Word Power

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” (Luke 2:34-35)

As I was reading this passage from Luke this morning, in which Simeon tells Mary about the amazing future of the baby Jesus, I remembered another passage from Hebrews about the power of God’s word:

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

As I pondered these passages, I realized that it’s no wonder, considering what Simeon and Hebrews say, that the people of Galilee hearing the Sermon on the Mount[1] were saying this:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. (Matthew 7:28-29 et al)

That “real authority” was the word of God in the flesh speaking to them.  Every word Jesus spoke was God speaking, so of course it would go straight to the hearts of all those who listened like a sword . . . or a laser, to use a more modern analogy.  And some who heard wouldn’t like to have what was in their hearts exposed, and others would be encouraged and comforted to have these words touch their hearts, maybe because some would hear grace, and some would hear truth.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

The grace would bring joy, but the truth would be difficult. 

It’s amazing to me how the same words can be so different depending on how we hear them.  This is one of the reasons I love having the opportunity to talk about the Bible with people.  We all hear and see God’s word a little differently, depending on what’s in our hearts and minds at the time.  That timeliness is another reason why the words of the Bible are so alive and powerful and timeless.  This is the mysterious and wonderful work of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Maybe I am fascinated by this idea of the piercing potential of Jesus’ words because I am a reader and a writer, one who seeks to find and share the power of words.  Even though I read and write prose, I love how words can point to a beauty that transcends the words themselves like poetry, just like how individual notes of music put together create something that transcends the notes themselves.  This I think is in essence what it means to be spiritual--being open to the experience of this transcendence, and appreciating its beauty.  If this happens with words and notes of human making, how much more powerful it must be when this happens with words of divine origin.  Surely this is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer was thinking about when he said that the “proclaimed word is not a medium of expression about something else, something which lies behind it, but rather it is the Christ himself walking through his congregation as the Word.”[2] 

Maybe this is what Cornelia Funke was thinking about when she wrote Inkheart,[3] a story in which some people have the power to truly bring words to life.  When the people in the book with this gift read a story aloud, the characters in the story come out of the story and are stuck in the real world until another reading puts them back.  You can imagine the complications that result.   I wonder if any of us have read Jesus to life out of the Bible and then wished we could quickly put him back rather than deal with his grace and truth.  But oh how he lives on and on as those words echo through our hearts and minds and lives.

May you hear and see Jesus as you hear and read his words today and every day, and know the power of his word to bless and comfort and heal and reveal, and find in them grace and peace.

 

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[1] Have you ever wondered about the location and the acoustics that day?  Me, too.  Here’s what I found: http://www.israeljerusalem.com/sermon-on-the-mount-location.htm

[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Worldly Preaching,, ed. Clyde E. Fant (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1975), 129.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkheart

Define Impossible

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21

This is such a huge promise, but also one that we’re afraid to trust. Why? Is it that logic overpowers us? Are we afraid of being disappointed if we trust this? But we believe in God’s power to create the world from nothing, and to heal the sick and to raise the dead, right? Maybe the problem is that we do believe and are afraid that God will answer with more than we can ask or imagine, and we don’t want to have to face that?

This verse comes at the end of Paul’s prayer that we would grasp the immensity of God’s love which surpasses knowledge. That certainly sounds like an impossible request. And yet I think we do get the chance to have moments in which we “see” God in a way that speaks this understanding into our hearts, and in a way that goes beyond the capacity of our minds to fully comprehend or explain. Maybe this is what Mary was experiencing when she “pondered” things in her heart. I think this is what happens at the moment of conversion for those who become Christians as adults, and for those who find God in a new and deeper way in the midst of a crisis. How someone gets to this moment is less important than just that they do get to this point.

Immediately following this verse, Paul begins his teaching about unity in the Church. That certainly seems like the impossible dream right now. Looking back through the Church’s history, I think it has always been a struggle, though. And yet this is what Jesus himself prayed for us (John 17).

He is able. I think we need to hold on to our hope and keep on praying—for deeper understanding of the immensity of his love, for answers in the midst of seemingly impossible situations, and for the unity of the body of Christ.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Holy Spirit Eyes

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—1 Corinthians 2:9

Christmas is always such a feast for the senses. Lights and decorations fill our sight, along with TV specials and movies. Christmas carols, bells, and the sounds of hustle and bustle fill our ears. We indulge ourselves in the taste of food and drink that would be too rich for us any other time of year. And yet the better experience of Christmas is in the less tangible love shared with family and friends. We are so easily caught up in the physical, material aspects of life, especially at Christmas, but during the holidays we also seem to have a greater capacity for experiencing the intangible and the supernatural. We expect a sort of magic at Christmas, and it does seem as we’re out encountering the world running from store to store that we let down the walls that usually separate us. We connect with strangers over the shared experience of preparing for Christmas. At our house, Christmas movies are an important part of our tradition, and these will include sappy feel-good movies that we wouldn’t dream of watching most other times of the year. After the holidays are over, those heartwarming Christmas stories lose their appeal and we’re back to our usual action and adventure fare.

I think that’s what we really like so much about Christmas. Unlike any other time of the year, it’s ok to believe the unbelievable, and to talk about extraordinary things like how Santa comes. We hardly believe that peace on earth is possible most of the rest of the year, but at Christmas it seems so much more like a reasonable expectation.

Maybe we’re missing an opportunity here—or maybe we’re not, depending on how you celebrate Christmas. Wouldn’t this be the best time of year to connect with people who wouldn’t even give you the time of day the rest of the year? And to renew relationships that have gotten stale? We don’t talk to our neighbors all that much normally, this is the season when we notice them more.

In my devotional reading this morning, Isaiah asks, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?” (Isaiah 40:21, 28) He focuses entirely on what we learn from hearing—no mention of seeing. Seeing requires a physical presence on which to rest our eyes, but hearing is less tangible. Hearing requires words—telling. We call people who tell about something “eye witnesses” because we assume they have seen something, but Isaiah is taking about something that cannot be seen. Still, the truth can be told and heard—“The Lord is an everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28). We can see God’s creation all around us, but knowing that he is the one who made it involves words. Telling. Hearing.

Sure, we doubt. The shepherds had to go see for themselves that what the angel had told them was true. Thomas wanted to feel Jesus wounds before he would believe that Jesus had really risen from the dead. And I think God knows we have this need, and he gives us signs. In our modern cynicism we so often fail to notice them. More importantly, we aren’t looking for them. But God says that if we seek him with all our hearts we will find him (Deut. 4:29; Prov. 8:17; Jer. 29:13; Matt. 7:7). We have to be willing to believe what seems unbelievable. Not like we believe that Santa can get to every child in the world in one night. This is a deeper belief, one that our own hearts will confirm if we’re willing to listen. And one that we’ll be able to see more and more as long as we allow ourselves to see with Holy Spirit eyes. What is God showing you through the Holy Spirit today?