12-05-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
December 5, 2023
John’s Gospel does not have any of the fun Christmas stories. Instead, it is a more philosophical and heady approach to understanding who Jesus was and is. John begins with the words:

In the beginning was the one
    who is called the Word.
The Word was with God
    and was truly God.
From the very beginning
    the Word was with God.

Later, in chapter 1, we learn how this eternal Word, which is God, took on flesh and lived among us. I sort of prefer the manger and the shepherds, but John offers something that is both profound and absurd. It’s not like we have multiple examples of similar events that we can compare. It’s almost as if the Gospel writer wanted to set the absurdity bar high, as the life of Jesus, his death, and his resurrection would continue to have people scratching their heads and wondering what kind of nonsense this is. Yet it appears as if God is suggesting that the world is going in the wrong direction, and for the world to turn away from what it knows and move in an entirely new direction, it is going to feel absurd… until it doesn’t. That’s the movement of faith.

Your story, O God of Creation, is unsettling to a world that is rather comfortable with things as they are. May the Jesus story unsettle us wherever our comfort is dismissive of your dream for us. Amen.