Tough Lessons - Colossians 3:10-25

3:10-11 - Colossae isn’t like Jerusalem in that there is a huge amount of diversity being converted to the gospel and surely there was some prejudice or racism that seeped into the church. But Paul reminds the saints there that when they strive to become more Christ-like they are “after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” The IM comments, “Paul taught that Christ’s Atonement made all people equal, including Greeks, Jews, Barbarians, and Scythians. Barbarians, were any group of people whom Romans saw as lacking civility and culture. Scythians were people from the northern coast of the Black Sea (in modern-day Ukraine), whom Greeks viewed as being violent and uneducated.” There’s always going to be a little difficult in unifying when we have a population with mixed ancestry, culture, and beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t required to treat all people with love, kindness, dignity, and respect. We can definitely see ways to use this advice modernly. There are so many people who take offense to “Black Lives Matter” and all the protesting of police brutality and all that, and they are quick to say “don’t commit crime you won’t get arrested,” or “just comply and you won’t get shot.” And while some of these concepts CAN be true, they don’t in any way try to see the perspective of the other person. Espousing these beliefs demand that those who differ comply to your world view because we have to accept that there is a whole other world out there that we know nothing about. I’m from California, I grew up in a very diverse community, I honestly thought that racism was dead because I didn’t encounter it and didn’t really hear about others encountering it either and I had a very diverse mix of friends. But when I married a black man who was raised in the ghetto, then a whole different world opened up to me that I had no idea about. I’m all about statistics, and if a significant majority of a specific group all say the same thing, that they are targeted by the police and treated unfairly because of their skin color, then it’s unlikely that they are all crazy or all making up the same narrative. If we can look at the pain and experience of a complete subculture of people and blow it as them being dramatic or criminals or whatever, then we are not exhibiting the love that Jesus Christ commanded us to embody when we were given prophetic counsel to “bear one another’s burdens.” If we can watch the videos of these people being choked to death on camera and feel that they deserved it because they were on drugs or talked back or where in the wrong neighborhood or asleep in their own bed or whatever, then we are the problem. President Oaks said it best, “Of course Black Lives Matter, that’s an eternal principle.” Racism is an age-old problem because it feeds on people’s insecurities and fears, but fear is the opposite of faith, and when we live in fear of a certain group of people, then again, we aren’t living Christlike principles. 3:12-17 - After listing all the behaviors to avoid while guiding others spiritually, Paul now goes through the characteristics that we should work to perfect within ourselves. For the “elect of God, holy and beloved,” we should have “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which if the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.” It’s interesting because going back to the racism issue that plagues our society, having “bowels of mercy” for someone doesn’t mean that you have to agree that their problem is valid. For instance, I work in healthcare and for so many years I have dealt with drug addicts. They are usually harder cases because they don’t hold still at all and they are always screaming, honestly the screaming is what just kills me. Anyway, I remember specifically one incident where a woman was either coming down from a high or was have a really messed up high because she was screaming “give me back my daughter,” over and over again and the pain in her voice was overwhelming. She truly believed that her daughter had been taken away from her unjustly and she just wanted her back. Now, to be fair, I’m sure that her daughter had been taken away from her because she’s a drug addict, but she truly from the depth of her soul wanted her daughter back. That night I learned a very important lesson about the atonement because even though we all had to tune out her screams, her pain was real to her, and Jesus felt all her pain, even if it was all in her head, it was real to her, therefore it was real to Him. If you can reject that people of color have actual problems, then I would encourage you to get involved in their community. If you think, “hey we all have problems,” then take yourself out of your own head and help people that you don’t know and don’t understand by serving them. Be educated by them about their issues, hear their stories, help where you can, be kind. Then if even after all that you still think it’s all just “in their head,” then recognize that their pain is real to them and therefore real to Jesus as well. All of these attributes that Paul listed here can be taken in this context and any other intrapersonal context that you can think of. Be a little kinder, give people the benefit of the doubt, don’t be angry even when you have the right to be, forgive. It’s hard, and it can feel so much like a beat down, but Jesus will help us see that it’s not giving up, but instead the ultimate investment in ourselves and our eternity. And this is absolutely something that I need to work on myself, I think I’m speaking mostly to myself actually. The IM has some very interesting insight here saying, “Paul’s counsel to be filled with kindness, forgiveness, mercy, and charity toward others was written while he was imprisoned. While in Liberty Jail, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote similar counsel to the Saints, declaring, ‘Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men.’ This is timeless counsel for the Lord’s servants who are imprisoned unjustly, as well as for their followers. In such undeserved circumstances, bitterness must be removed from disciples’ souls so that the Spirit of the Lord can have influence in their lives.” I thought that it was SO interesting that the IM brought up being imprisoned unjustly. These are the circumstances in which so many people, especially people of color, find themselves, especially in our “war on drugs.” It’s really hard for me to sit here and say how someone should feel or react when they are in prison, but this is prophetic counsel from a man who was himself unjustly imprisoned. Very interesting. 3:18-25 - Now we get to what is considered the “Household code” that Paul has given to congregations previously. We won’t spend a ton of time on it because we have before but it’s basically wives submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives, “and be not bitter against them.” That’s an interesting sentiment. I think that could go both ways, don’t be bitter against your spouse. That could pertain to when we feel like they are holding us back, or that we gave up too much to be with them, or that they don’t fulfill our expectations, or when we don’t feel like they are contributing as much as we want them too. There are innumerable ways that we could hold negative feels against our spouse, but Paul counsels us to not hold on to those feelings, and that’s good advice. But I’m divorced so what do I know? Children should obey parents, small asterisk here I would imagine being “if they command you to do righteous things.” Not all parents are good, but I would wager that most at least try to do the best they can, even if that is extremely limited. Maybe it just means to not be disobedient little poop heads. Fathers are to “provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” I would imagine that this was one of the first times someone looked out for the welfare of the children. It was probably a “maybe seen, never heard” from situation where children’s rights to dignity and respect were non-existent, so Paul’s advocacy for them was probably quite a novel idea. It’s a power trip, when going against your child, I know because I do it all the time, my son will say something under his breath and I’ll be like all up in his face, “what did you say?!” and he’ll be like “nothing,” and I’ll say, “that’s what I thought,” and that’s probably not the most positive interaction that I could be having with my son. So I’m going to have to pray about what Jesus wants me to do in that scenario because I’m not going to have a child who is spoiled like that but I also don’t want to crush him. I’m going to have to think about that. Servants are to “obey in all things you masters according to the flesh,” and I think last time we talked about servants truly having their master’s best interests at heart meaning that serving their masters in a way that will make them the most prosperous because of your service. Don’t do it half-way is what I think it’s saying. The last part says, “Fearing God,” which is cross-referenced with “reverence God,” so I think this probably means not being bitter about your situation. No one wants to be a servant, or to have to work or anything like that, especially if your master or boss is mean and degrading, and many of them are. I think it’s kind of like Jesus told me, “you have what I want you to have,” and I have to trust that he’s got my best interest at heart and I have to trust that he’s going to take care of me, even if I don’t like my job or my place or station in life. These are all very hard lessons to swallow because they require humility and giving up the perception of control. Paul says to work hard in whatever we do, “knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” I think he’s saying to do our best at whatever place in life he’s put us in and trust that he knows what he’s doing and that whatever we do will be for our benefit, even if it’s difficult for us to see it from where we are in this life. And even if it seems unfair or unjust, “he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.” We will be rewarded for our good deeds and those who wrong us will be punished for their wrong deeds. Both will happen even if we can’t see how in this lifetime. This is a tough pill to swallow