The problems of the Church at Colossae drew from Paul this Letter which is his most comprehensive statement of the significance of Christ. The three verses read today deal with the need for reconciliation with God because of past misdeeds (Col:1:21). It was not because of an accident of birth. Christ in His human body offered Himself in death (v.22), an act of love which gave the whole world a fresh start. This fulfilled God's desire to restore a proper relationship between humankind and himself.

Paul reminds the Colossians that with this new beginning to their relationship with God, all they had to do was to be steadfast in their faith, and not be swayed by those who wanted to add on other observances e.g. of the levitical law, which were unnecessary to the apostolic faith (v.23). These ritual observances the Colossians were tempted with were the sort that the Pharisees in Jesus' time practised. The incident in the cornfield led to Jesus' reminding them that such formalism had not held water with David in his time, nor would it ever with Jesus who was "master of the Sabbath" - a point they could not understand, and a point which Paul later had to point out to the Colossians.