So I'm struggling to find a quiet spot - my house is full of folks for Christmas, I'm not slowing down often enough or long enough...the external activity isn't any worse than my own internal activity. Part of slowing down is my own choice to work against the momentum of how fast I'm moving.
So. Now I am choosing to be slow.
As I said in my last post, I'm meditating on 1st John. Jesus is described as the Word of Life.
So, borrowing from a bunch of stuff that I've read, here are my thoughts about the Jesus as the Word of God.
There's a whole study of Jesus as the Logos, which goes back and looks at the pagan and jewish philosophers to understand John's reference to Jesus as the word. That's all good stuff, and worth knowing, but I don't believe that we are required to know the history of the use of that Greek idea to get what the Spirit is saying through John. The brain he equipped us with is sufficient, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, to understand what the Bible means here.
So what's a word? Essentially, it's a group of sounds that represent something - an physical object or a mental idea. The group of sounds has meaning to the hearer. When spoken and heard, it produces in the mind the image or impression of the thing it represents.
I say shoe, and you know what I mean. I say fist, and you know what I mean. Physical objects with clear meanings. I say love, and even though we've shifted to the realm of ideas, you have a concept in your mind.
Words have meaning because of the shared language between the speaker and the hearer. If you want to be understood, you use a word. It's the clearest way to communicate. A pretty nifty invention, it is.
You'll note that we're talking about speaking words - speaking comes before writing. You can write a word, but the only reason for alphabets, pencils and paper is to catch what's already flying around in the air. Words are primarily spoken and heard, not read and written.
So John's testimony about Jesus is tied up in the concept of words. Why does John choose to call him that? Was John a student of Philo, who philosophized about the concept of the Logos? John was a fisherman, last time I checked...but he might have gotten literary sometime in there, and stolen Philo's word.
I think that John chose 'Word' as a title for Jesus because he wanted to say a very specific thing about who Jesus is. He didn't choose to say bread - in the beginning was the bread, and the bread was with God, and the bread was God...although bread is an appropriate label for Jesus. Lamb, Priest, King, Bridegroom, Vine, Teacher - John could have been inspired to use any of those as the label of primary importance for Jesus. But the Holy Spirit chose 'Word'. Why?
I think the answer is in Hebrews chapter 1.
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
There are HUGE parallels between John 1 and Hebrews chapters 1 and 2. In each passage, Jesus is presented as the word, the creator, God incarnate, the Savior...well worth pondering. But we're talking about the Word.
If a word is something you say which is designed to represent a thing or idea, then Jesus is the thing God is saying to us to reveal Himself. When the right time arrived, God declared Himself to us - and the thing he used to communicate and represent himself exactly, perfectly is his Son Jesus. He has spoken to us, and his word is Jesus.
That word He spoke to us contains all that we ever might need to hear from God. It exactly represents who He is, what He wants from us, what He offers us, and what His intentions are.
I am in a constant state of asking God 'what are you saying?'. I want to hear Him, and I want to respond appropriately to His word. In one sense, that's good. But there's another sense where the Lord doesn't need to say anything to me at any given moment. If Jesus is the word of God to me - the thing that He has spoken to me - then I should just stop and hear Him.
If I am afraid, what he says to me is 'Jesus'. If I am joyful, what he says to me is 'Jesus'. In pain, He says 'Jesus'. In every experience, I am to be still and know He is God. I'm looking for that new place of resting - receiving what God has spoken to me by his Son, letting the word of Christ dwell in me richly, Christ in me, the hope of Glory.
I ponder that stuff, and then I can be quiet inside.
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