IMMANUEL (John 1:1-14)

Now we come to Christmas...

In the prologue to his Gospel, John speaks of the “Word” and the “true light”, as essentially the same thing. He declares, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” (John 1:9) But then, speaking of Jesus, he says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” It is significant that, in Christian understanding, Jesus is not an enlightened one, but the “true light” that enlightens everyone. He is not one visited by the Word, but the Word visiting us. Jesus is a teacher and a prophet to be sure, but immeasurably more. He is Immanuel (God with us). For John, the “true light” is a universal reality, giving light to everyone, but now coming into the world in Jesus. He is the One behind every true experience of God, always and everywhere.

If this sounds arrogant or ridiculous, ‘twas ever thus. Paul observed that the claims about Jesus are, “...a stumbling block (scandal) to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,..” (1 Cor 1:23) These claims are audacious and outrageous, but they’re not narrow or exclusive. They do not mean that only Christians have true encounters with God, but simply that the One behind all true encounters is the One who comes to us in Jesus.

“Intimations of the Divine” have always happened, and are still happening everywhere. They’re not western or eastern, exotic or mundane, Buddhist or Christian, but simply human; part of the human heritage of serendipitous discernment. And when these experiences happen, as in the case of the event John McCutcheon sings about, (see Dec. 21, Christmas in the Trenches) they typically have a dramatic effect, producing a sense of inter-connectedness, and the conviction that, regardless how fractured our world may appear, we are somehow part of one vast reality.

These experiences always result in compassion and love, but they are, as we have noted, ambiguous. We are broken, hostile creatures, in a broken, hostile world, so these experiences often become mired in the division, conflict and violence of our lives. But, if Jesus is the one behind all true encounters, then all encounters, whether Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Moslem, Atheist, Christian or whatever, are true only to the extent that they make people more selfless, loving and compassionate, i.e., more like Jesus.

Now, a word of caution...

I refer to this season as “Christmas”, not because I’m angry about losing anything, or on a campaign to preserve anything, but simply in the interest of full disclosure. Many are attracted by the innocuous glitz and glitter of the season, and fail to realize that there’s a baby concealed in the wrappings. And this is not some harmless infant, but the one of whom it was said, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel,... so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. (Luke 2:34-35)

If you should happen to run across the infant Jesus, proceed with caution. You could be in danger of a genuine encounter with God which will lead to many things: love and mercy, selflessness, humility, compassion, a heart that is broken by the things that break God’s heart, and all the things that go with all these things. He is the light of the world, but if you get too close, or perhaps just close enough, you could get burned. Is this what you really want?

Burning Ember by Steve Bell

INTIMATIONS OF THE DIVINE

An atheist friend once told me that he would believe in God if God would simply reveal himself unambiguously.

“How would he do that?” I enquired.

“Just appear in that chair” he replied, “and tell me he’s God.”

I paused for a moment. “Do you mean to say that if something appeared in that chair and said it was God, you would believe it?”

“No, of course not” he laughed.

We both laughed.

This is the problem. If there is One who created and sustains the universe, and who, by definition, both transcends and permeates all of reality, how does that One reveal him-her-or-it-self unambiguously? And if, as many believe, the whole point of this self-disclosure is to foster a loving, personal relationship, how would such a One do it without overwhelming us? All loving relationships involve a process of mutual self-disclosure and discovery. So, perhaps, a degree of subtlety, and a certain ambiguity are unavoidable. Or think of it this way....

Imagine a computer game that’s trillions upon trillions of times more complex and wonderful than any of the most amazing games we have today. In this one, after countless cyber generations, some of the characters have begun to experience “self awareness”. And, of course, one of the first things they do with this awareness is to ask themselves where “they and their world” (the game) came from.

They find they can study their cyber universe, and even trace its development, but only to a certain point. And, as they reflect on what they’re discovering, they sometimes get an odd feeling that there’s something going on “behind”, or “beneath”, or “within” everything. Some begin to suspect, or maybe just imagine, that it all makes some kind of “sense”. It seems astonishingly “mathematical” or “logical”, like some kind of “program”. And some even begin to ask if there might be some sort of, for want of a better term, “programmer” involved.

