In the novel, “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”, Douglas Adams addressed the size of the universe in these terms, “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space”. We cannot really get our minds around the size of the universe. As the Hubble Space telescope reveals thousands more galaxies than we ever though existed, we can only marvel at the size of our universe. Yet our reading today reminds us that however large space is, Jesus is Lord of it all.
In a sweeping hymn of praise, Paul tells us that God intended that Jesus be the Lord of all creation, both on heaven and on earth. This entire, vast universe is under the Lordship of Jesus. What is more, God intended to reconcile the entire universe back to God through Jesus. In the resurrection we see how life is going to be and so Jesus, as Christ, is also Lord of this new creation, the kingdom of God. In just a few verses, we are reminded that Jesus is Lord of everything that ever was and ever will be. We cannot see Him as just another moral teacher, but as Almighty God who works for all things to be reconciled. The Lord of all things, seen and unseen, cares enough about us, and this world, to want to bring us back home. To partner with this work of reconciliation, God called the church into existence under the Lordship of Christ.
As Christ’s body, the church, we therefore have to understand that the church does not exist for her own sake. It is not a private club for members to feel comfortable in nor is it a corporate organisation that seeks to strengthen the institution itself. It is the body of Christ and is to be engaged in the same ministry that Christ undertook. Christianity is therefore not some private religion, personal piety or a spirituality that exists in a vacuum. It means partnering with Jesus and working for reconciliation in the world. It means not shuttering ourselves away from this world and seeking to remain aloof from the problems that exist here. It is about engaging with the world and being Christ to it. If God loved the earth enough to carry out this work of reconciliation, then so must the church. If God valued every person enough to seek to reconcile them back to God then so must we. This is the size and scope of our work too.