Colossians 1:24

Peter wasn't kidding when he said in 2 Peter 2:15-16

"And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, also wrote to you, speaking of these things as he does in all his letters. In them there are some things hard to understand that the ignorant and unstable distort to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures."

Paul's writings are hard.  Romans is a tough read...  Anyway, back to the point, that I haven't started yet, Colossians 1:24.  This passage was brought up today in my studies and it is of the sort that Peter was talking about:

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church..."

The sentence doesn't end for another 3 verses.  Paul has a bit of a run-on problem.  But, there is something very striking in this sentence [fragment]. What exactly was "lacking in the afflictions of Christ"?  This seems to suggest that Christ's passion and death was somehow incomplete.  Moreover, Paul says something even more blasphemous, that he will fill up what was lacking.  Wait a minute Paul, do you mean to tell me that you plan on adding to the paschal mystery?  Jesus wasn't good enough?  Ok, enough sarcasm for one paragraph.  Paul says that his sufferings will fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.  Since nothing was lacking in what Christ did for us on the cross, what exactly does he mean?  The only thing that is lacking in the afflictions of Christ is our own participation.  I don't mean participation in the sense that we actually add to Christ, but rather, how it gets added to us.  Through suffering we are united to Christ.

Jesus wasn't crucified so we could just sit back and bask in the freedom to sin.  Jesus' death and resurrection isn't a "Get in to Heaven Free" card.  He died so that we would have the ability to be free from sin. Our mere belief that he died for us isn't enough.  Just read Romans 6:3, "Or do you not know that all of us that have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death".  Did you read that?  Into his death... We can't just be onlookers free to sin whenever we want because Jesus died for it.  He died so that we have a chance at turning away from sin.  We NEED to DO IT.  We need to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ... our participation in the affliction of Christ, our participation in our baptism, our participation in our own crucifixion that is the death of ourself and our rebirth in Christ.