The Physics of Theology

Colossians 1:15-23

Physics was never my favorite subject. There were aspects of it that I really enjoyed, but for the most part I just wasn’t interested. So maybe I’m not the best person to make this statement, but it would appear that our reading from Colossians 1 today, while it may be great theology, is really lousy science. “[Jesus] himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17), we read. It is verses like this one that seem to divide the scientific community from the church and its doctrine.

First of all questions about creation are guaranteed to start an argument. Creationism, Intelligent Design, 300 million years, 7 days; you name it and we people of faith can have a pretty good squabble about it. But here the writer of Colossians claims that Jesus is before all things, not was before all things, is before all things. Then there is this odd assertion, that it is by Jesus that “all things hold together.” I thought that friction, or bonding, or some other concept did that. I thought gravity played a role in keeping stuff where it was supposed to be. I thought there were forces and their opposites that did the “holding together.” What has Jesus got to do with this?

But here’s the good news that we miss if we aren’t careful. What is it that allows science and faith to stand shoulder to shoulder, that gives all people – regardless of their particular perspective – reason to unite? And that is where we discover the miracle, for while there are a million ways to divide us up and to break us off, there is precious little that can put us back together again. But Jesus can, for in Jesus “all things hold together.” For those of us who are Christians what unity we experience comes when in unison we say, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” So maybe our faith is the physics of theology, the recognition that above it all and before it all there is something else, something that counters our tendency to turn against each other. The author of Colossians has given us reason to celebrate! In Jesus Christ we stand together for it is Jesus Christ “that all things hold together.”

Prayer: Lord, in so many ways we pull ourselves apart. By your grace put us back together again that we might serve you in a unity of purpose. In Jesus’ name. Amen.