Text: “The Word became a
human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us” John 1.14 (GNB)
The Red
Moss. The Red Moss is a stretch of heathland up beyond Balerno,
near
Thriepmuir. On a summer’s day, with the larks singing, the view across the Red
Moss over the birk and hazel trees, and the miles of muirland stretching away
towards Westruther Law far to the west, is just wonderful. This is the kind of
landscape that has inspired, writers, poets and
musicians.
But the Red Moss itself is of
great interest, because of the deep levels that are under the heather and ling.
The heather, the ling, the mosses, the birk trees, and the green edged pools
are all raised up about five or six metres above the surrounding landscape. The
Red Moss, you see, was once a loch, with birch and hazel trees growing at its
edge. As the ages went by, new levels were added to the bed of the loch from
the plants surrounding it, the trees grew further
forward until the present, where now you walk on raised ground.
So, underlying the whole area
of the Red Moss today,
there is a deep level, that can be traced everywhere in the
moss, five metres down – the bed of the
loch is still there…
Deep levels.
The Bible has deep levels – levels that underlie the whole Scripture, running right through, traced right through. So that words, events, themes, connections are picked up through the Bible, repeated, re-applied, returned to. Deeper still, promises are found to be fulfilled , prophecies are found to be the key to present events, the things of old are found to be renewed, on page after page of the Bible.
On a deeper level yet, this is
the work of the Spirit – the Spirit, says Peter, moved the prophets, lifted
their gaze, drew their vision to see Christ coming !
We might return to the deeper
level of the work of the Spirit on another occasion.
But let us return to these deep
levels in the Bible – underlying the whole Scripture, running right through,
traced right through.
The passage we read this
morning from the gospel of John,
is
not an easy passage to understand.
It is a difficult passage…about
something or someone called The Word.
John’s Gospel tells us that
in
the beginning the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
and
that the Word appeared on earth….
The Word became a human being and made his
dwelling among us.
Now John is speaking about
Jesus…. but
a
Word is something spoken isn’t it ? So how can John say ‘He was with God in the
beginning ?
How can a Word, the Word
become a human being ?
So to sum up - Why would John
call Jesus the Word ?
Well, there are deeper levels
underlying the first chapter of John,
and
to answer the question: Why would John call Jesus the Word ?
it is
of great help to trace what the whole Bible has to say about The Word
at
the deeper level.
Already in the opening verses
of the Bible, in Genesis 1, we read about The Word of God,
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness
was over
the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering
over the waters.
3. And God said (there is the Word !) "Let there be light," and there
was light !
So, at the beginning of the
Bible, there is the first thing we learn. God speaks, and things happen. Things
spring into being. God says let there be light, and there is light. God’s Word is creative. The Word of the living
God creates, out of nothing. If He
speaks, things happen. If He calls, worlds spring into being.
At this
point, the Hebrew scholars are of great help. In Hebrew the term used for a
Word, is, dabar. The original meaning of dabar was
‘background’ or ‘what is behind’. When the Hebrews of old used dabar, they were
speaking of an inner thing, a word, that becomes an
outer reality.
When God speaks His Word, what
is in His mind, what is in His loving purpose, springs into being, abundant, rich,
alive. That’s what the very first verses of the Bible show us: God spoke let
there be light and there is light, God speaks and there is life, the sun, moon
and stars, the green leaf, the flash of the darting kingfisher, the splash of
the diving whale. The figure, the form, the features, the
face of a man and of a woman. God has called all these from nothing into
life. By His Word. When God speaks there is creation
for God’s Word is creative.
If we turn to Isaiah 55,
following, tracing this deep level, we discover there, that the prophet also
speaks of the creative power of God’s Word:
The Lord says, declares
Isaiah, that
10 As the rain and the snow come down from
heaven, and do
not return to it without watering the earth and making it
bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and
bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It
will not
return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it
Here in the prophet Isaiah is a profound proclamation of the Word of the Lord and its power. The Word is life giving. Just as the rain comes down, upon the earth, the earth buds, flourishes, there is seed for the sower, and bread for those who are hungry. So, says the prophet, the Word of God comes to us like the rain upon on the warm earth, and we flourish.
