 Greetings to you! Today is the day after we have all voted for a government in the Delhi elections and we are eagerly anticipating the results in a couple of days. This election has seen terrible polarization, violence, hate speeches and demonising one community as opposed to another. May be some of us are wondering whether there is any hope of redeeming the situation for our state and for our country. It is in this kind of a context that this morning’s theme encourages us. The theme for our meditation is “God creates and redeems all things through Christ.” Paul writing to the Colossians was addressing a divided people. There were false teachers who were saying that the work of Christ was not sufficient and that Christ was a created being and therefore inferior to God. They also had a dualistic belief that the spirit was entirely good and matter was entirely evil. Since the body is matter, they considered the body to be evil. This led to two kinds of behaviours: either they became ascetics trying to starve the body or licentious thinking that anything they did with body did not really matter. Paul reminds them that the Son is the image of the invisible God. In other words, he is the one who represents God to us. We know who God is when we look at Jesus. The writer of Hebrew says that Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. Paul also says that everything under heaven and earth was created through him and for him. In other words, Christ was not a created being but he was the creator. Because Christ is the creator, all principalities and powers are under his power and therefore Paul is trying to tell the Colossians that Christ is supreme and sufficient for all. In a similar way, in our context we have to understand that Christ is supreme and sufficient for all our circumstances. Jesus Christ is not only the creator but the sustainer and provider of all things. This gives us the assurance that he will sustain us in all our difficult situations and provide for all our needs. Not only Christ is supreme in the old creation but he is supreme in the new creation as well. He is also the beginning and therefore has pre-eminence. Jesus is also the first born from among the dead. He has defeated sin, Satan and death and rose again on the third day. So, he has power over every situation and he is supreme because all the principalities and powers were defeated on the cross. We can be assured that the forces of darkness have already been dealt with. Paul then talks about the redemption work of Christ. It is through him that God reconciles all things to himself. Reconciliation is the work of God. Reconciliation was made possible through the cross because Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross. We are now entrusted with this ministry of reconciliation. “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Since we are followers of Christ we are called to be ministers of reconciliation in our context. How can we bring peace among our communities which are currently being polarised? Can the Christian community act as a reconciling community and bring peace in our state and in our society? God has entrusted us with this mission. Paul then reminds the people of Colossae that, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour”. However, they were now reconciled by Christ’s death in order to present them as holy in his sight, without blemish, free from accusation. He challenges them to continue in their faith and not to be swayed by the situation around them knowing that God is both creator and redeemer and will redeem all things in his time. Meanwhile we are called to live out our lives as reconcilers and bring glory to God through the way we lead our lives. Shalom Paul Swarup Download Hindi version Comments are closed.
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