Jesus, The Exalted Head

Jesus, the Exalted Head

He is the head of the body, the church.

Colossians 1:18

IN WORD Human beings can be ridiculously foolish, even after God has redeemed us. We have available to us the image of the invisible God, the One by whom and for whom all creation came into being. And whom do we choose as our head? Other people. Committees. Our own feelings. Our own agenda. Majorities. Minorities. Influential leaders. Humanistic philosophies. The list is nearly endless. We, even as Christians, are influenced by myriad people and things, even when we are aware of the corruption of our entire species.

We could be guided and managed by the completely omniscient, wholly benevolent Lord of all creation. Why would we refuse such an opportunity? Is it that we don’t believe we’ll hear from Him clearly? Do we mistrust His motives? Have we forgotten that He is on our side—and has demonstrated His sympathy for us as dramatically as anyone ever could? Somewhere in our thinking, something is wrong. We are promised a direct link with the living Head, and we end up so, well, misdirected. What happened?

Perhaps we have missed the end of verse 18: “so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Was His supremacy our goal from the beginning? If so, He would have gladly guided us. But we have mixed motives; we want to maintain a little autonomy here, a touch of self-will there. And in wanting Jesus to be the Head over most of our lives, we are rejecting Him as the Head over all of our lives. And He won’t make that compromise.

IN DEED How do we become more submitted to Jesus? We stop asking Him to compromise His lordship. We need to become so much more enraptured with the thought of His headship than we are with our own agendas that we gladly sacrifice the latter for the former. Think of the thrill! The be-all and end-all of creation is accessible to our churches! to our families! to our own lives! The beginning, the end, and every authority in between is available—and He loves us! Who would refuse such an offer?

Jesus Christ will be Lord of all or He will not be Lord at all.

—AUGUSTINE