Homily on Colossians 3:12-16
[This closely follows St. John Chrysostom’s exegesis]
[St. Paul just told us to put away worldly things – now he teaches us how the new man is to act]
Ver. 12-13. “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
But on these virtues as an ornament – so that all can see, learn, and be blessed by its beauty. “But isn’t an ornament superficial?” Not if the ornament is your heart (the heart of compassion), the center of your self and the place where God Himself comes to dwell. God’s temple is not a superficial adornment!
Note the progression: those who are already “holy and beloved” are called to act as “the elect of God”. There is more to being God’s chosen people than being holy, more to being His chosen people than being the object of His love. His people are in covenant with Him, united to Him through their faith in Jesus Christ.
There is also another progression, from kindness to humility to longsuffering; and from longsuffering to forgiveness. How can we do this? How can we bear the apathy, mistakes, and spite of others? There are many wrong ways to interpret this requirement. Some would lead us to reject it entirely as unrealistic or inapplicable to the “real world”; other wrong interpretations would make us the floor mat of the world. There are many wrong ways to interpret this requirement, but St. Paul – knowing our minds – immediately provides the only correct one: we are to do these things as Christ did; “even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
- Christ lived in the real world, and He was no one’s floor mat. He was and is the greatest hero ever, the archetype and model of all heroes. And He was not one to waste time. He did it because it works – it is part of the plan of salvation and the Way of perfection.
- St. John Chrysostom points out that in doing this, we are not to act like the equals of the people whose actions we must endure – and even forgive; in this at least, we are to act as a loving mother or father. How do they deal with the actions of their little children? It is as St. Paul says elsewhere (Romans 15:1); the strong must bear the burdens of the weak.
- And as a good parent, this must come from the heart. To quote St. John Chrysostom; “we ought to forgive. For the expression, ‘Even as Christ,’ signifies this, and not this only, but also with all the heart; and not this alone, but that they ought even to love. Whether the offense was great or a mere trifle, regardless of who struck first, and regardless of the person’s relative merit, and even if we know they will insult us afterwards, we ought to lay down our lives for them, (for the words, “even as,” demand this;) and that not even at death only ought one to stop, but if possible, to go on even after death.” This is the way of Christ, and it is demanded of everyone who truly follows him. Not because it’s easy, but because it works.
This is why St. Paul finishes with the requirement of love; (Ver. 14) “And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.”
Love is the thing that is the bond, the thing that ties everything together. No matter how useful the parts of a machine or a body are, they are useless if they are not brought together in the proper manner. For the Christian body, the Church, it is love that does this binding. Again, God does not call us to love one another because it is easy, but because it is necessary. We have to bear with one another, forgive one another, and love one another for this thing to work. You can bond things together with other glue – we know organizations that are kept together through tradition, or fear, or the provision of a decent wage, or even the common pursuit of noble goals, but the Church cannot fulfill its purpose without the bond of love in Christ.
Ver. 15. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful.”
We need this peace. It is the greatest gift that the Church provides. How can we be longsuffering without peace? How can we forgive without peace? How can we endure the evils of this world without peace? Not the peace that comes from a well-ordered world – if we wait for that we will wait too long; but rather the peace that comes to all those who have the very Prince of Peace ruling in their hearts. We can endure all things because He can endure all things and He rules in our hearts. We can forgive all things because He can forgive all things and He rules in our hearts.
And when we have achieved this peace in Christ, especially when it has come in the midst of struggle, we must give thanks. As with longsuffering and forgiveness, we do not do this because it is easy, but because it works. How does it work? (St. John Chrysostom)
- First, we are doing what is right and good, giving thanks opens up our hearts to the warmth of God’s joy;
- Second, we have shamed the devil – he thought he had converted one of God’s elect to his own cause, but he was wrong;
- Third, we have eradicated a bit of reactive chaos from the world and replaced with ordered, intentional goodness.
When such goodness is accomplished; “the soul rejoices, the conscience is bright with commendation; and that soul which is bright, cannot possibly be sad of countenance.” It may have felt like a costly victory – ego and pride love to keep such scores – but this victory shows how counter-productive it is to keep scores and how great it is erase the whole scorecard and replace it with a picture of graceful action.
v. 16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God..”
One of the problems we have in trying to live in a Christian community is that we have so few role-models. And the voices and examples of the good people among us are so easily drowned out by the legion of people around us who, no matter what their intentions or how good their hearts are, are simply propagating the ways of the fallen world. Our instincts, designed by God so that we might grow to perfection by naturally imitating others in a healthy world, lead us to grow instead into the damnation in this fallen world.
By the time we decide to stand against the ways of perdition, we are so poorly programmed by a lifetime of confusion that our minds are not up to the task. We don’t have the words to order our thoughts correctly, much less to teach others. We have accepted Christ, we have Him in our hearts, but our words are always filtered through our heads – and our heads all full of nonsense. This is why it is so important that we retrain our minds to think and teach using “psalm s and hymns and spiritual songs”. Our prayer rules are not just designed to bring about the healing of the world through the beseeching of God’s intercession; they also being about the healing of the world by healing and ordering our minds. The harmony and logic of Godly psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, if they are prayed with regularity, will begin to replace the cacophony and confusion of the siren songs of this world.
In this way, peace will move from our hearts and replace the chaos in our minds with this same peace – rather than the other way. Moreover, the mind will then understand all things according to the logic of truth.
And as the peace spoken of earlier moves not only within the heart of the Christian but among all Christians, so too do the psalms, hymns, and songs of the well-ordered mind not only bring logic (the Logos) to the mind of the Christian, but moves among Christians and becomes the medium that conveys the lifeblood of love that moves among them and binds them into one Body.
This is why St. John Chrysostom is able to say, boldly;
“This is the cause of all evils, the not knowing the Scriptures. We go into battle without arms, and how ought we to come off safe?… But now your children will utter songs and dances of Satan… no one knoweth any psalm, but it seems a thing to be ashamed of even, and a mockery, and a joke. There is the treasury house of all these evils. For whatsoever soil the plant stands in, such is the fruit it bears; if in a sandy and salty soil, of like nature is its fruit; if in a sweet and rich one, it is again similar. So the matter of instruction is a sort of fountain… “
Conclusion
Do we desire all the blessings that are due to us a children and heirs of the most high? Then let’s rededicate ourselves to Christ and to being more intentional about bringing peace to our lives and studying – and sharing – the Gospel.
