Human Face of God

Jesus is Divine, or so say the early Christians in their written works, compiled in what we call the New Testament. That testimony demands a response, a yes or no and does not allow for a "sorta" answer. In current American culture it is customary to either blow Jesus off in mocking tone, or, more commonly, it seems, to minimize Him in a measured and spiritual sounding way. The first time I encountered this publicly was in the movie "O God" with George Burns. When asked, "Is Jesus your Son?" George paused and then answered "Yes." My shock (and pleasure) was short lived, as George/God proceeded to say, "And so is Buddha, and so is Mohamet, and so is etc., etc." Christian claims about Jesus are not that sort of thing. No where is it intimated that Jesus is just another case of a universal phenomenon known as "Divine Sonship" or "Child of God."

A sacramental worldview acknowledges that the world has a quality not easily discerned, especially by scientific minded materialists. As we have pointed out in the last two posts, there is SIGNificance in matter and activity. The sign value, the symbolic values, the possibility for someone or something to effectively convey a deeper (invisible, spiritual) dimension is part of every day life. I would assert that the human body is the most perfect example of an outward sign of an inward spiritual reality. The two dimensions most perfectly co-exist in a human being. This is a reason why some poetically refer to humans as part angel and part ape (and perhaps many would say such a reference is not very elegant). There is no doubt that humans are animals. We eat, sleep, reproduce, engage in countless biological functions and are under the laws of nature. However, there is an above and beyond and a more to human life. For along with surviving on the planet we also create, express, devise, love, laugh, cry, and most importantly, we pray and worship. And there is in all of us a hunger for something more and most people in most places and times have identified that "more" as gods, or more accurately as The God.

There is something about human being which is open to the divine. And this openness is the foundation of the incarnation. Without it, God could not become man. It would be impossible to human nature to encompass His divinity. The best He could do was be God and look like a man (sort of an elaborate Halloween costume). This is what God would have to do in order to "become" a dog, or cat or chair. He would have to remain God but inhabit the lower life form as an appearance. But there is a spiritual depth to humanity which makes it possible for something more amazing to occur.

The Fourth Gospel begins with what scholars believe was an early hymn which was integrated by a redactor (an editor) before the Gospel reached its final form. It's poetic sound echoes the creation account of Genesis 1 and no doubt this is intentional.

In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God....through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life....He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him the world did not know Him...... and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten.

In Hebrews 1 we read
in these last (eschatos in Greek, meaning last days as in recently, but also a reference to the end and fulfillment of all time) days He (God) has spoken to us through a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the worlds (aeons in Greek, meaning all times and all creation)... Who being the brightness of His glory and the exact impression (character in Greek which refers to an engravers tool and the carved impressions, or a stamp, or a facsimile) of His person (hypostasis in Greek it is literally stand-under and refers to the substance, i.e. sub-under, stance-stand, or identity/nature.) and upholding all things by the word of His power.

In Colossians 1, again some think this a hymn, He is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. By Him all things were created.... He is before all things and in Him all things hold together.

And last, but not least, Philipians 2, though He was in the form (morphe Greek for outward appearance, what one sees) of God, He did not think equality with God should be robbery (i.e. He was not stealing something which belonged to God alone.) Hence He can empty Himself and take on the form of a servant/slave, i.e., He became man.

As all four of these readings make clear, in the early church Jesus was deemed a pre-existing Divine person Who chose to enter human existence and take on a human life. The most important element to recall is the claim that GOD created the world THROUGH Jesus. Jesus (the word) is the creator and such a claim is not on par with other religious leaders. He is not simply another prophet or religious teacher or spiritually gifted man. He is Divine. The key is whatever happens to Jesus, a man, after His death and resurrection, BEFORE the man Jesus existed He was the pre-existing the SON with the Father/God.

How then to view the humanity of Jesus? Sacramentally, in and through, God is present (uniquely) in the man Jesus. Jesus is the human face of God. When Jesus speaks, we hear God. When Jesus reaches out, we are touched by God. When Jesus abides with us, we are with God. When Jesus calls us, we follow God. When Jesus forgives us, we are saved by God.

As the Bible is quick to point out, no one has seen God. As the Bible also tells us, Jesus reveals God. We can see Him and with faith we can discern God's presence. Jesus' flesh is the outward sign of an invisible reality. And, because ALL human flesh shares in the SAME human nature, then all flesh has the potential to be open to the same presence of Jesus/God the Son. This is vital because, and more on this tomorrow, it is the basis for ecclesiology (theology of the church).

We, you and I, are the sacrament of Jesus. We are, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "the Body of Christ." This is not just a metaphor. Because the Holy Spirit is given to us we are really and truly and physically and sacramentally the presence of Jesus in the world today. That is how He operates, in and through us. And if that is our identity, we understand why it can only be grace, because we cannot make ourselves His Body. He must do it. And that gift is also a vocation and a burden and a task.

In conlusion: Jesus is the sacrament of God. The church is the sacrament of Jesus. The church expresses itself in word, act and concrete entities (rituals, people, things, etc) which are a sacramental expression of the saving work of God-Jesus-Church ministry. And this is why official sacraments matter and why arguments about the exact number (no more, no less) are off the point and a dangerous distraction at times.