Col 1:24-2:5
18 July 2010
“One-Upping”
Are you familiar with those who feel the need to get in the last word? Or how about: those who feel the need to one-up the other person? (I don’t know. Maybe we’re in that category!)
This business of one-upping is usually about who has the most money, the most prized possessions, or the best inside knowledge. It may concern vying for the most exclusive tour destinations, getting all the “right people” in their social network, or being the first to acquire the newest, shiniest techno-gadget. Who’s the coolest?
But one-upping doesn’t have to be about things that are desirable. Sometimes there’s competition in seeing who’s had it worse. We can take the contest for who has the best things, and flip it upside down.
I once heard a story about three elderly men complaining about the ingratitude of the younger generation. They spoke of their own youth.
The first one said, “When I was a kid, I had to walk five miles to school—in the snow! Do you know how hard it is to walk that far in snow boots?”
The second gentleman was unimpressed by that level of hardship. He responded, “What are you griping about? I had to walk ten miles to school, and I didn’t have any snow boots. I had to walk in my shoes, and by the time I got to school, my feet were frozen numb!”
The
third fellow simply said,
“Feet? You had feet?”
What inspired me (if “inspired” is the
right word) to begin with this rather ridiculous story is the first verse in
our reading from Colossians: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for
your sake, and in my flesh I am
completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body,
that is, the church” (v. 24). The Good
News Bible, with its phrase, “I
am helping to complete what still remains of Christ’s sufferings,” seems to
soften the contrast.
“I am completing what is
lacking in Christ’s
afflictions.” That almost sounds
competitive—kind of like our three boys debating who had a tougher time growing
up. The apostle Paul seems to be saying
that he needs to pick up where Christ left off.
He needs to add to it. That
Christ suffered, no doubt. But Paul has
to continue suffering; his distress
has to be even greater!
It must be admitted
that, in Paul, some have found qualities that are less than lovable. He’s been described as overly defensive,
pushy, and downright rude. Some of 2
Corinthians has the apostle dealing with allegations like that. His sarcastic wit shows through in other
places (Ga 5:12).
Still, it would
take a pretty cynical reading of the phrase, “completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions,” to see it based in some flaw in Paul’s
character.
Without getting into a technical
discussion about Greek prefixes and verb forms, this verse has provoked plenty
of debate. It’s been understood in a
number of different ways.[1]
One of them is that Paul is speaking of
“Christ's sufferings [being] supplemented from the
treasury of merit earned by saints and martyrs.” That’s mainly a Roman Catholic idea.
Another
one is that Paul’s talking about his own “suffering [not] as a sacrifice for
sin [but] suffering for edification.” In
other words, Paul isn’t claiming that his suffering substitutes for the
suffering of Jesus. The apostle doesn’t
say that he himself can take away sin. Rather, his own suffering is about teaching, setting
an example. (Which is a tough way to
learn a lesson!)
Still another view is that there’s a certain quota of trials and
tribulations that the faithful must endure before the end will come. So there’s the idea of “completing” or
“filling up” what is lacking. And of
course, there have been other takes on what Paul’s talking about.
I
think it would be a mistake to take this one verse out of its context—to think
of Paul in a vacuum, to assume that he’s acting all by himself. Over and over, he
speaks of his relationship to the Colossian church. The verse begins, “I
am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake.” Chapter 2 starts with his saying that “I want
you to know how much I am struggling for you” (v. 1).
What is all this suffering and
struggle that he speaks of? We get a
little taste of it in 2 Corinthians 11:
“Five
times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and
a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger
from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the
city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and
sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night,
hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily
pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches” (vv. 24-28). That’s quite a laundry list!
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is one
of the so-called “prison epistles.” The
others are the letters to the Ephesians, the Philippians, and to Philemon. All of them refer to his imprisonment for the
sake of the gospel. That’s a big part of
what’s in view here.
Paul
speaks of “struggling for [the Colossians], and for those in Laodicea, and for
all who have not seen [him] face to face.
[He wants] their hearts to be encouraged and united in love”
(2:1-2). He believes that his
imprisonment has enabled him—it has helped him in his task.
Paul
does indeed engage in one-upping, but not in the nature of challenging his
hearers to trade horror stories. He has
no interest in compiling a list of afflictions.
It’s been noted that it isn’t about “suffering in itself, but rather the
suffering endured with joy to reveal the strength of God.”[2]
If Paul engages in
one-upping, it’s of a very different kind.
He urges the Colossian church—and by extension, the church today—to
one-up each other in love. As he says
elsewhere, “love
one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor” (Ro
12:10).
The point is not
to outdo each other in suffering. And
honestly, it’s pretty hard to quantify something like that. Even a stray comment can have very different
effects from one person to another. Who
can truly say what goes on inside the world that is each of us? Besides the Lord, who knows all of the
history of those worlds? Not even us,
the ones who inhabit those worlds!
Henri Nouwen writes about these differences within
us in the context of taking up one’s cross.[3]
He quotes Jesus, who says, “If any want to become my followers, let them…take
up their cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). “He does not say: ‘Make a cross’ or ‘Look for a cross.’ Each of us has a cross to carry. There is no need to make one or look for one. The cross we have is hard enough for us! But are we willing to take it up, to accept it
as our cross?” So there’s also no need in
trying to one-up each other in crosses to bear!
Nouwen
continues, “Maybe we can’t study, maybe we are handicapped, maybe we suffer
from depression, maybe we experience conflict in our families, maybe we are
victims of violence or abuse. We didn’t
choose any of it, but these things are our crosses. We can ignore them, reject them, refuse them
or hate them. But we can also take up
these crosses and follow Jesus with them.”
I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions. However we interpret that,
we have to remember what comes immediately after that: “for the sake of his body, that is, the
church.” This is a labor of love; it is
a struggle of love.
According to Richard Rohr, “Until we love, we really do
not even know who we are. In fact, we
can buy into all the self-discovery and mutual affirmation that the world has
to offer and still not know our true selves until we ourselves
love. To love is to act according to your true and deepest nature. In fact, much of the easy affirmation we offer
to still egocentric people is a bit of a lie. They are not that
good until they act according to their nature—which is love!”[4]
I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions. This is, admittedly, a
difficult thing to wrap our heads around.
But thinking can be, and should be, also
a labor of love.
Remember my question at the beginning about getting
in the last word, about one-upping others?
One-upping in and of itself isn’t bad.
Are we one-upping in love? That
is no easy thing. It’s not a question of
emotion or feeling; it’s a question of action.
It is a question of struggle.
It’s been noted, “Paul’s involvement in this
struggle—as well as yours, and mine, and all who minister [all who serve]—is
not to be lacking.”[5] May we not be found lacking.
[1] Sumney, Jerry L., “‘I Fill Up What Is Lacking in the Afflictions of Christ’:
Paul’s Vicarious Suffering in Colossians,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 68:4 (2006): 665.
[2] Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke, Colossians: The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 295.
[3] www.henrinouwen.org/home/free_eletters (for
29 June 2010)
[4] www.cacradicalgrace.org (Daily Meditation for 16 July 2010)
[5] John Reumann, “Colossians
1:24 (‘What Is Lacking in the Afflictions of Christ’): History of Exegesis and Ecumenical
Advance,” Currents in Theology and Mission 17:6 (1990): 461.