Bright Shiny Faces

Bright Shiny Faces

Colossians 1:15-23

            Reading this passage brings a number of thoughts to my mind.  The words that speak to me the most are the first seven:  “He is the image of the invisible God.”

            The gospels make it clear that Jesus came to show us God.  Yes, Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins in order to redeem us and reconcile us to God.  But if that had been God’s only purpose, Jesus wouldn’t have had to live on earth for thirty-three years before his execution.  As one of my seminary professors said, God could have just dropped Jesus onto the cross and the redeeming work would have been completed.  There must have been a reason for Jesus’ life as well as for his death.

 “He is the image of the invisible God.”  In these seven words we see the reason for Jesus’ life.  God has never been visible to humankind—except once, in a very limited way.  You remember the story from Exodus 33:17-23.  Moses had been with God on Mt. Sinai.  This was the second time.  After the first time, Moses had come down from the mountain to find the Israelites worshiping the golden calf.  In his anger he smashed the stone tablets containing God’s commandments.  Now he was back on the mountain to receive them again.

            Moses wanted assurance that God would be with him and the people.  After receiving that assurance, Moses asked to see God.  Remember God’s answer?  “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”  Seeing God is reserved for those who have passed into glory. 

            God wanted to honor Moses’ request, so Moses was placed in a cleft in the rock.  When God passed by, God covered Moses.  After God had passed by, Moses was able to see God’s back.  That was as close as Moses—or anyone—could come to seeing God.

            Do you remember what happened when Moses came down from the mountain?  We read about it in Exodus 34:29-35.  Moses’ face glowed because he had been in God’s presence. It frightened the people.  They had never seen anyone with a glowing face.  This was a new experience for them and they didn’t know how to react.  They were petrified by the change in Moses’ appearance—so afraid that from that day he had to wear a veil.  He could remove it only when he went into the tabernacle to speak with God.

            We who claim the name of Christian have seen Jesus—not physically, of course.  The only person we know who has seen Jesus since his ascension is Paul on the Damascus road.  We have no record of Jesus revealing his physical presence to anyone else. 

Still, we have “seen” Jesus.  We encounter him in the gospels.  Jesus’ followers told and retold what they remembered of their time with him.  Finally someone decided a written record was needed so the stories would not be changed or lost.  As we read these records we get a picture of what Jesus did, what he said, and how people interacted with him.  We can read his words.  We can feel his power.  We can experience his love and compassion.  We get a sense of who he was and how his life influenced those around him. 

Paul tells the Colossians that Jesus is the image of God.  He tells them that though they were alienated, they have been reconciled to God through Jesus.  They know Jesus!

If we have “seen” Jesus, then we have seen God.  If seeing God made Moses’ face glow, shouldn’t our experience with Jesus make our faces glow?  If we’ve been reconciled to God then everyone should know it by our bright, shiny faces.  Gloomy faces won’t convince anyone to become a Christian.

Does your face glow?