On 23 July 1995, amateur astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp separately from New Mexico and Arizona respectively discovered a celestial body that was not to be found in their star charts. Hastily both of them contacted the International Astronomical Union, which confirmed the discovery of a new comet the next morning. Officially designated C/1995 01, the comet is more commonly known as Comet Hale-Bopp after the two co-discoverers and has contributed greatly to our understanding of celestial bodies.

On 26 March 1997, when the Comet was closest to Earth, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department entered a house in the Rancho Santa Fe suburb to discover the bodies of thirty-nine people who had committed mass suicide in a series of coordinated rituals. Just before their final rituals began, they had updated their website to include the following message: “Whether Hale-Bopp has a ‘companion’ or not is irrelevant from our perspective. However, its arrival is joyously very significant to us at ‘Heaven’s Gate.’ The joy is that our Older Member in the Evolutionary Level Above Human (the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’) has made it clear to us that Hale-Bopp’s approach is the ‘marker’ we’ve been waiting for — the time for the arrival of the spacecraft from the Level Above Human to take us home to ‘Their World’ — in the literal Heavens. Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion — ‘graduation’ from the Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily prepared to leave ‘this world’ and go with Ti’s crew.”

Hope, you see, is one of the most potent driving forces in the life of any human. In her poem, Hope, Emily Dickenson wrote, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” Such a wonderful and rosy picture of hope, likened to a songbird that sings a tune and perhaps enables us to take flight into the future. We often have all too rosy an idea of hope. Indeed, the French novelist Colette, declared, “Hope costs nothing.” Quite a romantic claim indeed.

And an evidently false claim for it cost the members of Heaven’s Gate everything when they put their misplaced hope on the delusions of Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the cult, and a man with a clearly tenuous grip on reality. The Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” Not as rosy a picture as presented by Dickenson and Colette, but rosy nonetheless.

For, you see, what the Heaven’s Gate tragedy indicates is that the kind of hope you entertain and are possessed by are supremely important. Just believing that tomorrow will be better than today, as Thich Nhat Hanh suggests, is of no use if that belief has no substance behind it. Just thinking that hope is like a songbird is pointless if that bird is not singing a song based on reality. And try convincing the family of a gambler that hope costs nothing and you will return with eyes newly opened.

So when Paul tells the Colossian Christians, “God wanted to make known to them the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” we need to pay close attention to the substance he is putting into this hope. For if we have the wrong substance, we could at best be simply whistling in the wind, pursuing something that is ultimately inconsequential and meaningless, and at worst be headed to hell in a handbasket, believing in a perverted gospel, which is no gospel at all.

So let us be careful while interpreting this passage. Our passage begins with Paul saying, “I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.” So whatever he means by ‘Christ in you’ and ‘hope of glory’ it cannot mean exemption from suffering for Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11.1, says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” But the first verse of our passage raises two crucial issues that we need to deal with.

First, what is Paul referring to when he says, “I fill up in my physical body”? Is this some way of expressing Christian masochism by which we inflict pain on ourselves believing that it has some redemptive value? Second, what does he mean when he says, “What is lacking in the sufferings of Christ”? Does Paul mean that Jesus’ work was not finished and that we need to do something to finish it? This would be quite a strange thing for Paul to say and so must not be what he is saying. 

What he is saying is clear from the next verse when he says, “I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship from God—given to me for you—in order to complete the word of God.” You see, Jesus has chosen to work in this world through his Church. Could he have done it differently? Absolutely! But our God is a God who enjoys partnering with his image bearers for that is precisely how we learn how best to bear the image in a world that so easily substitutes the true image with the false.

And so, since he has chosen to work through us, he has chosen not to do everything directly. Rather, some of the work needs to be done in and through us. Some of the anguish and pain that is involved in bringing the new creation to fruition has been delegated by Jesus to his church. And so within the church Jesus selects further members who are explicitly tasked with the vocation of doing something difficult that Jesus has delegated to them. What kind of things could these be?

They could be prayer visits, spiritual warfare, bible interpretation, gifts of healing, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and so on. Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 12.29-30, “Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they?” My gifting does not describe what yours should be. And your gifting does not describe what mine should be.

Rather, Jesus, through his Spirit, distributes gifts according to the needs of the church. All the gifts are given in service of the church. And this is what Paul asserts when he writes, “I became a servant of the church.” The work that Jesus expects from his church is difficult work and, at times, can involve suffering. After all, Paul was in prison when he wrote Colossians! But Jesus gives his church the gifts necessary to fulfill the task he has given them. If a church needs people who are able to heal, he will give the gift of healing. 

