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Sunday, 12 January 2020

A Cosmic Christ "The Word" made Flesh





Everyone has a favorite color? What is yours and why? What is your favorite Word the word you love to hear?  How powerful do think words are?   Can you imagine a world without words? 



Jan 12, 2020     Psalm 148   John 1: 1-18  

Jesus referred to John as the blessed one, and he was the only disciple who was there at his crucifixion with mother Mary.  John’s Gospel offers us a cosmic Christmas perspective to consider.  His Gospel doesn’t start with Jesus’ physical birth, he is suggesting that Jesus was somehow there at very beginning of creations itself, referring to Jesus as “The Word”.  Let us listen again to:  John 1: 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 statement, is according to John’s understanding.  I must also say here that, most popular versions of the bible, Good News, NIV, American Standard, King James and others say “and the Word was God.”  But there are a few versions with the perspective that say: “and the word was the same as God”.  I would like to suggest that either way, the Old Testament and the New Testament merge as John makes the claim that the Word and God are one with the other?  Verse 2:   From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him.The Word was the source of life and this life brought light to people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

John mystic 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 Si-rach.  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, is the first Gospel but does not start with the virgin birth story either but begins with a  list of Jesus’ ancestors to prove Jesus 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 that God is not alone in the beginning.  Let us hear the verse that actually states that: Genesis 1:26  26 Then God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, and 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, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Jesus, in John’s perspective is not confined to the New Testament.  Johns Jesus becomes cosmic, who was there as the Word in the very beginning.  I would like to suggest to you that it makes no difference which name you use to describe the entity that was there with God in the beginning.  John uses a metaphor “The Word” but in the New testament, Paul offers us “The Christ” a cosmic Christ whom is believed to be God incarnate, “The Word made flesh”.  But it is Moses himself who tells 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 human flesh.   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 the human physical form to be the embodiment of the Word.  Did you know that “The Word” comes to us in three forms.  The written word, the spoken word and the unspoken word which is actually the word in action.   But how does all of this relate to our lives today?  Folks, we need to read and study the written word for ourselves.  Do not take my or someone else’s perspective as Gospel.  The written word will teach you how to pray, informs you of who’s you are, where you came from and gives you many illustrations of the struggles we face in our world today.  The stories and narratives were not meant to be taken literally as truths or historical facts.   They are gems that hold within themselves nuggets of Spiritual truth.  And as we go on mining expeditions within the scriptures, they give us wisdom, blessings, and correction for right living.  Without “The Word” nothing in our existence becomes tangible, debatable 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 is here again, 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 you attach to it.  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.   What is the slogan on our Church Sign?  We need to make those written words visible, so the community can believe us. 

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 one with God.  You see John’s perspective offers us a Jesus who is both human and divine.   For the Christian, Jesus was and will always be both now and forever more the Lord or both the living and the dead.  Romans 14: 9.    May I suggest that for the New Year, you begin to read and study with others the written word, sharing your prespective 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.  Amen        

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