And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. (Col 1:18)
On the first Sunday of the season of Lent it is essential to put into view the extent of the sacrifice of Jesus. In terms of humanity it was immense pain to bear. But Jesus was not human alone. He was God who left the heavenly throne and came on earth, lived a life of simplicity and then died a cursed death on the cross.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (Joh 1:1-5)
Jesus is the Word of God. The concept is a bit shaky if you do not understand the role of God's word in the context of creation. God's word was the vector that carried out God's will to fruition.
And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. (Gen 1:3)
In the Trinity the three persons represent three sides to God and in context of the creation that provides three aspects.
In that context there would be no creation or humanity without the preeminence of Jesus.
pre-em'-i-nens:
Superiority, especially in noble or excellent qualities. The word stands for: (1) mothar, "what is over and above," "excellence"; "Man hath no preeminence above the beasts" (Ecclesiastes 3:19); (2) proteuo, "to be first"; "That in all things he (= Christ) might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18); (3) ho philoproteuon, is translated "who loveth to have the preeminence," literally "who loveth to be first" (of Diotrephes, 3John 1:9)
We portrya the noble and excellent qualities of Jesus through our actions, our imitation of Him, so that we may be the living testimony to those who do not know him. God desires to be glorified not through words alone but by action and deed.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27)
Putting on Christ refers to adopting the excellent qualities portrayed by him through imitation of him. Does this refer to a rtualistic way of life? Absolutely not. For to make life a ritual it would have to be meaningless. However an imitation of perfection is not pointless for it leads to the perfecting of our less than imperfect selves.
You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (Jas 2:24)
What you do matters also alongside what you believe in. You must act upon your beliefs. God calls you to believe and be baptized. Through baptism you put on Christ in both spirit and action.
The characteristics of Jesus that we can obey while on this earth are His compassion, His Kindness, His patience, His mercy, His humility, His restlessness for the Kingdom of God, His obedience etc.
Jesus being totally human and totally divine has two sets of qualities. One is a set of human qualities that He adopted for our benefit so that we may adopt them to find excellence.
However there is another set of qualities owing to His divinity that we cannot imitate but rather aim for. These are qualities that we may acquire through the working of the Holy Spirit in us. These are holiness, purity, which is a part of the process of sanctification that is completed on the day of the Second coming. So if we are not pure of thought and action we are required to pray to receive the Spirit that alots us with the purity. Same goes for holiness.
However when we speak of the human qualities it does require human will and effort.
Are we willing to make that effort?