This early Christian hymn links Jesus the Christ with creation. As the Word of God made flesh, He reflects and is the image of the invisible God. As "the firstborn" he is joined to the entire human family, and as "head of the church" he lives even now within the community of believers. He promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world. But Jesus was rejected by the Jewish religious leaders because of His new and radical interpretation of God's law. He worked by healing on the Sabbath and ate with sinners, and did not teach the disciples to fast. In the Lord's words, an old piece of cloth without the strength and texture of a new piece can never be fastened to it. Old and new wine cannot mix, but destroy each other. We find in these metaphors one explanation why Jesus, despite His attractive teaching and good works, was not accepted by the Pharisees as a representative of the God whom Israel worshipped.

Still, Jesus has reconciled all people to the Father through His blood on the Cross. It is through His presence in the Church that the Spirit will continue to renew the face of the earth. The teachings of the Church, as in Vatican Council II, with its new insights and fresh impulses of grace, will help bring about peace between Christians and among all God's children.