Christ 24×7- Wednesday, 23rd week in ordinary time- St Paul’s letter to the Colossians 3: 1- 11

You are invited to read the text before you read the reflection.

A modern day parable often told is that of a man searching for a lost wrist watch under a street light. He does so, merely because there is light on this street and not on the street where he lost his wrist watch. All this may sound bizarre but then again that’s the purpose of a parable. And how bizarre is it when we search for God in places He does not exist, just because the world flashes a light in these places?

St Paul, in writing to the new converts in Colossae, makes precisely this point. If our sight is not set heavenwards, then we will seek the fleeting happiness that the world has to offer; fleeting happiness that is often offered in religious fads masquerading as faith, with smart lines like, “I am spiritual but not religious.” It is for this reason that we don’t find what we are looking for because we are either looking in the wrong place, or in the wrong person.

St Paul wants us to analyse our new reality and therefore our new conduct. The springboard for this understanding is in 3:1; “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is.” The community at Colossae had now taken on a new persona, a new life in Christ. They had, in Paul’s words, “clothed themselves with new selves”. Their new reality was simply this, that they were raised with Christ who is now their life; therefore their new conduct must match this high calling.