Readings: Colossians 1:15-20; John 1:1-14, Proverbs 8:1,22-31
I have here a dictionary, a recipe book, a postcard and a Bible. What do these all have in common? They are all full of words. In fact our whole lives are full of words. We come across words in different forms all the time. We are going to look at how words are used in four particular ways to see if they can help us understand about Jesus being the Word of God.
Words help us understand
Let’s start with the dictionary. What is this type of book for? It is full of definitions of words to help us learn about and understand our language and, through it, the world around us. Look up any word and you get a very succinct definition which probably doesn’t tell you everything about the word.
However helpful these books are, they can still be difficult for us. How much better it is to have a real person to explain something to us. A real person can let us into subtleties of meaning, emotional content and the like which the book can’t do, and we can ask clarifying questions. Having a real person can help us to understand much better.
Words and actions show us what to do
Now take the recipe book. Has anyone tried to use one of these and had a disaster in the kitchen? Yes, it’s wonderful to be creative, but recipes are not always easy to follow. You have to know the terms used and these days I often come across recipes which include ingredients I’ve never heard of.
How much better it is when someone actually shows us what to do. I guess that’s the reason why television cooking shows are so popular.
Words communicate that we are loved
What’s in a letter? A hand-written letter or postcard is something special. Who has received such a one recently? Isn’t it great to know that we are loved and remembered?
Letters are great but it is even more precious to be able to talk to our loved ones. Real people are more than just words on paper. A telephone or Skype call communicates so much more.
The Bible and Jesus himself are God’s Word
The dictionary is a book of facts. The recipe book is a book about creating things. The postcard contains words of love. The Bible is all of these things: a book of facts about God and how he deals with people, a book telling us that he is the Creator, and above all, a book with a message of love. But the Bible is not just a collection of long and short words. Like every book there is a person behind it. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the one who gives us understanding [like the dictionary]; he is the one who spoke and the world was created [like the recipe book]; he is the one who showed how much God loves us by dying on the cross for us and rising again [like the letter].
John began his gospel by copying the beginning of the Bible – Genesis 1. He wanted to confirm not only that the Word was there at the very outset of creation but actually was God. We might speak of them separately but they are the same. The Word was both light and life – both identified in John’s Gospel with Jesus (8:12; 14:6). Though God’s Word was in the world, even his own people did not recognise or embrace him (1:10-13). The astonishing turning point of this passage comes in verse 14 with the announcement that this Word of God has become flesh and shared human life with ordinary beings, Jesus has brought grace upon grace (v 16). Indeed he is ‘full of grace and truth’ (vs 14,17). While God cannot be seen, his Son has made him known (v 18). Jesus ‘spoke’ to us of God.
Colossians 1:15-20 echoes many of these insights. Christ is God’s very image and was present at the very moment of creation (vs 15,16). All creation was intended for his pleasure and he holds all things together as he sustains the creation (v 17). So the Lord of all creation is now discovered to be the Lord of the new creation in the church (vs 18-20). He is the church’s founder, being the first to be raised from the dead. Paul’s hymn to Christ reaches its climax with the acclamation that all God’s fullness dwells in him and that he has reconciled all things to God through the cross.
So what does it mean that Jesus is the Word of God? Like a dictionary, the Bible gives a definition of God. But, God is too big to be defined in words, so Jesus extends the definition. However, this definition is also incomplete, not because of any inadequacy in Jesus, but because of our inadequacy in comprehending. Still having Jesus with us means we can get a long way in our understanding, much further than without him.
Like a recipe book, the Bible demonstrates God through what he says and does. Like a cooking show, Jesus demonstrates God and we see so much more readily into his character, his attitudes, his motivation, his purpose, his activities, his methods and where we connect into all of this.
Like a letter, the Bible tells us we are loved and Jesus shows us this as he lives his life in us.
We have the written word and we have the living Word. None of us can fully understand what it means for Jesus to be the Word of God, but just as we learn new words all through our lives, so Jesus, God’s Word, can help us to learn more and more about him.
It is my prayer that everyone would have more understanding of God’s living Word, Jesus Christ. More than that, I pray that everyone would meet with Jesus, the Word of God. A passage in Proverbs, all about Wisdom, is also thought to be about Jesus, and this is what Wisdom says: ‘Whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord.’ (Proverbs 8:35 NIV.) So I pray that everyone will find Jesus, God’s Word, and will continue to walk with him.