The Glory of Jesus

“The Glory of Jesus”
Based on Colossians 1:11-20
First delivered Nov. 24, 2019
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr
             This morning marks the end of the liturgical year. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, when we begin our annual journey along the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, followed by the pouring down of the Holy Spirit and the ongoing growth of the church as disciples of Jesus. The year is capped off with a focus squarely on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the lord of lords, who shall reign forever and ever.

            It makes sense that we end the liturgical year focused on giving glory to Jesus. When you boil it all down, our identity, as Christians, is rooted in the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the reason we are gathered on Sunday morning. We are called Christians because of Christ, after all. We have responded to the call of Christ to follow Him and be a disciple of His. We have been baptized in His name. When we gather for Holy Communion, it is His table we gather around, and His body and blood that we receive as spiritual food and drink, a mystery that we cannot comprehend.

            This is what today is about, to simply lift up Jesus, to acknowledge and celebrate who He is, to give him the honor due His name. I know, we say or sing something about Jesus every Sunday. We pray to Jesus and we say together the prayer Jesus taught us. But today we are focusing just on who Jesus is, to be reminded of how awesome He is.

            Part of the scripture we heard this morning is, scholars believe, a modified version of a hymn to Jesus. Colossians 1:15-20 appears to be a rewrite of a contemporary song that amplifies the majesty of Jesus to the highest degree possible. For the rest of this brief message this morning, we are going to linger on this hymn and reflect on what it says about who Jesus is. This hymn describes Jesus in a way that makes clear why we give Jesus our greatest praise and put all our trust in Him.

            This hymn has two verses. Verse one is about Jesus being the firstborn before creation and verse two is about Jesus being the firstborn from the dead. Another way to say it is that verse one is about Jesus as lord over creation and verse two is about Jesus as lord over the new creation. In other words, Jesus is lord of all that is.

            The first line of the song is that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The word for image here is icon. What is being said here is that when people looked upon Jesus as he was walking the earth they were seeing an icon of God. Jesus is what God looks like. But is that what this means? Are we supposed to take this as saying that God’s facial features for example are the same as Jesus?

            Remember back in Genesis when we hear the story of how God made the heavens and the earth, and God decided to make human beings in God’s own image. So God made us, both males and females, in God’s image. In a sense, all of us reflect the image of God. So this is not really about physical appearance. This is more about our essence as human beings, our capacity to create and to express love. The best of what it means to be human is an image of God. But, of course, this image has been marred in all of us because of the stain of sin. This is not the case with Jesus. Jesus, who is without sin, is a perfect image of what it means to be human and, thus, is a perfect image of God.

            The next line is that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation, not was, but is. It is in the present tense. Why does that matter? Because God always exists in the present tense. Do you remember when Moses asked God for his name so that Moses could tell people who sent him to deliver the message to let the people go? God said, tell them “I am” has sent you. The point here is that before anything existed, before time existed, there is God who is Father and Son. This phrase about Jesus being the firstborn of creation is trying to capture that Jesus exists before time existed. It doesn’t mean that Jesus was created. In fact, the rest of the verse declares that by Jesus everything, both visible and invisible, were created. God, through Jesus, created everything, including time itself, angels, spirits, powers, all the invisible forces, were created by God through Jesus. The last line of this first hymn sums it up by saying “He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” In other words, before anything existed, there is Jesus and whenever anything comes into existence Jesus has something to do with it. This is part of what it means to declare that Jesus is lord over all, because Jesus is involved in the ongoing creation of all that exists.

            Let’s move to the next verse. It begins by saying that Jesus is the head of the body, the church. If the church is like a person walking around, the head on that body is Jesus. Or it could mean that in an assembly of people which can be called the body, Jesus is the presider of the assembly, or the head, the chief, the leader. Or it could mean that if the body is like a body of water, say a river, that Jesus is the headwater, the source out of which the river flows. In whatever way to take the body to mean, the point is that Jesus is the head, the leader, the source of that body. The body exists because of Jesus. And this body, which is called the church, which you and I belong to, is the new creation.

            Remember how I said that this hymn has two verses? Verse one is about Jesus as lord over creation and verse two is about Jesus as lord over new creation. What does Jesus as head of the church have to do with new creation? It is in the line in this second verse that goes “[Jesus is] the firstborn from the dead.” This is pointing to the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus is the first to conquer the grave. Jesus is the first to exist in which death is defeated. This is the new creation, where the cycle of life and death ceases, the new creation where there is only life and no death. Jesus is the lord of the resurrection, the lord of the new heaven and the new earth in which death and the grave is vanquished.

            What does this have to do with the church? Recall in the first verse it is declared that God creates everything by Jesus. In verse two it is declared that Jesus brings forth the new creation by the church. The church is the means through which death is defeated and resurrection comes forth. We, the body of Christ, the church, are the community of the resurrection. We are an image of the new creation.

            This is symbolized when we are baptized. Paul speaks of how we are baptized into death and raised up into new life. Although it is our practice to place a small amount of water on the heads of those who are baptized, the most ancient practice was full immersion. Men and women would be baptized separately. Gathered together with the rest of the church, those about to be baptized would strip down naked and then enter the baptismal waters. They would then go completely under, symbolizing their death. They would then rise up out of the waters, symbolizing their resurrection. They would then come out of the water and be clothed with a white robe and be given honey and cheese curds, to symbolize they were now living in the land of promise, the new Jerusalem, the new creation. Who we, as the church, are intended to be, are signs, a demonstration, a symbol of the new creation. We are the ones who are living our lives as if death has already been defeated because it has. We know that because of Jesus the death we experience is a transition to the fullness of life that we are already living in anticipation of its future fulfillment. We are living our eternal life now. I will say it again, because of Jesus, death has already been defeated. The new creation is already emerging and we, as the church, are a manifestation of this new creation. You can say that the church is the resurrection of which Jesus is the head.

            Someone may ask, “what about those who are not in the church?” This points to the charge that Jesus has given us, to go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything that Jesus has taught us. The answer points to our responsibility to be witnesses of Jesus, to point others to Jesus and invite others to join us and be a part of the church. We are all called to be engaged in evangelism, to share the good news.

            But I want to conclude with us looking at verses 19 and 20. The reality of sin causes a rupture between God and creation. God is holy and creation is corrupted and marred by sin. There is need for reconciliation between God and creation. So we read that by Jesus all of creation is being reconciled with God. How? Through the blood of the cross. All of the sin that corrupts and distorts creation, that causes alienation and separation from God, is covered by the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross. This is why we have crosses in our churches. It was on the cross where Jesus shed his blood for the sins of the world. Right then, in that moment, Jesus offered his life for you and for me and for all who will come after us. Our reconciliation with God was manifested in that moment. As far as God is concerned, when God looks at you and looks at me, God sees someone for whom Jesus shed his blood on the cross. As far as God is concerned you and I have been made right, redeemed, by the blood of Jesus.

            What else can we do but receive this precious gift with deep gratitude, to offer our lives as a sacrifice of praise to the one who has saved us from the power of sin and death? This is why we gather every Sunday, to give praise to God who saves us through Jesus. Truly, Jesus is worthy of all our honor. It is because of Jesus that, not only do we exist, but we have the promise of eternal life, of life beyond the grave. Jesus makes that happen. Give Jesus praise!