The Word that makes things happen
John 1:1-3; Isa 55:10-12
In my early days of studying theology in the UK, I had to apply for a visa on entering the country. Once, there was a delay, so that two weeks before Christmas I still had no visa. I could not leave the UK without it, or I would not be allowed back in. It was miserable to think that I might have to spend Christmas away from family, especially as the college closed over the holidays and I had nowhere to go. When I called immigration, they blamed me for the delay even though I submitted the forms on time. They also played games, telling me one thing in one phone call, then denying they ever said that in the next. When I appealed to the name of the person I talked to previously, they would say that no such person worked at their office. Hearing of my troubles, the bursar at college called them on my behalf. His polite but firm English voice got me an appointment with immigration for the next day – what a relief! – when the visa was stamped into my passport. The bursar’s word of authority made it happen.
Creation
As John opens his gospel, we are reminded of another Word that made things happen. While Matthew and Luke take us to the beginnings of Jesus’ earthly life, John reaches further back to The Beginning, to creation. Readers steeped in the Old Testament would hear ‘In the beginning…’ (John 1:1) as the echo of Genesis’ first word (Gen 1:1). They are reminded of God’s powerful Word that spoke creation into existence, or as Psalm 33:9 simply puts it, ‘He spoke and it was done’. God’s Word would evoke many associations for Jews as God’s agent in the world. Not only did God create the world through it, but He sustains the universe by the same means. The cycles of nature from snow to melting ice are all under His command, His spoken word (Ps 147:15-18; 148:8).
Redemption
Moreover, God’s Word is the instrument of new creation, of healing and redemption. As Psalm 107:20 says when Israel sinned and cried out to God, ‘He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction’. Likewise in Psalm 105:5, Israel is exhorted to praise God and ‘remember His wonders, the marvels and judgments from His mouth’. The two words for God’s wonders and marvels in v.5 (niphle’ot and mophetim) are especially associated with the exodus (e.g. Exod 3:20; Ps 106:7 – niphleot; Exod 7:3, 11:9 – mophetim). That Israel’s deliverance from slavery is the result of powerful words is also evident in Psalm 105:27. The Hebrew literally reads, ‘They [Moses and Aaron] set among them the words of His signs and miracles (mophetim)’. Perhaps the most well-known expression of God’s saving power through His Word is described in the context of the exile and the promise of restoration: when God speaks, His word does not return to Him empty but achieves its purpose (Isa 55:10-12).[1]
Jesus Christ, the Word
Thus, for readers familiar with the Old Testament, God’s Word in John evokes His creating, sustaining, and redeeming power. Jews commonly associated God’s Word with the Law (torah, i.e. ‘instruction’) and included in this concept the prophetic word that could bring about repentance and transformation. John, however, will boldly identify Jesus Christ, born into an earthly life in history, with this all-powerful Word (John 1:14) that was there from the beginning. As we begin our Advent reflections this week, it is good to remember that all we have said about God’s powerful Word can be said of Jesus Christ. He is the One through whom everything came into being (John 1:3), the One who sustains and holds together all things (Col 1:16-17). It is also He, who redeems and heals our life from slavery, sin and ultimate destruction in death. Thus, God’s engagement with His world is not distant and impersonal, as some might think of it, but reaches us in the form of a personal envoy who knows us because He was there when we were shaped and had witnessed all that had happened to us.
[1] The context of Isaiah 55 is less obvious for lay Christians, but it is well established in scholarship that Isaiah 40-55 addresses the Babylonian exile towards its end. Isaiah 39:6-7 tells of the coming Babylonian exile and Isaiah 40:1-2 opens with words of comfort and the pronouncement that the penalty for sin has been paid (i.e. the exile is drawing to a close). Isaiah 44:26-28 specifically promises that Judah and Jerusalem will be inhabited again and the temple will be rebuilt. It mentions Cyrus by name (v.28), the Persian ruler who took over the Babylonian empire and authorised the return of the Jews (Ezra 1:1-4). After describing Cyrus further (Isaiah 45:1-7), the prophet explicitly mentions the release of the exiles (Isa 45:13). Isaiah 47:1-15 pronounces the coming judgment on Babylon and Isaiah 48:20-21 calls the exiles to leave Babylon depicting their return in terms that evokes the first exodus (God providing water in the desert from the rock, v.21 cf. Exod 17:1-7). Thus in context, the phrase ‘you will go out with joy’ in Isaiah 55:12 refers to the return from Babylon.
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