We listen, we hear, we read,
we take into ourselves the Word that the Lord speaks, and His Word, shapes new
life within us, brings blossom out of our dryness, a harvest from our
emptiness,
13
Instead of the
thornbush will grow the pine tree,says Isaiah, and instead of briers the
myrtle will grow.
instead
of the bent, cramped thornbush, or the unyielding brier, of life,
the
strength, the rootedness of the pine
tree, the sweetness of the myrtle in blossom through the creative power of the
Word of the Lord in us.
On the deeper level, perhaps the most
stunning of all, however, is the word of the prophet Ezekiel. For in Ezekiel we
find the word of the prophet Isaiah, carried to a new range, with new power.
Not only is the Word of the Lord nourishment, refreshment for the weary. Even
in death, itself, and all its finalities, the Word of God, declares Ezekiel, God’s
creative Word, has power.
Says Ezekiel…….
1. The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he
brought me out
by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a
valley; it was full of bones.
4 The Lord
said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to
them, `Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
5
This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: I
will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.
6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh
come upon
you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and
you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the
LORD.'"
Here, in the most powerful
terms, is the creative power of the Word of the Lord, calling men and women to
life out of nothingness, to life out of death.
The Word of the Lord is life,
brings life in itself………….
overcoming
all the absolutes, the finalities of death.
So now we can begin to
understand why John
calls
Christ is the Word………….
Jesus Christ is called the Word
because He is the One,
who comes from the inner presence of God,
and becomes a reality, a real human being in the world.
He is the Father’s True Word……….
springing from the loving heart of God himself
He who has seen me, has seen
the Father, says Jesus.
When we look at Jesus, we see God’s love,
we see God’s purpose,
we see the mind of God
expressed in Him.
And Jesus is called the Word in John’s gospel
because He, as the prophets declare,
He brings life, in what He says and does
Jesus brings life in what He
says.
The gospels tells us that the people, crowded round and heard Him
gladly,
because, as Peter said, He had the words of life.
Jesus comes down to our level and speaks in words we can understand -
simple words - and through these He gives us life
And in hearing the life giving message of
Jesus Christ: faith springs into being in us, deepens, and strengthens as we
listen.
And Jesus is called the Word in John’s gospel
because He, as the prophets declare,
He
brings life, in what He does
Matthew’s gospel tells how, in a crowd of well over five
thousand, by the sea of Galilee, Jesus
took bread that had been given to Him, gave thanks and blessed it, that bread,
with a Word. And that bread was enough to feed those
thousands gathered there. Here, in Jesus, is the creative power of the Word of
God at work, calling bread into abundance for the hungry, feeding, and
nourishing the crowd, filling their emptiness. And in such abundance, we read, that
there were twelve baskets full of bread left over.
And on a deeper level still:
Jesus Christ is called the Word in John’s gospel
because, as the prophet Ezekiel had declared,
He is the One who gives life, beyond
death………
In John’s Gospel, chapter 11,
we see that life giving power in the Word, Jesus Himself. When Jesus, went to
the grave, the tomb of His friend Lazarus and called in a loud voice ‘Lazarus
come out’…… and we are told, Lazarus came out……
Now, Lazarus could not hear the call of Christ, and this was not because
he was deaf, but because he was dead. But the life giving Word of Jesus Christ,
who is Himself the Word, crosses boundaries beyond our comprehension, pierces
through the veil between life and death itself,
and calls Lazarus into life.
And in His death on a Cross, the life giving
Word, Jesus Christ, has Himself crossed boundaries beyond our comprehension, has
pierced through the veil between life and death itself. For
our sake.
So, in Jesus Christ is the same
power seen in the living God, declared to us in the opening verses of Genesis and
all through the Bible.
And because of His Cross and Resurrection, on that day to come, we who have heard His Word, and know the life He gives, will hear Him call, and rise to life everlasting.
AMEN.