WEDNESDAY
This should go without saying but, alas, it must be said. In the gospels Jesus is portrayed as a king. His coronation, however, is not a ceremony of glory and splendor, but the cross. He is mocked with a crown of thorns and a purple robe placed on his bloody and beaten back (purple is the color of royalty). A sign is placed above him that reads “The king of the Jews.” He is brought to Pilate by the Jews because he claimed to be the Messiah, a king. Pilate then asks him if he is the King of the Jews. He is lifted up—as a king is to a throne—onto a cross.
Through all of this, Jesus is revealing that in the upside-down kingdom of God, the path to glory is through sacrificial love and humility, not power and self-promotion. Of course, the cross is much more than this. It is his coronation ceremony.
When we turn to the New Testament epistles, we find the authors regularly declaring Jesus to be Lord. This would imply that Jesus was of a higher authority and lordship than Caesar. When Christians were brought to trial, they would often be forced to make sacrifices to the Roman gods and declare Caesar to be lord. Those who refused were punished with imprisonment or even death in some cases.
In the book of Colossians, Paul is addressing a heresy in the church that is likely some form of syncretism between Judaism and Neoplatonism. Both Jewish and Roman influence loomed large in the church and Paul countered those influences, not by clearly refuting each point of disagreement, but by simply declaring the authority and supremacy of Jesus.
Colossians 1:15–17 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Colossians 2:8–15 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. 9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. …15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Paul doesn't dig into every nuance of Neoplatonism here, instead he takes a "catch all" approach against all "hollow and deceptive philosophy.” In doing so he declares Christ to be "the head over every power and authority.” That would include both spiritual and physical power and authority. His argument is essentially, "God has done so much for you in Christ. Why would you turn to anything else?”
In v. 15 the "powers and authorities" is almost certainly a reference to spiritual powers and forces of evil. But in traditional Jewish thought, likely Paul's as well, it is the evil spiritual powers operating in the background that animate and influence the evil kingdoms of the world (i.e., Babylon). Check out this video for an explanation of this. This is seen in his declaration a few verses earlier in 1:16, that all things were created through Jesus: "things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." So both spiritual powers and physical powers (kings and kingdoms) are created by Jesus and for Jesus. All creation was created through him and for him so all creation owes him its allegiance.
Returning to verse 15, the language Paul chooses (disarmed, made a public spectacle, and triumphed) would point the reader to a common scene of the Roman emperor returning from a victorious war. He would enter the city in a glorious procession riding on horseback with his captives trailing behind him on their way to execution. This is what Jesus has done to the evil spiritual powers and authorities. Eugene Peterson paints the picture explicitly in the Message version:
Colossians 2:15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.
Again, note the method by which Jesus stripped them of their authority—the cross—a symbol of shame, subjugation, powerlessness. He was victorious by laying down his life as a ransom for many, and serving others. Paul expresses this idea elsewhere:
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
The vision of Jesus riding a white horse in Revelation 19 is of him wearing many crowns and on his robe and thigh is written, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” All this while his robes are drenched in his own blood.
We serve Jesus as the king of his kingdom, and indeed Jesus is king over all creation.