Our passage from Colossians this last Sunday opened with this interesting line from the Apostle Paul. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,” (Colossians 1:24)

I don’t know about you but when I read this my first thought was, ‘Is Paul saying that the suffering of Jesus fell short in some way?’ Whenever we come across a statement in scripture that seems odd or maybe even contradictory it should make us pause. Then we have to ask two questions.

1. How does this fit with the context of the immediate passage?
2. How does this fit with the theology of all of scripture?

To answer question one #1, we know that Paul is suffering. He’s writing this from prison and he has been persecuted for his faith. We also know that he views his suffering as necessary result of following Jesus. And to him it’s all worth it because he loves the church and wants as many people to hear the Gospel of Jesus as possible.

For question #2 we have to zoom out a bit. There is no doubt that the suffering of Jesus on the cross was enough (Rom. 3:21-26, Heb. 10:10-14) and that it is only through HIS death and resurrection that we are saved. So, what is lacking then? The idea here is more about continuation than completion. What Jesus did on the cross was a complete work but in order for all people everywhere to know the Gospel His people (like Paul) will also endure suffering as they bring the message to an unbelieving world (2 Tim. 3:11, 1 Peter 3:13-14; 5:9, Heb. 10:32).

So, in this way when Paul and other followers of Christ suffer for the sake of the Gospel we are participating in the sufferings of Jesus. Not only that but Jesus is also participating with us. Remember when Paul himself was confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting me?” Jesus is with us in our sufferings and in our suffering we are continuing the hard work of making Him known.