Hymn

A Reflection on the Second Reading for Sunday July 10th, 2022
​Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Colossians
1.15-20

Christ 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.

Christ 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 Christ 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.

I’ve always struggled with the idea of having a personal relationship with Jesus. I’m comfortable with God the Father, the Holy Spirit, Mary, and the Saints, but Jesus Himself, both human and divine? I’m not sure I could ever know Him; I’m not sure how to know Him. The footnotes in my Bible tell me that this reading is a “hymnic passage,” likely drawn from an early Christian hymn that Paul and his audience knew well. The beauty and grandeur of the words only add to my struggle: this is Jesus Christ in heavenly terms, Christ who is God. He seems so far away from me, a messy, sinful, forgets-to-say-her-prayers human. 
    A friend once told me that scripture helps us not make God in our own image. I remember feeling caught out by his words, because I rarely read the Bible. Maybe my unknowable Jesus is my own projection, too much made out of my own experiences, hurts, failings and rejections.
    But here, Paul tells us that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Not made in the image, the way we are, but the actual image. Jesus Christ is first of all things, and all things in Heaven and on earth were created through Him and for Him and are held together in Him. Paul wrote to the Colossians to correct false teachings about who Jesus was. I wonder if those false teachings were like my own misleading projections. 
    Somehow, even without music, I can hear this hymn. And when I slow down and simply listen to what Paul says … I am brought to tears. Maybe this is what holy fear of God feels like. I can hear the vastness of Christ’s glory, as if the words of this hymn are echoing around the space of an immense Cathedral, reaching up to the arches of the vaulted ceiling. First. Beginning. All. Fullness. Through Him and for Him. 
    And he came to save us. You. Me. It’s humbling. Christ, firstborn in both life and death, died for us. Jesus changed the world. He gave us a new beginning by giving us Himself. Because of Him, we all have new life — eternal life. 
    Something in the poetry and heightened language of this hymn leaves me awestruck, unable to put into words how deeply I am aware that Jesus truly loves me. So much that He died for me. That is a personal love. I know and believe this.
    And He is also Christ in whom the fullness of God dwells, and I am blinded by His glory. 
    For a moment, I no longer see my own images and projections. I hear only this hymn and feel my heart respond with a song of longing to know Jesus better and love Him in return. 
    It is a beautiful blinding. 




​Kim Tan

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