What is the word of God?
This is a very good question to ponder on this Bible Sunday and a very good question to ask one’s self.
In the reading from Isaiah we are told that the Word of God is, as God says:
“… everything that goes out from my mouth” Isaiah 55:11a
Which is further explained by Isaiah as everything we might need to live a happy and healthy life, from what we eat and what we might or might not spend our money on. Which, says to me, that the Word of God is more than just ‘words’.
Paul in his letter to Timothy suggests that the ‘Word of God’ are the sacred writings and sound doctrines of the Early Christian community. Those teachings that have been handed down by those who first followed Jesus, building upon the teachings of those who also went before Jesus but pointed the way to him. Paul does, however, warn Timothy, to be wary of those with ‘itching ears’. A wonderful phrase that he uses to explain that not everyone will believe or follow the same doctrines and that many will choose the one they like the best, rather than the one which is true or closet to Jesus’s teaching.
John, the writer of the fourth Gospel, tells us that the ‘Word of God’ is not Scripture but the living embodiment of those Scriptures - Jesus Christ. When reading John’s writings one, does, I believe need to keep the opening verses of his Gospel in one’s mind:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God … 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-1 & 14
John’s testimony as recorded in his writings are vitally important for us Christians to remember.
Why? To remind us that we are not‘The People of the Book’ we are in fact ‘The People, the followers, of the Word made flesh’. It is not words in a book that we follow first and foremost it is the example of the living Word, Jesus Christ that we follow and listen to. Yes, what we know of Jesus’ life and ministry is contained within our Christian Scriptures but we are not expected to simply read them but to pray them, ponder upon them and to use them as a guide to how we should live our lives and how we should treat each other in the 21st century.
It is Jesus Christ who brings our scriptures to life. It is he, who is the fleshly embodiment of:
‘everything that comes out of the mouth of God’
as suggested by Isaiah and it is his way of life, teaching and ministry that gives us a template to follow - again the fleshly embodiment of Scripture and doctrine as suggested by St.Paul.
So what is the ‘Word of God’?
Quite simply the Word of God is Jesus Christ. He is the Scriptures brought to life. He is the walking, talking, loving utterances from the mouth of God. One thing the ‘Word of God’ is not, is that it is not dead!
Yes, we have the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which tell us about the promised Messiah and his earthly life and ministry but they have to be encountered and lived through the ‘Word made flesh’. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Scriptures would be just words on a page. Those words would and do give us guidance on how to live our lives but it is our encounter with the ‘Living Word’ that gives them a power, gives them a life to change not only our own individual lives but the lives of those around us and ultimately the life of the World and all humanity.
Today, we give thanks for our Scriptures as contained within our Bible and as today’s collect asks:
“ … help us to hear, to read, make learn and inwardly digest them … (so that we) may embrace and ever holdfast to the hope of everlasting life … given to us in our saviour Jesus Christ …”
We may be keeping ‘Bible Sunday’ this morning but we cannot focus on the Bible alone our first focus must always be on the living embodiment of the Bible, Jesus Christ, the ‘Living Word’ and our ultimate guide and teacher in all we do.