The Human Face of God

Jeremiah 31:7-14; John 1:1-18

          Do any of you believe in reincarnation? Reincarnation, as you know, is the belief that after our death our soul returns to inhabit another human body or in some cases an animal or plant.  Reincarnation is a central belief in many Indian religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism.  In India, they call this samsara, and it goes something like this.  Upon death, one’s soul does not enter a permanent state of being in either heaven or hell or elsewhere.  The soul is reborn into another existence, which in due time will also end and thus necessitate another rebirth.  So the soul goes through an endless cycle of rebirth after rebirth after rebirth. However, you are not always reborn on the same plane.  You may move up or down, depending upon your karma, your deeds or works.  So if you have good karma, you may be reborn into a higher social status.  But if you have bad karma, you may be reborn as a worm or a beetle or something worse. (Noss, Man’s Religions, pp.101-102)

          I find that we tend to get the concept of reincarnation, that life is reinvested in another being.  But many seem to struggle with the biblical concept of incarnation.  That’s why we have Epiphany Sunday.  It calls attention to the incarnation of Jesus.  We see it in our text from the first chapter of John, and John even struggled to describe it.  Incarnation is the belief that God’s life was uniquely invested in Jesus, that God was somehow present in Jesus in a way that God is not present elsewhere.  Through history the church has described the mystery of incarnation this way: that Jesus was simultaneously fully human and fully divine.  So John used terms like “the Word” to describe Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”    He described Jesus as the “true light, which enlightens everyone.”  The ancient Nicene Creed describes Jesus this way:  “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”  Those are all high sounding words.  Here’s what I prefer to say:  Jesus was the human face of God.

          The Apostle Paul put it this way—that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

          I don’t put much stock in reincarnation, but I do believe in the incarnation of Christ, that God was uniquely present in the life and work of Jesus. 

          Now I want to take the concept of incarnation a step further this morning and say that God is incarnate to some degree in all of us.  I don’t want to rush past that statement because it is so profoundly important.  God is incarnate to some degree in every one of us. You are created in the image of God.  Not physically.  In the essence of who you are.  Something of God is present in your being. I’m not trying to say that you are a god or that you are divine.  I’m not saying that you are Jesus, but I am saying that you are sons and daughters of God.

  That is certainly how the ancient prophet Isaiah saw the people of Israel.  The people of Israel functioned like a son or daughter of God.  They were a sign of the living God in their world.  They embodied their faith and made God known to the world.  Here is their role as Isaiah saw it:

                   The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

                   because the Lord has anointed me;

                   he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,

                   to bind up the brokenhearted,

                   to proclaim liberty to the captives,

                   and release to the prisoners;

                   to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor….

          Do you remember who else spoke those words?  Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry in Luke 4.  God was in Christ to accomplish what God was doing in Israel.  God was in the people of Israel working to bring good tidings, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty…. God was incarnate in God’s people working to accomplish God’s mission.  And Jesus completed that work. 

          This is a mystery ultimately beyond my ability to understand, but I do understand this much.  Incarnation has a profound meaning for us and through us. 

          For us, it means that God became personal and involved.  God is not the mythic watchmaker who wound the world and is now just waiting for it to wind down.  No, God became a cog in the clock.  Forgive me for mixing metaphors here, but the Potter folded himself into the clay.  Paul got it right.  God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.  God was in that baby in the manger, the lad in the carpenter’s workshop, and the man upon the cross.  And his work of reconciliation in Christ means hope and peace for us.

          The Catholic theologian John Carmody wrote a book about his experience battling terminal cancer.  He wrote about being in the hospital near the end of his life aware that the cancer was making its slow, steady march.  A local priest ambled into his room.  They chatted for a few minutes about inconsequential things, and then the priest abruptly asked, “Would you like to be anointed?”  The question caught him off guard.  Their conversation had been so casual, and then this intense question.  He agreed to be anointed and said that it was the most moving moment of his month in the hospital and one of the six most moving religious moments of his entire life.  And here’s why.  The priest, of course, could have prayed for him in his prayer cell.  But he didn’t do that.  He got dressed, put on his shoes, and drove to the hospital.  He showed up in a time of need.  The priest became personal and involved in Father Carmody’s life. (Stevenson, Wright, Incarnation for All, p. 18)

          That is incarnation.  That is what God has done for us.  God showed up.  As one of us.  God showed up in our time of need.  That is the meaning of incarnation for us. 

          Incarnation also has meaning through us.  Like the people of Israel of long ago, we too are daughters and sons of God.  To some degree, God is incarnate in each of us.  We too are a sign of the living God in the world.  As we embody our faith, we make God known to the world.  Consider that you and I have been anointed to bring good tidings, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  That is the meaning of incarnation through us.

          St. Francis captured it in the prayer that bears his name.  I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

          That is incarnation through us—the message and mission of God accomplished through the daughters and sons of God.

          He was the Word, in the beginning with God, who was God.  He was the light, which enlightens everyone. Jesus was the human face of God.  John bore witness to him, acknowledging that he was not even worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.  Now we too bear witness.  We bear witness to what he has done for us.  And we bear witness by what he does through us. 

Closing Prayer 

          Lord, we humbly acknowledge and accept that you have done for us in Christ what we could not do for ourselves.  We thank you and pledge to be your instrument of peace.  Amen.