A Call to Discipleship: Reflections from Colossians

December 11th

Thirteenth Day of Advent

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Colossians 2: 6-7

This passage provides a perplexing image for the Christian faith, an image of both movement and rootedness. Some translations read “so walk in him, rooted and built up.” Do you see the perplexing image? God calls us to move forward on the pathway of Christ while also being rooted and established in the faith. God calls us to walk and be rooted. This imagery can be found throughout scripture. Here are a few examples.

Whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked.

1 John 2:6

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

Psalm 1:2-3

This image of walking in Christ and being rooted in Christ seems contradictory… but isn’t it the perfect image for discipleship? Our roots must run deep and strong, nourished by the streams of Living Water. Love God. At the same time, God calls us to walk with Him, reaching out to others in mission with Jesus. Love others. We become mature disciples as we grow deep roots in our relationship with Jesus and as we reach outward on mission with Jesus.

In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus healed a blind man. “When he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.’” Jesus calls us to be walking trees. Walking while Rooted.

Susan Phillips, author of The Cultivated Life, calls this image a “holy mixed metaphor.” Phillips encourages her readers to cultivate their faith by living as walking trees.

As we await the coming birth, let us ponder this wonderful holy mixed metaphor, seeking to continually live our faith as walking trees.