Context: Paul is continuing his poem about the Son who is the image of the invisible God.18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.REFLECTIONSWritten by Glenn Wilmington (“Wilmo”)It’s about that time of year when they start playing Christmas songs in the supermarket, and television stations start replaying that ancient Christmas movie that reminds us of the great story that gives hope to all the marginalised and oppressed: Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.(Yes, I’m joking – but bear with me.)In what could be the second greatest story of Christmas time, we learn how Rudolf came to be at the front of Santa’s sleigh. What the other reindeer thought was a weakness – his shining red nose – actually made him the best suited for leading the group. He took his place at the head and guided the others where to go.Of course, that’s just a make-believe story, but it has some similarities to the greatest true story of all. In today’s passage, Jesus takes his place as the head of the church (v18). What originally looked like a weakness, his death on a cross, actually became another mark of his supremacy. He became the firstborn from among the dead, and he leads the way for the church to be raised from the dead on the last day.He is not only the image of God (v15), but he is also the one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (v19). That is not said about any other person in history – it is uniquely true of the God-man Jesus. He is the mediator between God and man, and through him God is reconciling all things in the universe to himself (v20).The story of Rudolf (or any other Christmas story) will never be greater than the good news about Jesus. We have peace with God through Jesus shedding the blood of his cross. And he had blood to shed because of that very first Christmas, when the one who has supremacy over everything willingly took on flesh and was born; and he went on to became obedient to death, even death on a cross, for us.Praise God for his most precious of gifts!ABOUT THE AUTHORWilmo is part of our Fairfield Morning and Evening congregations.