Now, the “program” seems to be running on it’s own, with no one obviously running it. And they (the newly self aware characters) seem to have a degree of independence too. But many just can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more happening. Some report instances when they’ve been overcome by the feeling, almost verging on a clear awareness, that “something” “beyond”, “above”, “behind” or “deep within” “the game” is initiating activity, or even responding to their questions, concerns and situations. Is it possible that whatever, or whoever, caused them and this world to exist, is also self-aware, aware of them, interested in them, and concerned about them? Preposterous as it may sound, could it be that this “programmer” is somehow involved in everything that’s happening? Not exactly manipulating or controlling everything, but actually “playing” the “game”?

None of this proves anything, of course. It’s not even evidence; just an analogy, or what theoretical scientists like Einstein have called “a thought experiment”. But it does seem to me that something like this process of enquiry has been going on in every culture, everywhere, since the dawn of human self-awareness. Indeed, it’s as much a part of being human as music, art or poetry. Admittedly, some people think music, art, poetry, and this sort of enquiry are meaningless, and perhaps they’re right. But people keep on asking these questions, and having these “intimations of the Divine”, and I’m one of those who’s convinced that there really is something going on.

John McCutcheon, who is a fine artist of both music and poetry, sings of an instance when, in the midst of life at it’s messiest, something happened. It just “rained down”, or “bubbled up”, or “broke in” upon the participants. What it was no one knows for sure, but I think it was God, or at very least an “intimation of the Divine”. Some say it actually happened, and that they were there when it did. Some say it never actually happened, and I suppose they were there when it didn’t. But I say, whether or not it actually happened, it happens all the time.

Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon

Next... Immanuel

GROWING A PEOPLE

The Bible has been called many things. Some, who don’t love it, have suggested it’s a fairy-tale to amuse children, a book of “thou-shalt-nots” to take all the fun out of life, or even a horror story about a tyrant God and his wicked people. I understand why they say these things, especially if they haven’t read the Bible carefully. In places the story does have a wondrous, fairy-tale-like quality about it. In others it insist on some pretty serious rules for living. And, in certain parts, the story is frankly horrifying. But, like any great story it isn’t simply one thing or another.

And some who love it have said that it’s the perfect book, literally factual in every way, with no errors of any kind; the owner’s manual for successful living; or even a great love letter from God to each person in the world. Sometimes I wonder if these people have failed to read it carefully too, for, as I’ve said, like any great story it isn’t simply one thing or another.

The Bible is a love story, but an epic one. It’s the story of a God who creates the universe for love, and who, like a father or mother, pours himself out in love for his creation, and particularly his children; his rebellious, beautiful, confused, insightful, wayward and delightful children.

Which is to say, the Bible is the story of a developing relationship between God and mankind. And, like all developing relationships, there are offences, misunderstandings, setbacks and breakthroughs. But, as with all developing situations, hindsight is 20/20. As we look back we understand better. It’s all pretty complex, but it’s growth. And the Bible is the story of God growing a people.

From the beginning God makes it very plain that his purpose is to bless everyone on earth. And throughout the story God keeps reminding us that he has a special relationship with all people. He point’s out Melchizedek, who is not a descendant of Abraham but still, somehow, one of God’s priests. (Genesis 14:18-20) He includes another non-descendant, a Moabite named Ruth, in the lineage of David, and ultimately that of Jesus. (Book of Ruth) And he spares Nineveh because he loves the people of that terrible city, particularly the children, and even the animals. And he condemns the prophet Jonah because Jonah doesn’t. (Book of Jonah) And finally, in the New Testament, when God comes into the world as Jesus, John tells us that this is actually the One who created the universe and everyone in it, and who brings light, always and everywhere, to everyone. (John 1:1-4)

I love Advent because it’s the celebration of God coming into his world, not just at Christmas in Bethlehem, but always and everywhere. After that terrible flood God’s new plan was to never withdraw from his people again. If they fled into silence, he would be a continuing Word to them. If they fled into darkness, he would come as an illuminating and beckoning light. And he would come in a particular people, the Hebrew/Jewish people, and ultimately in a particular Jew, to share their life of joy and sorrow, to share their birth and death.

