Jesus Christ is Huge

The gospel lesson today is the story of Martha and Mary the day that Jesus comes to Martha’s house. You know the tale. Martha is running around like crazy making sure everything is being done properly to entertain and care for Jesus while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, listening to the Master, listening to this great teacher. But the truth of this story is that while both were impressed by the living, breathing, man named Jesus neither of these women had a clue as to who it was that was actually visiting their house that day. I think this is typical of most of us. I think we truly have difficulty in realizing the magnitude of who Jesus actually is.

I brought with me today a piece of a manger scene, which I keep on display in my apartment year round. The piece is that of baby Jesus in a manger. And when I look at my manger scene I have mixed emotions of this tiny tiny baby in this tiny tiny crib sitting on a very small portion of my entertainment center. Sometimes I like to look at it and remember its symbolism and sometimes I think, “What am I doing with this on display. Certainly, this is not who Jesus is today.” And sometimes when I sit where you’re sitting today and I look up at our stained glass window I once again have mixed emotions and thoughts about this moderately sized man holding a sheep in his arms. It’s a comforting picture on one hand, but does it depict for us an accurate picture of who Jesus actually is?

When I read the scriptural accounts of Jesus I am grateful that he came to earth as a man. When I read of his flawless existence and his faithfulness in his stand against sin I am grateful that he fought sin as a man. When I read that in every way he has been tempted as me I am grateful that I have an advocate with the Father who has great empathy for me and my temptations. When I read that I have a great high priest, I am grateful. But sometimes I wonder if BECAUSE Jesus came as a man we are unable to imagine or to ascribe to Jesus the true stature of his being. We have this mental image of Jesus as a baby, Jesus as a man, Jesus being tortured, Jesus on a cross, Jesus in a tomb, the resurrected Jesus who walked and talked and ate with the disciples, even Jesus’ ascension into heaven in the form of a man, glorified yes, but the picture is that of a man, small in stature, being lifted up into the clouds as the disciples look on in awe.

While I’m grateful for every phase of Jesus life here on earth, I feel like I am prone to limit Jesus in my mind to these images. All of our artifacts and icons of Jesus appear small to our eyes and therefore to our imaginations. Sometimes I feel like I am hindered from knowing Jesus as he really is today, inhibited from imagining Jesus in all his glory, in all his power, in all his greatness, in all his hugeness. Yes, Jesus Christ is Huge and I think we can be in danger of missing that because of the mental images we have developed through years of concentrating on his life among us mortals. But Colossians helps us to break out of the small mind frame and paints for us quite a different picture of the Christ.

This passage was originally a hymn or praise song for Christ. The words are incredible and I would like to read them for you again. This time I will be reading out of the New Revised Standard Version and starting with verse 13. “He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 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. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 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.

In Colossians we celebrate Jesus as above the cosmos. In that role I can see my mental image of the smallness of Jesus crack. The cosmos. The universe. I’m not a scientist but in this day and age we all know more about the cosmos just by watching television than some scientists in the past. And one thing we know is that we are continuously rewriting the outward boundaries of the universe. Even as we speak the universe that we know is expanding continually outward. And even as it seems to be infinitely big, it also seems as if it is unendingly small.

When I was in China my scientist students would challenge me. “How can you live in the most scientifically advanced nation in the world and still believe in God?” So when I returned to the United States I wanted to know. “Is my believing in God in conflict with science and scientific discoveries? Have we departed so far from our basic beliefs in the existence of God in our forge for knowledge?” so I took a class in Seminary that surveyed science and how it affected our belief system. The class not only verified I was on solid ground in my beliefs, it expanded on my whole belief system. One of the most fantastic aspects of our study was quantum physics. It opened a whole new world for me looking at smaller and smaller and smaller particles. It would seem that we would never arrive at the smallest. Amazing. And our Christ, our Jesus was the author and creator of all creation. “In him all things in heaven and on earth were created.” And not only the elements, matter, energy, things seen, but also things unseen – the whole unseen but created spirit world – powers of darkness, thrones, dominions, rulers or powers, the kingdom of God. All part of the created order. All have their beginning in him. Could Christ be any bigger? And yet we can miss it. We can be so small-minded that we can’t fathom Jesus’ greatness and we can miss it.

I know that some of us want to react against the idea of Jesus being cosmic and the second person of the Trinity. We want to reject the idea of a spirit-world where Jesus reigns, where miracles do happen, where we live far below our own inheritance as children of God. I know we resist it, for one reason, because of some of the errors we see others making - some of the questionable claims that cause people to want to make God their servant instead of the other way around.

I’ve seen some Christians who forsake reason altogether for the spiritual highs they may be able to reach if they depend solely on their experience. Others seem to have their heads in the air and do not care about the suffering of others or of nature or our environment. I’ve heard the comment, “So and so is so heavenly minded they are no earthly good.” And I know where the people who say this are coming from.

But I want to say to you today, it may be more dangerous, more costly, to have the opposite said about us. “You are so earthly minded you are no heavenly good.” We have to stay open to the vastness of Christ and what Christ has opened up to us by reconciling us and all of creation to God’s self. Christ had a cosmic purpose - to redeem not only humanity but all of the cosmos. Christ, God, the second person of the Trinity, where all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, made the supreme sacrifice and through the blood of his cross is reconciling all things to himself.

No, we do not see it yet in its fullness but that is the hope of our future that it will come to pass and we will see it. It is the hope of our present to be a part of it. That is our responsibility as the church who is the body and has Christ as its head. To help restore all things to Christ. But if we do not believe in the power of God in us, the power of God that through Christ has moved us from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God, If we question the power of God within us to be the Kingdom of God we can miss what it is that Christ is trying to do in and through us. Sometimes I think about the church as a giant airplane. And the airplane is all set to go – all inspected, all filled with fuel. All we have to do is get into it and fly.

But we never do. We never get in it and turn the ignition and take off. We are grounded by our own little minds that do not open up to us the wonders of the vastness of Jesus Christ. Instead of letting scripture speak to us and tell us who Christ is, we want to explain away what is too big for us to comprehend. We want to keep Christ in a manger, keep Christ in the painting in the lobby, and keep Christ in the stained glass window. Because there in those finite representations of him, Christ is comprehendible and manageable. If Jesus is this cosmic giant, how do we relate? If Jesus has all the power of the universe and more, how can we control him? We can and should relate to him as the early church related to him. We relate to him as the Colossians related to him. We relate to him as the authors of the letter related to him.

The high regard and universal scope of the Jesus in this hymn is startling when juxtaposed with the career of the earthly Jesus. How did early Christians make the leap from the humble historical Jesus to the cosmic, eternal Christ? Colossians 1:27 provides a clue. “Christ in you.” -- The powerful experience of the resurrected Christ within us, within the church. Christ has called us to partner with him in the reconciliation of the cosmos to God. The hope of the cosmic harmony is an assured one, even though it is not yet visible. As believers we have been given essential pieces of the overall pattern. Christ’s resurrection, the firstborn from the dead, began it. And like the original readers of this letter, we need to see our own experiences of reconciliation in the present as the pledge and guarantee of the fuller reconciliation to come. The final state of reconciliation and universal peace.

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

At this time I would like to invite _____________

To the podium. He will share a little bit with us of his journey among the Cambodians to bring reconciliation and peace.