This is the fourth in a series in a collaborative reading of Colossians Remixed by Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

There are a number of ways to tell the grand story of the Bible, themes of redemption and salvation or perhaps from ‘the garden to the city’ or of liberation and freedom from oppression. In each telling a different theme is brought to the fore. The wonder of the Bible is not so much that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but that there is so much beauty to behold. Not that these themes aren’t there but that they are all there. But according to Walsh & Keesmaat there is a important way of telling the story that has often been overlooked and under-told. The story of Israel and Empire.

Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome are all empires which left their imprint on the Biblical story, perhaps much more so than the smaller and more local political rivals of Philistine, Edom, Syria and so on. From exodus to exile, from Joshua to Jesus, from Saul to Paul, the story of the Bible is one of a community carving out its place amidst the constant overshadowing presence of an empire.

Walsh & Keesmaat revisit the history of Israel and shine a light on this theme. In the one corner we have the might of the Empire that seeks power, wealth and glory through military power, economic oppression. It is a world built and supported by slaves and soldiers.

In the other corner stands the people of Israel whose two core beliefs are, they claim, monotheism and election. Rising up against the pantheons of Egypt & Rome is the one true God. And to confound the powerful this God has chosen the least of all the peoples to be His own, ‘to be a light to the nations, a blessing to the whole world.’

The economics and laws of Israel are in stark contrast to the economics of the slaves and soldiers. Here slaves are set free, oppression is forbidden, the poor are lifted up, there is redemption for the people and rest for the land. Israel is ‘called to be a people of jubilee’ but, as we all know well, the story never really works out like that. Time and again Israel is seduced by the material wealth and prosperity of their neighbours. They are seduced and they are unfaithful. When they seek a king like the other nations they forget the warning that ‘in the land of the gift, the king, “like the nations,” will take.’

The voice of the prophets is heard as a call not simply back to covenantal faithfulness but that in God’s judgement on Israel for their oppression of the poor to return to God’s good ways. Remember mercy, justice, humility. Israel’s repeated failure and constant desire for the ways of empire instead lead to exile. Ironically enough under the boot of an empire.

I was struck at this point by their reflection on some well known verses in Jeremiah.

⁵ “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶ Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. ⁷ Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Jeremiah 29:5-7

I’ve often this verse talked about in the context of church planting. Why should churches pursue the common good and be involved in the life of the modern city? Well, because we ‘should seek the welfare of the city’. While this is OK as far as it goes but it is an anodyne version to the radical challenge that God gives to His people in exile. In the middle of hostile territory the call to live faithfully to the ways of God has not gone. God instead doubles down.

It reminds me that when Jesus said ‘love your enemies’, he meant the Romans. When Jeremiah said pray for the welfare of the city and pray for them, he meant Babylon. Easier said than done.

But at the heart of this struggle is the question, ‘who gives you fruitfulness?’ In other words, who makes you prosper, is it God or is it empire? So often, too often, Israel said ’empire’ and suffered the consequences.

These competing visions, say Walsh & Keesmaat, were alive and well, when Jesus was born. The good news of the Caesars was proclaimed and carved into stone. Slaves and soldiers was still the recipe of the empire and taken to new heights by the rulers of Rome. Into this world comes a threat, not another empire from the outside seeking to conquer, but one who, like Jeremiah, subverts from within.

So the song of Mary audaciously proclaims a God who throws down the rich and powerful and raises up the poor and lowly (Lk 1:46-55). And Luke makes sure that we understand John the Baptist’s Isaiah-style proclamation of a return from exile in the context of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was ruler of Galilee (Lk 3:1-6; cf Is 40:3-5). No one would miss the subversive overtones to this proclamation.

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Except of course, miss it we do.

Finally Keesmaat & Walsh get back to Colossians and immediately see subversion to empire in Paul’s claim to the gospel bearing fruit throughout the whole world. Hang on, they say, Rome claimed to be the source of fruitfulness and blessing so this right here is Paul undermining the story of Rome. This question, and how you answer it, will determine much as to whether you buy into the claims being made.

If the empire encodes in the imagery of everyday life – on public arches, statues and buildings – the claim that Rome and its emperor are the beneficent provider of all fruitfulness, then can a claim that the “gospel” is bearing fruit “in the whole world” be heard as anything less than a challenge to this imperial fruitfulness? Especially if we remember that the word gospel (euangelion) is the very same term that the empire reserves for announcements of military success and pronouncements from the emperor, doesn’t it become clear that there is something deeply subversive in what Paul is saying here? Whose gospel is the source of fruitfulness that will last and sustain the world – the gospel of Caesar or the gospel of Jesus?

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We’re reminded to ‘hear the New Testament with Old Testament ears’ and so not only not miss what Paul is saying, but don’t see them as undertones when in fact they might be the main melody.

For those who knew the story of Jesus, Paul’s language suggested a call to an alternative ethic in the face of an empire, an ethic rooted in Jesus and his act of reconciliation on the cross. For those in Colossae with ears to hear, Paul’s scriptural allusions evoke a whole new world and way of life. And as we shall see, that alternative world and liberating way of life form the heart of Paul’s teaching in Colossians.

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Interestingly, there are other contemporary voices saying something similar. Today I read Paul Kingsnorth’s latest essay and he writes towards the end, “If the Machine is a story, then the first step to its dismantling is neither monkeywrenching nor revolution – it is to stop believing the story. The second step is to stop telling it to others; and the third is to begin the search for a better one.”

That is what Walsh & Keesmaat say Paul is doing. He is urging these new followers of The Way to stop believing the story of empire, stop telling it to others and instead tell this one, it’s better. Kingsnorth is right, so are Keesmaat & Walsh. So was Paul.