Colossians 3:1-11

Easter – Year A

Colossians 3:1-11

Oops! Too many things on the desk. I was still looking at the Philippians passage from Palm Sunday rather than the Colossians reading for Easter.

Perhaps we could appeal to there no longer being a distinction between circumcised and uncircumcised, slave and free, Palm Sunday and Easter. No, distinctions are still important, even if not important enough to kill over.

Given the Holy Week process how do we get rid of such things as anger, wrath, malice, etc.? Crucify them, crucify them! is certainly one approach.

Another way is too look at the new way of living without them, just focus on the new life after they are gone.

This is one of the places Christianity falls down – too much duality, polarity. It's either preemptive crucifixion or resurrection accomplished. It would be interesting to read this in light of Holy Saturday where Jesus is creedally sent to the dead that they might also be raised from the dead.

How, really, do we shift from bad habits of exclusivity that may have been initially helpful to short-term survival, but no longer are, to a habit of inclusiveness that can respond beyond immediate survival? This journey is what all self-help resources are about, but miss. This passage points to the issue, but doesn't help us resolve it any more than simply going back to Galilee does.

Better identification of helpful steps would be of greater use than waiting for revelation or trying to jump to a result without walking a way to it. Easter may demonstrate how difficult it is for us and our forced hope for a resurrectional deus ex machina.