme
of allowing something to happen – not active, like clothing ourselves, nor
submissive like being directed – this is something else, something wow…
ὁ λόγος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνοικείτω {en-oy-keh'-o} ἐν ὑμῖν
Again,
I’m not trying to impress or befuddle you but I want to point out one word in
that sentence – as well as dwell, which is enoykeho – there is this word we
have heard again and again over Christmastime – logos, in fact it means (as you
will all know) … word…. Jesus is the logos we read of in our Carol services, in
our Christmas Night services and throughout this time and through the Christian
year when we use the words from John chapter 1 – In the Beginning was the word.
Now
the important thing to remember, and some of you will have heard me say this
before, is that a logos, a word, was considered in the philosophy of Jesus’
time not just to be something said and lost – but an integral part of the
speaker. A word remained part of you
even when it was out, it contained something of the essence of you. And so when the eternal Word is spoken by God
in that well known passage, then it, or he, is something of the essence of God.
So
letting the word dwell in you richly, as that wonderful phrase says, is allowing
the essence of Christ to inhabit you.
And just as the Word being made flesh to dwell amongst us in John 1
changed the world so the Word of Christ dwelling in us will change us, and
change the world around us.
And
it’s both active and passive – allowing the word to dwell, to influence, to
motivate and transform – to welcome the word into our hearts and minds, and to
be changed by Christ in us. And then
everything we do – from the love we show to our family and friends, to the
compassion we reach out with to the needy and stranger, to the lives of prayer,
worship and service we lead – all of it will indeed be done in the name of, and
with the power of Christ. May the Word
of Christ Dwell in you richly, indeed….
