Today’s second reading, from the letter to the Hebrews, gives us a clear picture of the nature of the word of God. For God’s word is not just sounds with meaning, as is the language we use. When God speaks, things happen; the power of his words carry out what they promise.
This is one of the first lessons of Genesis: “God said, ‘Let there be light!’ and there was light.” God creates through his all-powerful word. This is explained in some detail in Isaiah 55: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that for which I sent it.” In Hebrews, it becomes “sharper than a two-edged sword.” In other words, it becomes a word of judgement, by which truth and falsehood are separated and falsehood condemned.
Finally, “the Word became flesh, lived among us.” God’s word becomes a person, so that, in the words of Jesus to Philip, “he who has seen me has seen the Father.” Words communicate knowledge, and the Word of God which he reveals to us in Jesus is the fullness of his revelation to us. Beyond Jesus, God has nothing more to say to us, because in Jesus, he has said it all. The deeper our relationship with Jesus, the closer we will be to the Father and the more intimately we will know him.
Jesus, too is a the Word of Judgement. John tells us, in chapter 3 of his Gospel, that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
This, in turn, tells us something about our response in faith to Jesus Christ. Faith leads to a judgement of salvation; unbelief to a judgement of damnation. Peter confirms this in his sermon on the first Pentecost Sunday, which is also the very first Christian sermon (Acts 2): “There is no other name in heaven or on earth by which we can be saved.” Pope Benedict XVI expressed this very powerfully in his instruction Dominus Iesus (The Lord Jesus). So important is salvation in Jesus Christ, he teaches, that even if someone who has never heard of Jesus Christ dies and gets to heaven, it is not because he is good or virtuous, but because the Lord Jesus died to take away his sins.
We are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. By this, the Word of God, Jesus, purifies us of all our sins and makes us fit to live with God forever. May we learn to know him more closely every day that in seeing him, we might see the Father, and live for all eternity with him.
Fr Phillip.
