Why do we worship Jesus? It’s easy for us to focus on what He has done for us. Verse 20 recalls the marvelous truth that He has made peace between God and man by offering the perfect sacrifice for us on the cross. Moreover, because He shed His blood for all who would trust in Him, He has made peace between all His people, making us all one family of faith, part of His very body (v. 18).

But how was Jesus able to do all this? Because of what the rest of this passage says about Him. For He is not only the Son of Man Who lived a sinless life, and thus has offered up a perfect sacrifice. No, He is also the Son of God. He has always existed (v. 17), and everything was created for Him (v. 16). In fact, it is Jesus, not gravity, that holds the entire universe together (v. 17).

In fact, John’s gospel calls Him the Word of God (John 1:1), and since Genesis 1 tells us that God spoke the universe into existence, that means Jesus was somehow the agent, the conduit through which God’s creative power flowed (verse 16).

So, what does all this mean? In His divine power, Jesus had to know everything that was going to happen to Him from the very dawn of time. Even as the creative forces flowed through Him, bringing the hills and trees into existence, breathing the breath of life into Adam, He knew that Adam would sin, and that his sin would eventually require Jesus to be nailed to one of those trees He had designed, propped up on a hill He had fashioned.

So, why should we be surprised that, if we really worship Jesus and want to follow Him, that we would come to share in His sufferings? After all, in order for Paul to proclaim the mystery of God’s grace to the Gentiles (vv. 26-27), he had to turn his back on many of his own people, the Jews who refused to believe that God would save anyone who didn’t first follow all the ceremonial parts of the Law of Moses. It was primarily because of his outreach to the Gentiles that Paul became an outcast, and was at times beaten, stoned, and left for dead (see Acts 13:45, 14:19).

So, yes, let us marvel at the amazing power and grace of Christ. But let us also join Him in His suffering for a sinful world that is in such desperate need of His love and grace. For if Paul could reach out to those who hated him, if Jesus could die for those who rejected Him, how can following Christ require anything less from us?

Colossians 1:15-29 (ESV)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.