If a church needs people who are able to engage in spiritual warfare, he will raise up people who are gifted that way. Whatever the church needs, Jesus gives. Note that it is not whatever I want, whether for myself or for the church, that he gives. He gives the church people who are gifted in ways that can meet the needs of the church. It is always gifting in service of the church. With respect to the calling and gifting he had received Paul says, “I fill up in my physical body.” What does he mean?

In many circles, the gifts given by God are considered to be something more in line with what we have in mind when we think of a birthday gift. If I give someone a gift, it is something I have purchased or perhaps made. And I give it to the other person to use and enjoy. And once I have given it, the gift really does not have any impact on me. Indeed, in most cases, even the purchasing of the gift is hardly impactful, especially when we do it out of a sense of obligation and duty rather than love and celebration.

But the gifts of the Spirit change us even as the Spirit uses us to administer those gifts. For example, do not think that God can give you the gift of healing without his wanting to give you a greater understanding of his love and grace as you administer his healing to others. Do not think that God will give you the gift of service without his wanting to also give you a greater comprehension of his heart that is broken for his good creation. There is no spiritual gift that does not change us in our very bodies.

And the reason this happens, the reason why we are changed as God uses us to administer his gifts is that the giver is in us – ‘Christ in you.’ In case you are wondering how this can be, remember that Paul calls this a mystery. It is not just something that was hidden earlier that is now revealed. It is also something that is revealed that is difficult to wrap our minds around. But remember I said that Jesus has chosen to work through his people? This is the clue to understanding the phrase ‘Christ in you.’

It is not some esoteric statement that can be understood only by a few and experienced only by a select group. Rather, through his Spirit, Jesus works in and through us and, because he works in this way, we are transformed even as we minister to others. Just as even the toughest rocks eventually yield to the constant and consistent flow of the river, so also we are transformed as we allow ourselves to become channels of blessings for others by using our gifts in the service of the church.

So what we understand is that God calls us to be ministers to his church. He indwells us with his Spirit and works in and through us for the church by the power of his Spirit. By this mystery, Christ dwells in us, gifting us according to the needs of his church. In this way, because Jesus has chosen to work in and through us, we experience in our bodies the transformative power of his Spirit. In some cases, perhaps in most cases, this transformation happens only through what can only be described as suffering. 

You see, all change is resisted. The rock does not want the river to shape it. But through sustained action over many years, the river makes the rock yield to its transformative power. As a Mathematics teacher, I experience this often. When I teach something new, most students will begin groaning – either audibly or in silence. “It’s too tough,” they say. “This is torture,” they declare. “Why do we have to learn this?” they ask. Until they gain a firm understanding of the concept, they are ready to throw in the towel at every setback.

And so also we, as God’s Spirit works in and through us, experience his transformative power. The transformation will happen whether we partner with God or protest against his action. It will always be difficult. We can partner with God and rejoice as Paul did. Or we can protest and experience the transformation as an injustice. The choice is ours. We can either cooperate with God or get carried along by him, dragging and screaming all the way. This is the effect that the presence of the Spirit has in us. We will be changed.

But this then brings up the phrase ‘the hope of glory.’ What does this mean? Specifically, what does this glory refer to? What comes to our minds when we hear the word ‘glory’? When Daniel describes the state of the righteous in the resurrection, he writes, “But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.” Jesus quotes this when he explains the parable of the sower.

Is that what we have in mind when we think of the word ‘glory’? Do we think we will be like miniature suns radiating blinding rays of light? If we do, perhaps we should pause to think of the resurrection stories in the canonical Gospels. To Mary, Jesus appeared quite like a gardener. To the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he was just another nondescript fellow traveller. There were no rays of light emanating from him that blinded the disciples. But more surprisingly, something was present that they just did not expect.

When Thomas expressed his unbelief in the resurrection, Jesus invited him to see the marks of his crucifixion. The marks of those wounds remained even following Jesus’ resurrection and should be taken to be a part of what constitutes Jesus’ glory right now. I do not know what this means for us in our resurrection. But one thing we can be certain of is that God will burst the bubble of all our expectations in the resurrection. If the wounds of crucifixion can be included in Jesus’ glory, then our glory will also be unexpected.

What we can learn from this is that what constitutes glory is anything that God can rightly use for his purposes. So when the disciples asked Jesus whether it was the man born blind who had sinned or his parents, Jesus turned that around and said that, despite the blindness being something that was bad, Jesus was going to turn it around so that it would bring glory to God. And in like manner, though Jesus’ crucifixion is the ultimate example of a miscarriage of justice, God used it to bring glory to Jesus.

