READ: Colossians 1:1-15
Who is Jesus?
This is a question that people have wrestled with for the last couple of thousand years. Some people suggest that He was merely a peacemaking prophet. Some would say He was a brilliant teacher with misguided followers. Unfortunately, some would say he was a lunatic and a liar. Regardless of who you think Jesus was, He’s the most significant human ever to exist. His birth literally changed the calendar from BC to AD.
Paul wrote the letter of Colossians to help young believers make sense of their newly-found faith. When Paul was discipling and developing this new church in the Roman Empire, he started with the basics. What’s the most pivotal part of Christian theology? Jesus! That’s where Paul started. Unfortunately, some false teachers had spread a fictional theory about the nature of Jesus, so Paul set the record straight. The Apostle explained, “The Son [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (1:15).
The word “image” in greek was closely related to the word “mirror.” What does Paul mean? If you were to gaze in the eyes of Jesus, you were gazing into the eyes of God. To know Jesus is to know God. Jesus is God in the flesh. This is why Christianity is so distinct from all other faith traditions. In every other religion, people are required to find God. They have to say the right prayer, chant the correct phrases, or practice a specific discipline to encounter God. Jesus flips religion on its head. We don’t have to find God; God has found us.
God stepped down from heaven and onto the rocky terrain of ancient Palestine. Jesus invites you to join a Kingdom turned upside down. We experience life through the death of Jesus. God shows His strength through our weakness. We receive by letting go. It’s confusing, captivating, and worth celebrating.
Jesus is the image of the invisible. Jesus is the initiator of the impossible.
That is who Jesus is.