Was God alone in the Beginning? What do you Believe?
Jan 3 2016
Psalm 148 John 1: 1-18
As I mentioned on Christmas Eve,
the mystic John whom Jesus often referred to as the blessed one and was the
only disciple who was there at his crucifixion with his mother Mary, offers us
a cosmic Christmas perspective to consider.
Johns Gospel doesn’t start with Jesus’ physical birth, he is suggesting
that Christ was there at very beginning of creations itself. Let us
listen: John 1: 1-5 1. In the beginning the Word already existed; the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let us keep in mind that this of course is according
to John’s perspective. I must also say here that most of popular versions of
the bible, NIV, American Standard, King James and may others all say
“and
the Word was God.” But there are
a few versions, Good New being one out there that say “and the word was the same as God”. Either way, the Hebrew Scriptures and the New
Testament merge as John makes the claim that the Word and God are one. Verse 2: 2 From the very beginning the Word was with
God. 3 Through
him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him.4 The Word was the source
of life,[a] and this life brought light to
people. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.
John perspective on creations
forces us to take a closer look at the Hebrew Scriptures starting at Genesis
1. These writings make up three quarters
of what we now call the protestant Holy Bible.
I say protestant here because our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters
study an extended version of the Old Testament that includes the books of
Tobit, Judith, Ester, The Wisdom of Solomon and the book of Sirach. These extra books are called the Apocrypha. The rest of the Holy Bible is made up of the Christian
scriptures or New Testament and begins with the 4 Gospel accounts. Matthew,
the first of the four does not start his account with the virgin birth story
either but begins with a linage or list of Jesus’ ancestors to prove this child
is of the house of David as the Hebrew scriptures had prophesized. If you look closely at verse 26th
of Genesis 1 you will note that the author, Moses, makes reference to someone
being with God in the beginning. Let us
hear the verse: Genesis 1:26 (NIV) 26 Then
God said, “Let US make
mankind in OUR image, in
our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures
that move along the ground.”
Jesus, in John’s perspective is
not confined to the New Testament nor to the celebrations we commit to during
the month of December each year. Johns
Jesus becomes the cosmic Christ, an entity who was there as the Word {according to John} in the very
beginning. I would like to suggest to
you that it makes no difference which name you use as a metaphor to describe
who was there with God, the Word as suggested by John or the Christ as
suggested by Paul or Jesus whom is believed to be by some Christians today as God incarnate. But Moses certainly
tell us that an entity was with God, and that entity was one with God and was
there from the very beginning.
Let us move ahead 4.5 billion or
so years to the time when the Word, finds itself embodied in a human being. Isaiah 9:6 A child is born to us! A son is given to
us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counselor,”
“Mighty God,” “Eternal Father,” “Prince of Peace.” Our
Scriptures now tell us that God would choose one of us to be the embodiment
of the Word, the Word in human form. Now
the Holy Word as we know it comes in three forms. The written word, the spoken word and the
unspoken word which is word in action. But how does this relate to our lives today? Folks, we need to read the written word for ourselves,
the written word informs us of where we came from and gives us stories to illustrate
the struggles we face as human beings today.
If we read the stories within the
Hebrew text or Old Testament not taking all of them literally as historical
fact, we will find truths embedded in all the stories and we may discover why John
chose the metaphor “The Word” to describe the entity that was there with God in
the beginning.
Without words nothing in our existence
becomes tangible, debatable and or understandable. Thoughts
and emotions often make no sense to ourselves or others until they are
expressed in one of the three word forms. The written word allows us to study it, reflect
or meditate on it, to absorb it, to take it in and then to interpret it, which
helps you develop your own perspective on faith and the world around you. The
caution here is, do not develop your faith from someone else’s perspective. The spoken word, combined with emotion
has the power to heal or even resurrect a dead life, but it can also be used to
manipulate or destroy a life. The spoken
word can be gentle and southing or harsh and disturbing. The spoken word has the power to be more negative
or positive then just the written word because of the emotion to which it is
attached. But the greatest power of the
word lay not in what has been written or spoken but in the unspoken word, the
word in action. This was Jesus’
greatest and most powerful use of the word and the reason that we must look to
him as the Word made flesh. In fact it
was because of what he did not what he said that brings people to believe that
he is the one and only true Son of God but also the one and only true Son of
Man. You see John’s perspective offers
us a Jesus who is both divine and human.
For Jesus was and still is the embodiment
of God in human form. May I suggest that for the New Year you begin
to seek the written word, then speak it to neighbor, friend and family? Then do as Jesus has so powerfully taught us,
put yours words into action. May the
Lord Bless and keep you now and forevermore.
"Spread The Word"
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