BEING ONE OF A KIND - A REFLECTION

 

This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on December 27, 2020 

John 1:1-18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

REFLECTION

+ In the Name of the Word made flesh. +

The Gospel of John presents us with a theological narrative that utilizes various stories found within the Synoptic Gospels and some found only in John.  The Gospel of John begins with the incarnation of God the Son in the person of Jesus of Nazareth and ends with resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only Son of God.  As the narrative in which Incarnation story is explained, we consider two lines from this morning’s lesson, the familiar “And the Word became flesh and lived among us” and “It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.”

In last Sunday’s reflection, we read Luke’s account of the annunciation of Jesus’s birth in the light of Mary’s Aaronic lineage as Gabriel described Mary’s  pregnancy in terms of her serving as a tabernacle to house the presence of God in her soon to be born son, Jesus.  The Greek word used in John to described the incarnate Word as having “lived” or “dwelt” among us is a translation of  ἐσκήνωσεν (pronounced es-kay-no-sen).  This Greek word literally means to dwell in a tent and has been interpreted by some as “tabernacled.” In John’s interpretation of the Incarnation as the Word made flesh living among us, we see the connection between Jesus being born as the living Tabernacle who embodied the covenantal (promised) presence of God and Mary who served as the temporary Tabernacle who bore God’s presence in the baby taking shape in her womb. 

The point of both Mary and Jesus being described as a tabernacle (a tent) is that a tent is movable. It brings to mind the Exodus. While the Israelites moved about the wilderness, the Tabernacle, where the presence of God dwelled, went them also.  It was a visible sign and symbol of God being present with them during their journey to the Promised Land.  As such, Jesus is the sign and symbol of God’s indwelling presence not only amongst us but also tabernacled within us to demonstrate that God goes where we go. 

The Gospel of John is not a stand-alone Gospel.  It depends on its readers having knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth’s story found in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in order to make sense of its theological portrayal of Jesus.  The Gospel of John is what I would describe as an in-house Gospel; in that, it was written with those who are followers of Jesus and those who desire to deepen their understanding of Jesus in mind. 

One of the ways the Gospel of John deepens our understanding of Jesus is to speak of him in terms of being God the “only” Son.  You might recall the closing sentence of my Christmas reflection, “So let us… adore one of our kind who is one of a kind, Emmanuel, God with us.”  Jesus being one of kind is the literal translation of the Greek word used in John’s original gospel text,  μονογενὴς (pronounced mon-og-en-ace).

This word is often interpreted as “only” or as “only begotten;” as God the only Son in the last sentence of today’s lesson.  Mονογενὴς is only used in the scriptures attributed to John when referring to Jesus as the Son of God.  Its use can be misunderstood as meaning Jesus is the only child of God.  That is not how this term is used in John.  John is clear in today’s lesson that we too have “power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God” The use of God the only Son has a history.

“God the only Son” was intentionally designed to defy the notion of anyone other than Jesus of Nazareth laying claim to that title.  This was particularly important at the time the Gospel of John was being written, since each Roman emperor was worshiped as a “Son of God” (in a pagan sense); that is, bearing the divine genius (a divine essence or presence) in their being an emperor.  

Jesus is one of a kind; in that, being one of our kind he came into our history to be for us the Tabernacle of God’s presence and to reveal and reintroduce us to God as our Father.   The Gospel of John offers us a cosmological perspective of Jesus Christ as not only God with us but also God in us, and we in God.  [See John 15]

With what we know today about the universe, the one of a kind-ness presented in Jesus is also reflective of who we are.  We know that within the universe there are uncountable galaxies with innumerable solar systems and lanets.  While the possibility exists, to date, not a single planet has been discovered that supports life as we know it. 

That this creative Word, which brought everything into being, chose to create us on this lovely speck of cosmic dust we call home gives one a sense that we and everything sharing life with us on this speck are μονογενὴς, a one of kind creation.  That God loved us so much to intimately engage with what has to be an almost undetectable microscopic speck in the vast array of creation in order to prove to us that we are uniquely and deeply loved is extremely humbling.  On this Sunday, let us continue to peer into the manger at Bethlehem to cherish and ponder the deep and immense love of God wrapped in one of our own peering back at us.

Amen

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Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm