Posts
Dear Parish Faithful & Friends in Christ,
 |
| 'When Christ who is our Life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory...' |
We heard an all-together extraordinary passage from St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians at the hierarchical Liturgy that we celebrated last Sunday with Bishop Paul. This particular reading is appointed for the Sunday of the Forefathers, the Second Sunday Before Nativity.
As we draw closer to the feast, we remember the righteous ones of God who were instrumental - despite their many failings and sinfulness - in maintaining a remnant from which Christ will come forth. Be that as it may, in this passage the Apostle Paul "nails it" when it comes to pointing out the sinful ways of the "old man," hopefully put away in baptism, but which, alas, can plague us to this day.
It will be most helpful to remember that the Apostle Paul is writing to primarily newly-baptized members of the local church in Colossae. The Colossians have "put on Christ" in Baptism. Yet, these new Christians are "hemmed in" by a pagan culture that is not as nearly committed to the moral and ethical precepts that flow from the new life in Christ. We need to appreciate that tension, especially as that is now our own reality today!
Perhaps it is best to have this remarkable passage before us as we continue:
When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry.On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you once walked, when you lived in them. But now put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his practices, and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all." (COL. 3:4-11)
Before enumerating those sins that may continue to undermine our relationship with Him, the Apostle first inspires us with the eschatological vision of appearing with Christ in glory. And if that does not inspire us, I am hard-pressed to find anything else that will! At least within a Christian vision of ultimate destiny.
St. Augustine encourages us to be patient about this desire: "What we desire now is not present; but let us not falter in desire; let long continuous desire be our daily exercise, because the one who made the promise doesn't cheat us." The Apostle Paul's "therefore" in the next verse, makes clear that he is drawing definite consequences for life from that very Christocentric vision. As if to say: The Christ you desire to be with expects a life worthy of that high calling; a life that is in reality Christ-like, so that we are in harmony with the One we have been united to in Baptism. For it is in the baptismal font that we have "put to death" a life that the Apostle Paul would have identified with the pagan culture of Colossae.
We must admit, that it is quite a list of sins that the Apostle Paul presents to us in this passage - from the general "immorality" to the specific "foul take from your mouth." (This may cover today's "road rage" at all of those miserable drivers out there, to use one example of many when foul talk blurts out of our mouths as if on signal.) Our later spiritual tradition enumerated the many "passions" that afflict us, but really the saints were simply working off of what St. Paul already warned us about. No need to embellish or enlarge upon what the Apostle warned us about! St. Paul does not pass over the daily temptations that can mar our relationships : "do not lie to one another " he exhorts us. Are we able to fulfill this precept on a daily basis?
The "old man" signifies the fallen state of humanity, recalling, of course, the "first man" - Adam - and his inability to remain in fellowship with God. To sin is to resemble Adam, to disobey God and then rationalize that disobedience in a hopelessly conceived effort to escape the consequences. To remain in unrepentant sin would be to invite the "wrath of God" in the end as an alternative eschatological reality. Yet, the Apostle Paul is confident that we can "put off the old man with his practices." We have the freedom to not only make that decision, but to act in accordance with it. We cannot put the blame on our human nature, for that nature - including the body - is good. St. John Chrysostom puts it like this:
Moral choice rather than human nature is the determining factor and rather constitutes the "human condition" than the natural determinants. For human nature itself does not cast one into hell, nor does it lead one into the kingdom, but this happens by human beings themselves. We neither love not hate anyone so far is he man, but so far as he is such or such a man. If then our real essence as human beings is the body, which in any case cannot be accountable, how can one say that the body is evil? But what does Paul say? "With his practices." He means freedom of choice, with its accompanying acts. (Homily on Colossians 8)
The "new man" is the last Adam - Christ our Savior. If we have put him on in Baptism, then it is that very "freedom of choice" that St. John mentions that can keep that reality alive in us. "For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily." (2:9) St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: "Thus Paul, advising those who were able to hear him to lay hold on perfection, indicates also the mode in which they may attain that object. He tells them that they must "put off the old man" and put on the man "which is renewed after the image of him that created him." Now may we all return to that divine grace in which God at the first created man, when he said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness"."
This passage concludes with St. Paul offering a vision that could only be termed "radical" in its social and interpersonal implications. The divisions that rack humanity and that lead to anger, wrath, malice, slander and war itself are healed in the waters of Baptism.
For the Apostle Paul and his world, these divisions were between "Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free man." These were divisions that remained impervious to unity and fellowship. Based on fear, prejudice, long-standing suspicion, and the rest, the Apostle relates the "good news" that such divisions are overcome in Christ, who "is all, and in all."
This may be objectively true, but how do Christians manifest this unity? What is Christianity's "track record" in this regard? In our surrounding culture today, the divisions remain between black and white, rich and poor, liberal and conservative, globalist and nationalist - and the dreary list goes on.
Perhaps the place to start is the human heart. If we, as Christians, can look beyond these divisions - or perhaps accept them as inevitable as different people take different positions - then there is no reason why mutual respect cannot characterize the attitude and approach of a person who desires the coming of Christ in glory and who, in the interval, "is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator."
