“A CRYSTAL CLEAR CHRISTOLOGY FOR THE HOLY DAYS”
COLOSSIANS 1:15-20
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.
When I was in
Alaska
a few years ago there was a saying that our Outward Bound instructors drilled into us.
The saying was a little bit of a tongue twister and it went like this: “A
not neat knot need not be knotted.” In other words, if you’re
going to tie a knot you either do it right or you don’t do it at all. Our
instructors were very emphatic about that and for a good reason. Our safety and
our lives depended on those knots that they were teaching us how to tie. The
last thing you wanted was for one of those knots to let go while you were ice climbing 50 feet off the ground or walking across
the crevice filled glacier we were on. “A not neat knot need not be knotted.”
There was only one problem though. I couldn’t tie those knots. No matter
how hard I tried, my ropes always ended up in a tangled mess. The fact that all
of the college students in our Outward Bound course didn’t have any trouble tying their knots didn’t help my ego
either. They were always waiting for the old guy to get it right. So, I kept trying and I kept getting more and more frustrated. Then one day, I reached my breaking point. Instead of loosing it though I stood there and I started to laugh. I suddenly realized how ridiculous I must have looked and so I started to laughed. Then I turned to the
instructors and the college students and said, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this and I’m never
going to be able to do it.”
Now I usually don’t
like it when I can’t do something and I have to admit it. How about you? Do you hate it when you can’t do something and have to admit it?
If you’re like most
people the answer to that question is a resounding yes. You hate it when you
can’t do something and have to admit it. That’s because we admire people who get things done. We admire people who refuse to give in and or give up. Take
the farmer for example who called the local sheriff one day to complain. The
farmer wasn’t happy because people were driving too fast on the road that went by his farm and because of that his chickens
were getting run over. So, the sheriff went out and put up a 35 mile per hour
sign. Unfortunately, that didn’t work and the farmer called a few days
later to complain again. This time the sheriff went out and put up a sign that
said, “Go Slow. Children Playing.” Unfortunately, that didn’t
work either and the farmer called a few days later to complain again. This time
the farmer decided to take matters into his own hands. He asked the sheriff if he could put up his own sign. By now the sheriff was tired of listening to the farmer complain.
So, he agreed. A week later the sheriff suddenly realized that the farmer
hadn’t called again to complain. So, he drove out to the farm to check
things out. Just before he got to the farmers house he saw a big piece of plywood
along the side of the road. On that big piece of plywood in big yellow letters
were the words: “Caution: Nudist Colony Ahead.” The farmer
solved his problem.
We admire people who have
a can do attitude. We admire people like John Stephen Akhwari. You may not recognize his name but you may remember what he did.
It happened at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. John Stephen Akhwari ran the marathon for Tanzania. Unfortunately, he fell very
early in the race and that made it difficult for him to run. He eventually entered
the Olympic Stadium more than an hour after the winner crossed the finish line. He
was bloodied and had a couple of bandages on him and was clearly in pain. Even
so, he pushed on and finally managed to stagger across the finish line. Later
a reporter asked him why he didn’t just quit after his fall. John Stephen
Akhwari replied, “My country did not send me to Mexico City
to start the race. They sent me here to finish.”
We admire people who have
a can do attitude. You and I both know however that life is full of moments where you have to admit that you can’t do
something. There are things that
you can’t do because you don’t have the talent to do them. There
are things that you can’t do because you’re getting a long in years. There
are things that you can’t do because you’ve already got too much on your plate.
There are problems that you can’t solve, marriages that can’t be saved, troubled children who can’t
be helped, illness that can’t be overcome.
Do you have a
hard time accepting those “I can’t” moments? If the answer
to that question is “yes” then Apostle Paul has some words of wisdom for you in his Letter to the Colossians.
That letter begins with some
a little deep Christology. That’s just a big theological word that means
Paul began his letter by writing about who he understood Jesus to be. It’s
obvious from what he wrote that for him that Jesus wasn’t just a kind and compassionate man who hugged lepers. He wasn’t
just a good and gentle man who cared about people who were poor and socially unacceptable.
He wasn’t just a wise man who really understood God and what life is really all about. As far as Paul was concerned Jesus was both human and divine. That
why he wrote that Jesus was…..the first born of all creation….the visible image of the invisible God…the
only begotten Son in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
As far as Paul was concerned
Jesus was both human and divine. He was the incarnation of the living God. In
Jesus God came to dwell among us full of grace and truth and the reason why God did that was simple.
The miracle that took place
in that Bethlehem stable happened because God understands that we’re not perfect, we do have our limitations and there
are things that we can’t do and the ability to make it to those Pearly
Gates on our own. So, God came to dwell among us in Jesus Christ and through
his life, death and resurrection God open to us all the gates of everlasting life for us.
Paul put it this way. In Jesus, “God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven,
by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
What an amazing thought. God accepts you even when you have to say “I can’t.” God loves you even when you have to say “I can’t.”
God embraces you even when you have to say “I can’t.” At
the same time it needs to be said that God doesn’t want you to say “I can’t” when you really can. For example, how many of you ate a little too much over the Thanksgiving weekend? If you did you can appreciate the poem that someone sent me last week. The poem jokes about gobbling up all of those Thanksgiving goodies and it ends with these words:
May your stuffing
be tasty, may your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes 'n gravy, have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
may your pies take the prize,
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.
Now if you eat and eat and
then eat some more you can’t expect God to keep those Thanksgiving calories off of your thighs. If you want to loose weight God wants you to work at it. If
you want something to happen in your life, God wants you to work at it. However,
when you do come face to face with one of those genuine “I can’t” moments God wants you to go over to Bethlehem. Go to Bethlehem where the child who is the image of the invisible God is waiting
for you. Go over to Bethlehem
where the child in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell is waiting for you.
Go over to Bethlehem where you’ll hear the Good
News that you don’t have to be all things to all people. Where it’s
okay to admit to yourself and others that you’re not perfect, that you do have your limitations and that there are some
things that you can’t do!
There were a lot of things that Anne DeGaulle couldn’t do. Anne DeGaulle was the daughter of Charles DeGaulle, the World War II general who later
went on to become the president of France.
Because Anne was born with a severe form of Down’s Syndrome she couldn’t walk.
She couldn’t dress herself. She couldn’t even feed herself. Now her father had a reputation for being arrogant and aloof. What people didn’t know though is that every night he spend hours playing with Anne and he would
hold her hand until she fell asleep. In 1948 Anne contracted a lung infection
and died. After the priest said the benediction at the cemetery DeGaulle
turned to his wife and said, “At last, our child is just like all the other children.”
The love that DeGaulle had for his daughter is the same love that
is waiting for you in that Bethlehem stable. You’ll find it in the child in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. It’s a love that will be there for you when you have to say to yourself or someone else, “I’m
sorry but I can’t tie this note…I can’t solve this problem….I can’t do the things that I was
able to do when I was younger….I can’t make it to those Pearly Gates on my own.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
November 25, 2007
