At the end of November, Sam Bills preached from Luke 23:33-43 and Colossians 1:11-20. In Luke, at the hands of the reigning empire, every attempt is made to humiliate Jesus. This is to contrast him to the Roman emperor. And in contrast, Jesus takes the violence on himself, and finds space even there to forgive to the very last. And Colossians shows us how different this is from the empire of Rome at the time.

The passage in Colossians seems to be a song — something borrowed and familiar to the community in Colossae. Sam “song-explodes” the passage for us.

Colossae was part of a cluster of three cities in the area of modern Turkey — far from Rome or Jerusalem. These cities were important in the textile trade — especially purple cloth — luxury goods that tied them to the Pax Romana, and providing them with peace and protection. What was their connection to distant Rome and the Caesar? For a start, his image on coins. The coins serve the purpose of making this invisible state visible. What are some of the symbols in our nation and in our time? Are these symbols propped up by violence?

In Christ’s time, this included worship, and the image of the emperor was part of this. Caesar is God’s decendant. In this light, what is the song of Colossians telling us? “In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Caesar brings peace through might and violence, while Jesus brings peace through death on a cross. He is the head of a new kind of community crossing all boundaries — unlike the orderliness of the Roman empire.

Colossians is a letter to a community. It begs the question of how we live our lives differently as a result of this reality? One that is shaped by freedom through participation in the reconciling work of Jesus? And to be clear, this is hard work. The impact of empire on our imagination is strong — and makes our options sometimes seem very limited.

Yet in Jesus the fullness of deity dwells. We must continually come back to the center of community in Jesus. What expectations do we add to the life of Jesus? What must we strip away? What kind of work are we called into?

Hear Sam’s call to us below.

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