‘For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Christ], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.’ Colossians 1:19-20 NIV
The apostle Paul wrote letters not narratives, but it is the biblical story that funds his pastoral engagement with churches. That story sometimes bubbles to the surface as it does in Colossians 1:15-20, where Paul takes us from the creation of all things to consummation of all things – in six verses! And at the heart of that story is Jesus. In particular, the crucified Jesus.
The cross is where Paul finishes this breathtaking paragraph. What will God do through Jesus? He will reconcile ‘all things’, writes Paul, making it clear that God not only makes peace with individuals, wonderful though that is, but will one day bring the whole universe back in harmony with himself. But at what price does this peace come? Again, Paul is clear: at the cost of the cross. Just as all things in heaven and on earth were created through Christ, so also all things in heaven and on earth are reconciled through his death on the cross. This, Paul goes on to say, is ‘the gospel that you heard and has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven’ (1:23).
Paul scopes out what might be thought of as a wide-angle lens view of the gospel. A zoom lens is helpful for getting close up and seeing the fine details, but a wide-angle shot allows us to see the larger vista against which the zoom shot makes best sense. And both are necessary – wide-angle and zoom lens. There is only one gospel, and the cross stands at the heart of the one gospel, but the cross both carries zoom-lens implications for personal redemption and wide-angle implications for the cosmic reconciliation of all things.
