Reflection on Col 3:1-3
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is,
sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Concerning those who were baptized, it is written here as a matter of course that “you were raised with Christ”. Who understands it and who lives it? What does it mean? Again, it is a mystery of faith, a deep truth into which the Holy Spirit guides the little ones, i.e. the humble ones.
Christ was raised only once on Sunday after Good Friday when he had been crucified. What plays an important role here is a mystery of faith given us by God, as well as a promise related to it. Faith grows into union with Jesus, into spiritual communion, and then into agape, the love of God which has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Rom 5:5).
Spiritual mystery becomes manifest even in our mental and physical life. Disharmony in our life caused by the old self gives place to harmony. The mystery is real but another thing is whether we live it through faith and whether we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into this mystery both in prayer and in everyday situations. If we do, then we can say with the Apostle: “Christ lives in me” – i.e. the risen Christ (cf. Gal 2:20).
Next, the Scripture verses contain a call: “Seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” The literal translation is: “seek intensively the realities which come from above”. And we read further that we are to set our minds on them rather than on the deceit of the world. Naturally, we need to think about things on the earth when seeking and doing the will of God. However, we should not think about them in the spirit of the world but from the perspective of eternity, and that’s a big difference. Things should serve us, and not vice versa. We should serve God, and therefore we have to set our minds on things above. We hear in every Mass: “Lift up your hearts!” Or in the Cherubic Hymn in Divine Liturgy we sing: “Let us now set aside every earthly care.”
Finally, the Apostle draws our attention to the mystery of Christ’s death: “You died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
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