Dec. 29 | Christmas 1, Year C
Isa. 61:10-62:3
Ps. 147 or Ps. 147:13-21
Gal. 3:23-25; 4:4-7
John 1:1-18
The Word through which God acts is eternal and inseparable from God. Although the Word is expressed by God in creation, it is God — he always was and always will be God. The Word is also personal and not some vague and numinous entity or force. We know the Word as the eternal Son of God — the second person of the Trinity.
An eternal and personal Word is important to us because all healthy relationships are built on personal communication. Even in human relationships, we come to know the thoughts, feelings, and motives of other people through their words. The more truthful their words, the more accurate is our understanding of our neighbors. Words serve to reveal what is hidden, but they also have power. We use words to give life and to destroy life.
We say that God’s ways are unfathomable to us. But can we understand God’s nature? Who of us can accurately describe the Trinity? Although we are made in his image, God is more unlike us than like us. Can he who created the brain be contained by the brain? God is a mystery. That does not mean that he plays sinister mind-games with us or that we can piece clues together and come to know his complete nature if we are smart enough and work at it hard enough. The classic understanding of mystery is that it is a truth that can only be known through revelation. God is that type of mystery in that his unfathomable nature is only revealed to us through his Word. The power that brought all creation into being and continues to sustain creation is also the source of our knowledge of God.
As St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, it is the Word incarnate, rather than the law, that gives us the fullest revelation of God and his salvation. The purpose of the law is not to be the vehicle of salvation, but to be the tool by which we can measure our relationship with God, who is the author of our salvation. God revealed his will and nature through the law, so if we are to grow in his image, we need to grow closer to that standard. But from the reverse perspective, the law by being revelatory of God’s nature also demonstrates to us just how innately sinful we are. In addition, our corporate experience with the law demonstrates that we are totally incapable of perfectly obeying the law and, as a result, must depend on God for our salvation. The law does not earn us an eternal relationship with God, but rather it is the law that drives us to the foot of the cross, where Jesus has provided that relationship for us.
If we are to know God and have a relationship with him, then we must grow in our understanding of his Word. The God who created us as material beings employs all our senses as organs for “hearing” his Word. The more fully we engage all our senses, the more fully we will receive God’s self-revelation, and the healthier will our relationship be with him. St. John’s purpose is to help us experience God more fully through his Word. In turn, our purpose is to expose ourselves to the Word and be blessed by his revelation so that we can be a blessing of the truth to all those who come into our sphere of influence.
Look It Up
Read Galatians 4:4-6. God sent his Son to redeem and his Spirit to inspire us to be his heirs.
Think About It
We are made in God’s image. Our words have power in that they reveal who we really are, for good or for ill.
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.