This is the “Hound of Heaven” Francis Thompson speaks of in his great poem of that name.

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, ...

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbed pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat — and a Voice beat

More instant than the Feet— ...

Some would always flee from him of course, and some will never be willing to receive him. But all who would receive him, and all who will, always and everywhere, he received and receives as his very own, the Children of God. (John 1:10-14)

Next... Intimations of the Divine

USEFULNESS

One of the interesting, and sometimes troubling things about the great “heroes” of the Bible is that none of them is particularly “good”. And the Bible seems to go out of its way to make the point:

• Adam and Eve fell flat on their faces right off the top. (Genesis 3)
• Noah got drunk and cursed one of his children. (Genesis 9:24–25)
• Abraham lied to the Pharoah, allowed his wife, Sarah, to be sexually abused, and another wife, Hagar, to be mistreated by Sarah until she fled into the desert. (Genesis 12:11–17; 16:6)
• Lot offered his daughters to be raped by a mob in Sodom. (Genesis 19:6) How bad is that?
• Jacob, whose sons are the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, was a liar and a cheat. (Genesis 27)
• These sons of Jacob plotted to murder their younger brother, sold him into slavery, and told their father he’d been killed by wild beasts. (Genesis 37:19–35)
• Moses was a murderer. (Exodus 2:11-12)
• Saul, Israel’s first king, was pretty much a complete failure. (1 Samuel)
• David, the second and greatest king of Israel, committed adultery, and murdered the woman’s husband in an attempt to cover it up. (2 Samuel 11:2-12:10)
• Solomon, David’s son and Israel’s third king, turned to the worship of idols. (1 Kings 11)

And in the New Testament things are no better:

• The Apostles were dim-witted cowards who ran away when Jesus was arrested. (Mark 14:50)
• Jesus’ own siblings were very slow to believe. (John 7:5)
• Peter was impetuous and a hypocrite. (John 18:10; Galatians 2:11-13)
• And the Apostle Paul, also known as Saul, was a persecutor of the church, complicit in the murder of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. (Acts 7:59 – 8:1)

Indeed, the Bible as a whole has little regard for the “goodness” of anyone. Everyone has turned away, writes the psalmist, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Psalm 53:3) The Apostle Paul repeats this in the New Testament (Romans 3:12) and Jesus declares, "No one is good — except God alone....” (Luke 18:19)

So, if it was not the goodness of the great Bible characters that made them great, what was it? It was their usefulness. God created Adam and Eve to care for the garden. He chose Noah to save the earth, Abraham to father a great people, and Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. Saul, David and Solomon were chosen to be kings over Israel and, in the New Testament, Jesus called his disciples, not to be good, but to “...go and make disciples of all nations,...”. (Matt 28:19)

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be good. But not just because it’s good, but because it makes us useful, and being bad makes us less useful. And it’s possible to get so focused on not sinning, and on keeping the rules, that we forget that God has things for us to do. This was the problem Jesus had with the Pharisees. They were so intent on avoiding evil and being good that they stopped caring for God’s people, particularly the ones who were not even trying to be good. In other words, wanting to be good, they had ceased to be useful?

Many are scandalized when they see what kind of people God uses to do his will. They imagine that God should have nothing to do with people who are selfish, violent, dishonest, intemperate, impure, etc. But if God thought this way he’d have nothing to do with anyone.

Some people have valued goodness so highly that they’ve imagined that Jesus’ mother, Mary, was sinless, i.e., perfectly good. But, when the angel appeared to her, what he remarked on was not how good she was, but that she was “highly favoured”. (Luke 1:28) And her response was not “I’ve always tried to be a good girl” but "I am the Lord's servant..." Luke 1:38

The lesson here is that we must never be discouraged by our sinfulness. God can deal with our sin, and he will. The real question is, are we willing to be useful?

Next... GROWING A PEOPLE