And this is why, while concluding his remarkable discussion on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul sums up the discussion with the words, “So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” He does not tell the Corinthian believers to look up expectantly to the skies from where Jesus would return to impart to them the glory they were promised. Rather, he says, “Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord.”

Tying this up with what he says in Colossians, we can conclude that the hope of glory that we have today is precisely that we, who Paul says, “Were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,” are no longer strangers and enemies. We have been adopted into the family of God. And we have been empowered by his Spirit to work for the building up of his church. It is our very ability to minister in Jesus’ church that is the source for the hope we have of glory.

But here we need to also ask ourselves what we mean by the word ‘hope’. According to a dictionary, hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.” But we know how fickle feelings can be. Like the tides of the oceans, they rise and fall. Like the phases of the moon, they wax and wane. And if our hope is just a feeling, then it is an unreliable fuel for effective ministry. Perhaps this is why many of us are ineffective. We want a certain feeling before we are convinced that we can minister to God’s people.

But this is not what the bible means by hope. When God first called Moses at the burning bush, Moses knew who he was – a fugitive murderer, who was hiding from the wrath and justice of Pharaoh. And so when God told him that he had chosen Moses to be his spokesperson, Moses asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” Moses thought himself unqualified because he knew in his heart that he was a guilty criminal, who had somehow escaped justice.

But in response God told him, “Surely I will be with you.” In other words, it was God’s presence, not Moses’ feelings, that qualified him for the enormous task ahead of him. And in like manner, we may not feel very hopeful when we minister in the church. We may ask ourselves, “Who am I to think that I can serve in God’s church?” Because of the change God intends to bring in and through us in and through his church, we will likely face opposition, leading to a feeling of disappointment that could make us question our calling.

But the hope that Paul gives us is one that is attested only in the context of ministry in the church. Here a word of caution is in order. When I say ‘ministry in the church’ I don’t mean to restrict it to ordained ministry. Our passage has nothing to do with ordination. Rather, Christ in us, the hope of glory, is the hope of all believers. For Jesus does not call anyone into his church without also having a role for that person in his church. There are no bystanders in the church. There are no consumers in God’s kingdom.

To paraphrase the words of John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what the church can do for you. Ask what you can do in the church.” In other words, there is no individual believer who can thrive apart from the life of the church. An isolated Christian is an oxymoron and the hope of anyone who thinks they can be an isolated Christian is a pipedream that will disappear like a wisp of smoke at the first sign of trouble. This is something that we need to be keenly aware of as we minister in the church.

Most of you are probably going to play an important role in the life of some local church. Maybe some will have ministries that are more wide reaching. God will make each of us aware of our need for him. He will make each of us realize that our hope is renewed only in the context of a ministry that involves much struggle. We will face setbacks and successes and learn from all those episodes in our lives. And hopefully, we will not be led by our fleeting, transient feelings into bouts of despair.

But a far greater hurdle faces all who are called to be leaders in the church. And unfortunately, this is the hurdle that many leaders are unable to overcome. This is the hurdle of communicating what we have learnt about the Christian life to those to whom we minister. You see, just as Jesus was tempted to jump from the Temple in order to impress the masses and have a large ministry, so also we all are tempted by the number of members in our churches or the number of attendants at our talks and sermons.

Because of this, communicating the harsh truths about the ‘hope of glory’ becomes a supremely difficult task. No human wants to accept an invitation to a life that is going to be difficult. This is why so many of Jesus’ original followers left him when they realized that he was not giving them a series of comforting sayings by which to live. When they realized that he was presenting to them a life filled with adversity and difficulties, most of the original followers left him. For all of us want a comfortable life without troubles.

Announcing this to those to whom we minister is a difficult task because it almost guarantees that only a few will ever listen to us. This is why the prosperity preachers have such large followings. When you don’t really challenge anyone to change, when you present the life of faith as a simple set of transactions between God and you, then you will find that many people throng after you and you may begin to think that you are doing God’s work and are, therefore, successful in your ministry.

But the key to knowing if you are successful as a leader in the church is to see how many of the people to whom you minister are able to understand that they have been called to contribute to the life of the church and that, therefore, they will also face difficulties in life. And then to see how many of them remain faithful to Jesus with the realization that it is only through their own ministry in the church that Jesus will confirm to them the ‘hope of glory.’

You see, unlike the members of Heaven’s Gate, God does not call us to have an escapist attitude and to physically distance ourselves from the world. Unlike the Heaven’s Gate members who built their hopes on the delusions of a man who had a tenuous grip on reality, the hope that Jesus gives us is sown in adversity, reaped in calamity and renewed when we learn to rejoice in the fact that our sufferings in and for Jesus’ church are the glory that we are promised through the mystery of “Christ in us, the hope of glory.”