The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
This is how the first book of the Bible, Genesis, begins. What follows that
is the story of creation, of how God made the heavens and the earth, and
everything in them, including human beings.
But that was not the beginning of God; God always was, and always will be.
God has no beginning and no end.
For this reason, our Jewish friends, in their translation of the Bible, use a
different phrasing of the first few words of Scripture. The Hebrew words are the
same as those in our Bible, but they translate it differently. Their translation
begins, When God began to create the heavens and the earth.....
The point, of course, is to make sure that everyone who reads their
translation understands that we are not talking about the
beginnings of God, only about the beginnings of his work that we know about.
Today's Gospel reading, from the first chapter of John's Gospel, starts:
In the beginning was the Word (or Logos), and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
John is trying to make the same point that the translators of the Jewish
Bible are trying to make: the Gospel is not about the beginning of
Jesus, because Jesus is God and like God, has no beginning and no end. The
Gospel talks only about his life on earth in the form of a man, not about his
actual beginning. We cannot know when Jesus, whom John calls Logos
or the Word, began, because God cannot be divided. God always was,
Jesus always was, the Holy Spirit always was. God always will be, Jesus always
will be, and the Holy Spirit always will be.
Some people say that Jesus' beginning must have been at his birth in
Bethlehem, because that's the first we read about him in the Bible. But, you
know, that's not true. Jesus' birth at Bethlehem was the first we know about
Jesus, who is actually God, coming to us in the form of a man, not just for a
brief visit, but to live among us and to give us an example of how to live God's
way. And he really did know how, since he himself is God. But the Old Testament
is full of references to both Jesus, God the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. The
trouble is that we get so interested in the adventure stories in the Old
Testament that we do not pay much attention to the details about how God made
himself known to the people in those times and places.
If you read the first few verses of Genesis, you will read that ...the
Spirit of God moved over the waters. That's the Holy Spirit, the Spirit
of God.
If you read the story of the Jewish people's escape from Egypt, you will read
that the Spirit of God led them, in the shape of a pillar of cloud by day
and a pillar of fire by night. There, again, is the Holy Spirit.
If you read the story af Abraham in your Bible, you will find that three
"strangers" came to his tent, and after eating with him, told him that his wife
would have a son about a year in the future. The interesting thing is that, if
you read carefully, you will find that the three strangers are actually God
...Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Somewhere in the middle of the story, the
Scripture stops saying that "one of the strangers said...." and begins saying,
"God said."
There are many other examples all through the Old Testament. It's interesting
to ready your Bible and try to be alert and find out where God the Son and God
the Holy Spirit are acting, because usually the Bible just says "God" or "the
Lord" without saying which person of the Trinity they are talking about.
John uses the Greek word Logos to speak of God the Son. That
word Logos has several meanings. It can mean a word, such as we
use to speak or write with. It can also mean a model (what the philosophers call
a "type" used by God to give the mold or to be an example for creating a person
or a thing. So John uses Logos to refer to God the Son. First, in
Genesis, all creation is done by God speaking words: Let there be light,
for example. And John tells us that without Logos, the Word, nothing was made
that was made. That makes sense. Then, John shows us in the rest of his Gospel
that Jesus is the model or example for us of how to live in God's ways. It seems
that Jesus may have also been the model for God making human people, in Genesis,
although that is not quite so clear.
And so: In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth.
And, in the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Without him, nothing was made that was ever made.
John also tells us that the Logos, or the Word, makes
everything clear as light. Jesus teaches us about God the Father, and if we pay
attention to his teachings, things become clear and we get an understanding of
God's plans and how we fit into them. In fact, Jesus says at one point, that he
himself is the truth...and that the truth will make us free to receive the
redemption promised by Isaiah. But, sorrowfully, John reminds us that some
people turn away from the Light that is Christ. They will not accept it, perhaps
because his teachings are not what they want to hear, or because Jesus says that
those people's pet beliefs are wrong and they need to change their beliefs and
life style. Those people, John tells us, prefer the darkness before Creation,
the darkness before God began to make everything according to his own ideas.
They want their own ideas and their own beliefs or guesses, not the truths that
Jesus taught. And so they do not accept him or his teachings, even though he is
God the Son.
John packs so much into these few verses that we could spend weeks discussing
the fullness of his meanings. That is why, for many centuries, the Church
encouraged clergy to read this portion of John's Gospel after the final blessing
at the Eucharist...so that, once we have received Jesus' Body and Blood in Holy
Communion, we can go on our way thinking about the meaning of what we have heard
and seen and done in church that morning, and let it shape and influence our
life all day long, until our next Holy Communion. It would be a good habit to
begin, for the New Year, and after, to read the first 14 verses of John's Gospel
after you have received Holy Communion. It can make a great difference in your
life.
Amen.
