One day when Jesus was walking with his disciples on the way to Caesarea Philippi, he asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”(Mk.8:39) Christ Jesus asks us the same question today. Who is Christ for us? What do we know about him? What does the life, death, resurrection of Jesus mean for us today? Where does Christ Jesus fit into God’s grand scheme of creation? Those are questions of Christology. Take a few minutes to reflect on those questions and try to put your answers into words.

Our epistle lesson for today from the letter to the Colossians spells out what some have called “A Great Christology.” Stop here and read through the whole passage. Sit with it for a few minutes breathing deeply, allowing the breath of God to blow away the cobwebs from your mind. Now go back and read each verse, stopping to reflect on what each verse says to you about Christ Jesus in your life here and now before moving on to the next verse. When you finish, pause to consider how you feel, how your thoughts about Jesus Christ may be changing. Once again, yet a third time, go through the passage, this time phrase by phrase, taking time to breathe deeply, letting each phrase soak into our heart, touching every fiber of your being, before passing onto the next phrase. As you finish, sit in silence for a few minutes and consider how you would answer Jesus’ question: “Who do you say that I am?”

You answer is your Christology—not the Christology of Paul, not the Christology of the early fathers of the Church, not the Christology of the creeds, not the Christology of countless theologians throughout the ages, but our own personal Christology—who Christ Jesus is for you. That is what God wants to hear--what is in your heart—how you express it doesn’t matter.