What Christ Makes of Us--February 1, 2021

 What Christ Makes Of Us--February 1, 2021

"In [Christ] also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, but putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." [Colossians 2:11-12]

It really is as big a deal as death and resurrection.

The life we share in Christ really is as dramatic a revolution as losing an old part of yourself and being made into a whole new you.

And for whatever images or metaphors the biblical writers use to convey it, we can't get away from that point.  To be a part of the community of Jesus is going to mean a new way of life--a "new way to be human," as one songwriter put it.

Let's not miss the forest in the midst of all the individual trees here in these couple of verses.  In just one sentence (admittedly a long one that strains the limits of English grammar), we get the idea of circumcision, taking off our old bodies like a change of clothes, burial, baptism, and resurrection.  That's a lot to throw at us on a Monday morning.  And maybe each of them is a bit confusing on its own.  But maybe if we walk through these for a bit, we'll get what the writer is saying.  

The first image here is a little uncomfortable, probably, because circumcision is, for our ears, a weird kind of illustration.  But for ancient Israel (and surely many in the Colossian church had grown up in Judaism and so knew what circumcision was all about and found it just as familiar as a baptism or baby shower for our culture), circumcision was a foundational part of belonging in the community.  It was a physical marking that said you belonged to the people of Israel, and it was permanent--in the cutting away of a piece of flesh, you were forever reminded that you had been claimed in the people of Israel.  That practice, of course, had its limits--by definition, circumcision excluded half of the population, and so girls and women were left without the same kind of physically-enacted sign of belonging.  But for the newly formed Christian community, this could be a launching point for a picture of how all people, men, women, rich, poor, free, still-enslaved, Jewish, and Gentile, were all brought into Christ.  The author makes a move here and says, basically, "You have been joined to Christ, and so just as physical circumcision used to involve cutting away a part of our old selves and taking a new identity in the people of God, we, too, have all been made into new people and have cut away our old selves."  Again, if all this talk of circumcision is weird to our ears, let's just look for clarity as the apostle continues his train of thought.

The next set of images is maybe a little clearer--we all know what death means.  So when the apostle here says that in Christ we have died and been buried, and also raised with him, we can get the same idea but in more universal terms.  To be a part of the Christian movement is to be made into a new creation--one that is as stark in difference as dying and being raised to life again.  It's still "you"--and yet, a renewed you.  But notice how, together, the images across the passage point in the same direction:  to be joined to Christ is the beginning of a new creation in us.  To follow Jesus means we will be changed. In God's timing and through God's working, we become more and more like Jesus--to see the world, and God, and our neighbors, and our enemies, and ourselves, through the eyes of Christ.  

What exactly does that mean?  Well, for one, it means I don't get to see Christianity any longer as just a way to get God to endorse what I already like or want.  It's not like being a paying customer at a restaurant or subscribing to a streaming-TV service.  Netflix, for example, doesn't intend on getting a vote on what I choose to watch, or how often I watch, or how I treat people when I'm not in front of a screen--they just want a paying customer.  McDonald's doesn't care whether I'm a decent person so long as I pay for my fries.  But Christ is intent on transforming us--making us into something new--and that will include changing not just how we treat other people, but how we see them.  We should be prepared to have our old hatreds cut away as we get to know Jesus more fully.  We should be ready to have him reshape our eyes so that we see all people as neighbors, as beloved children of God, made in God's image, and of infinite worth--and yes, that will mean old prejudices will have to go.  We should be ready to have Christ's mindset that doesn't seek "Me and My Group First" but seeks the good of others first shaping our own view of the world.  We should be prepared, in other words, to have something old in us cut away, or taken off like a set of dirty clothes, and to be given a new self to step into.

Now, that will surely take time--just because Christ's work in us is radical doesn't mean it is instantaneous.  But it means that day by day, he himself is shaping us (despite the ways we continue to resist that shaping) to love more fully, to grow into maturity and wisdom, and to speak and act with truth and justice.  Jesus is not content to take our old regularly hateful, often bigoted, frequently greedy, often complacent selves and just stamp a cross symbol on us and count us as one more member of his club.  Nor is he just looking to leave us slightly improved, maybe a little less mean or occasionally more kind, and call it a day.  He is intent on nothing less than death and resurrection in all of us--and that means learning to let go of all the junk we've made a part of ourselves that resists the way of love, and also being willing to face change as he makes us into something new.

And it happens, not just after we die, but here and now.  Today is where Christ's radical transformation happens--maybe evident in small changes, little choices, and seemingly insignificant details of our day, but still a radical re-invention of who we are and how we face the world.  

Today, let us pray for Christ to make us over into his likeness--and to let us catch a glimpse of it happening.

Lord Jesus, here we are--ready for death and resurrection, to become your new creations today. Let us see what you will make of us today.