Recall: Colossians 2:13-20, especially vs. 19: "...hold...fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God." Observe how the texts of the prayers, the readings, and the hymns of the Church recall us to the riches of our membership in Christ. In every service - the Hours, Vespers, Orthros, the Divine Liturgy - the Church sets before us all that God, the Holy, Consubstantial and Undivided Trinity, has done. For example in Vespers: "O Lord our God, Who didst bow the heavens and come down for the salvation of mankind...." Or in Orthros: "For lo, through the Cross is joy come into all the world." Or in the Liturgy: "...Thou didst come into the world to save sinners...." The motif of recall has a unique quality in Christian worship, for it takes that which happened in the past, illumines its eternal nature, and draws us into it as a present reality. Recall, for Christians, is not a function of the memory, but a participation in the eternal realities of God.
Returning to the examples above, the salvation of mankind is now, the joy which the Cross effects exists in the present, and Christ is among us! That we return again and again to that which exists eternally is no accident. "Recall" as "participation" is a primary source of life for Christians. Let us look at today's reading to see how the Apostle Paul uses recall to awaken the Faithful at Colossae - and us as well.
"And you being dead in your trespasses...He has made alive together with Him..." (vs. 13). The central core of the Gospel is the transformation which God has established in His relationship with the human race. Human beings outside of Christ are dead in relation to God. Not that God desires their death. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (Jn. 3:16). What humanity faces when alienated from God is spiritual and eternal death, because God is the Sole Source of life. He provides life as a gift, as an opportunity to discern our condition, to turn back to Him, and to receive eternal life. However, the possibility of being made alive to God hinges on being united to Christ. This is why the Church repeatedly asks those being initiated into the Faith, "Hast thou united thyself unto Christ?" And does not this question remain pertinent, even for professed Christians? After all, it is not God Who changes, but we. It is just because we are so changeable that St. Paul recalls how important it is to be "together with [Christ Jesus]" for in Him are we "forgiven" for our "trespasses" (Col. 2:13).
The Apostle continues. "He canceled the written code...nailing it to the Cross" (vs. 14). It is fair to say that the moral law aggravates the alienated condition of mankind, for being sinners, we are readily enticed by that which we are told not to do, or are prompted to refuse what is good for us. St. Paul emphasizes this fact throughout his Epistles. The written Law, literally, "the handwriting of requirement" (vs. 19), sets out the high, pure, holy standard of God. Still, human experience at trying to keep the Law perfectly quickly proves how very fallible we are. We do not keep the Law, as St. Paul said elsewhere, " For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). But by entering into our death, the compassionate, man-befriending God has canceled the absolute consequences of the Law and by grace extends life to us - if we will unite ourselves to Him. Hence, St. Paul recalls the Cross (vs. 14).
Most of all, the Apostle recalls us to the importance of holding fast to the Head, to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us recall that it is in the Body of Christ that we receive His nourishment and grow "with the increase that is from God" (Col. 2:19). May we both die and rise with Christ! Lord, grant that we may complete the remaining time of our life in peace and repentance.