Last week I alluded to the long (300 year) discussion of just how mortal beings would describe, think of, and worship Jesus Messiah. After all, we have no means of describing God in the language of mortal humankind. As we began the New Year, I continued my reflection on Jesus Messiah.
Jesus made discerning his nature quite difficult, actually. The two synoptic evangelists, Matthew and Luke, agreed on the miraculous birth, but the disciple John in his gospel alerts us to Jesus’ divinity as his own conclusion and as witness to Jesus’ teaching. He begins his gospel in poetic reflection, laying down the theme. In the beginning, Genesis 1, was the Word (bear with me) of God who created our world. God said “let us make humankind” Gen. 1:26. For John, “He was in the beginning with God.” Jn. 1:2. John witnesses Jesus saying in argument with Jewish leaders, “‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.'”. Jn. 8:58. And further, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me…..This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life…” Jn. 6:39-40.
So, for John the apostle, the matter was pretty simple, if not utterly mysterious. “…the Word became flesh and lived among us…” Jn 1:14. If we read John’s gospel carefully (try Chapter 6 for starters), we find his realization in reflection that God in Jesus was Spirit, and Jesus’ teaching is that God makes the Spirit available to all humankind if we each will learn to know and accept it in our human existence. He taught that we can do so by listening to his teaching and accepting this learning in our hearts. In so doing the kingdom of God is present in us.
Okay. This is a lot of stuff for me to try to absorb, let alone convey. But as we start a New Year, perhaps we might think on the Kingdom of God as here and now with us if we will listen and learn. And it has been there since Adam, for God wills it. Only we seem yet to not get it.