Reading John 1:14
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
If a picture is worth a thousand words what do you have when the perfect Word ("the Word was God," John 1:1) becomes the perfect picture ("the exact representation of his being," Heb. 1:3)? Where do we even begin with the interpretation when Word and Picture of the eternal God is perfectly fused with temporal humanity ("became flesh")? John uses images of life and light and glory to try to convey some of the impact of this unprecedented event. Jesus is the closest we can ever come to understanding the One whose "thoughts are not our thoughts" and whose "ways are not our ways" (Isaiah 55). Jesus is the closest we will ever come to seeing the one who lives in "unapproachable glory." Looking at Jesus and seeing God is like looking at the night sky and seeing the heavens. We can see enough to feel completely overwhelmed but realize that we are only seeing the outer fringes of his being. Jesus does not fully remove the mystery of God, does not make God familiar. On any consideration the incarnation of God presents us with something not fully understandable. The incarnation is problematic, like Moses' bush that burned with fire but was not consummed. How can the eternal be dressed up in temporal clothes without losing its essential character as eternal? How can "the glory of the One and only" be transformed into one human being among a population of billions of human beings and not lose his essential character as blindingly glorious?
All attempts at explanation are less than satisfying and have the effect of diminishing the wonder of the event. All that we can say is that he "made his dwelling among us" and "we have seen...". To go further than this would be like trying to explain the science behind the burning bush.
Can we live with wonder or are we doomed to reject what we can't understand, even though he has "lived among us" and "we have seen..."?
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2 comments:
"Looking at Jesus and seeing God is like looking at . . . something not fully understandable." Wow! Can I quote ya? =:0)=
Yes, it is something of a truism but keep in mind that I am first and foremost talking to myself here and so I need to keep it simple. What I'm saying here is that the obvious is not always obvious until we really look at it. Sometimes we think that because we have Jesus and the Bible we have God pretty much figured out. On a closer look at Jesus and the Bible we may find that we have less to say about God than we think. This can be a gateway to wonder, to fear of God, and to taking our systematic theologies with a grain of salt. Wonder is a fragile experience - it dispels easily. Again, I'm serious when I say I'm talking to myself here. I am shocked at what a drive I have to take the mystery out of everything.
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