Thought for the Day: God's Word

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God...
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us
John 1: 1-2, 14

This exercise of writing about some aspect of the Gospel for the day makes me appreciate the notion of God's Word.

A lot of the things we (must) believe in are products of things God said.

In the Old Testament, it was the covenant: I am your God, you are my people. If you stick to your part of the bargain, I give you my word I'll stick to mine. The difficulty there was that God's word was delivered through some prophet or other: Moses, Isaiah, Elijah. etc. So you have to ask yourself, do you trust these prophets?

In the New Testament, Jesus pretty much says, "take my word for it" quite often. Take my word for it, follow my commandments and you will be vindicated even if in the process, you will be persecuted. Take my word for it, this bread is my body. Take my word for it, there is a resurrection. And then indirect affirmations (affirmations through other people) that he is the Son of God.

There are moments in life when the only thing you can hang on to is God's word. When you are persecuted for doing what you think you are being asked to do, you hang on to the thought that you will be vindicated even while you are being literally or metaphorically stoned. That the ordeal was worth going through. Are you sure you will be vindicated? No. But you hang on to God's word.

When you are facing death and are filled with an existential anxiety about whether or not there is anything to look forward to. Are you sure you will be resurrected? No. But you hang on to God's word.

And maybe that's why it makes sense to prepare for those moments by going to mass every week and receive communion. At every mass we are asked in an abrupt way, (Do you believe that this is) The Body of Christ? And we say, "Amen".

At the moment of persecution and death, it is harder to say Amen. But maybe years of practice with the body of Christ will make it easier for us. Maybe the blessing to ask for is that at the moment when Amen is difficult to come by, we must remember that we are not saying Amen to the difficult situation but to God's promises.