The Jesus Test

[Watch the video of the final speech in The Great Dictator.]

That was the final speech in the film The Great Dictator. The film was written and directed by Charlie Chaplin who also played two different roles within it and wrote the music. It was released in 1941, that is in the middle of World War 2 and, mocks Adolf Hitler. People have said that speech is perhaps the greatest monologue in film history and possibly the most poignant recorded speech of the 20th century.

And, it quotes the Bible! Yay!

However, it quotes Jesus words in Luke 17 – The Kingdom of God is within men – to say that all of us have the power to create happiness, freedom and beauty. We are called to create a world of unity, hope and security. We have the power because the Kingdom of God is within our hands.

Isn’t that the opposite of what Jesus was saying in Luke 17? Jesus was saying God is present among us. We are broken. Watch the news. In thousands or millions of years of human existence we have not made any progress at all at producing a world of love and peace. Jesus was saying it was the presence of God that was bring about healing and reconciliation and forgiveness and peace and joy. Good on Charlie Chaplin for calling people to be kind and to resist tyranny. That is a good thing. But that speech actually makes us the focus and pushes Jesus into the background.

Colossae was a small town in what we now call Turkey. Paul had never been there.

Colossians 2:1

I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.

Laodicea was a neighbouring town.

The church had been started by Epaphras who, it seems, had been converted by Paul in Ephesus and had then returned and shared the gospel in his hometown.

Paul talks about the gospel and then says…

Colossians 1:7

You heard it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love.

Epaphras had returned to Paul with a report of the church. It was going well but there was also a major problem. That prompted Paul to write. The only way to figure out what the problem was is to look at Paul’s words and try to decipher what he was addressing. Let’s see if we can do that.

Colossians 2:4

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

Colossians 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human traditions and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

Colossae sat on a major trading route and so was a cosmopolitan town of many nationalities, and many beliefs. It was swirling with lots of ideas but, as Paul said, they were human wisdom or even demonically inspired ideas, “based on human traditions and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ”. They were hollow. They were useless but they could be very attractive and so Paul warned against their deceptiveness – warned the Colossians not to be seduced by them.

Then Paul warned against three specific dangers.

Colossians 2:16

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

That sounds very Jewish, doesn’t it – dietary laws, religious festivals, Sabbaths? It is all about fulfilling the requirements of the law. So, let’s call that Jewish legalism. Some people were saying, “Jesus cannot really save you. You need to fulfil these requirements.” Or, “Jesus is fine as far as he goes but you also need to obey all these laws.”

And note that Paul said, “Do not let anyone judge you”. People were looking down on the Christians because they were not doing all these ritual things. Christianity is inadequate. Jesus is not enough. Jesus’ death was not sufficient.

So, “the Jesus test” (which is something I have made up, but based on what we see here in Colossians) asks, “Does this idea magnify Jesus, or does it diminish Jesus? Does it make Jesus front-and-centre or push Him to one side? Does it elevate Jesus or relegate Jesus?”

There is a closely related question, which we might call “the Cross test”: If this idea is true, why did Jesus need to die on the Cross?” In this instance, “If we are saved by obeying rules, why did Jesus need to die on the cross?” Not only is Jesus pushed to the background but the cross is pushed to the background.

Colossians 2:18 

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual minds.

Really spiritual people have deeply spiritual experiences. They commune with angels or to speak to the dead or God speaks to them daily. You are really missing out if you are not having these profound experiences. We need to go on beyond just being saved by Jesus and graduate to these mystical experiences. So, again, Jesus is being demoted. We might call this Eastern mysticism.

Colossians 2:20

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belong to this world, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’?

That sounds very much like the legalism again but it perhaps reflects a view that to be really spiritual you must have nothing to do with the physical world. The physical world is evil so really spiritual people reject any worldly pleasures. Greek philosophy tended to see the physical world as evil so we might call that Greek asceticism. (Asceticism means punishing ourselves by strict self-denial and withdrawal from the world.) Our salvation depends on experiencing pain. Jesus is not sufficient.

The Colossian Christians were hearing all of these ideas. Were they true? Did they need to eat only certain foods? Did they need to have mystical experiences? Paul’s response centred on Jesus. He warned them that all of these things push Jesus into the background. Jesus was actually their Saviour. It is a dangerous thing losing focus on Jesus and looking elsewhere.

I do not think the Charlie Chaplin speech fits any of those categories. Maybe we should call that one “Western self-sufficiency” – we can do it ourselves. We are super-clever with our scientific advances and educational advances and self-help books. We can fix this world.

Again, if we can do it ourselves, we do not need Jesus! We are exalted and Jesus is diminished.

So, in this letter, to counter this, Paul does the exact opposite; he exalts Jesus. He makes Jesus front and centre. This letter is only 4 chapters long but by my count there are 72 direct references to Jesus in those 4 chapters. There is the whole text of Colossians squashed onto one page with the references to Jesus highlighted. It is all about Jesus.