The Logos Revealed
Love Never Dies, prt. 3
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
April 18, 2010
St. Francis of Assisi once spent a whole night in a cave praying this prayer: “Who are you, and who am I? Who are you, and who am I? Who are you, and who am I?”
The problem with us today is that we think we already know and so we are not really asking. We say, “Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, born of a virgin, the son of God,” yadda, yadda, yadda, lapsing into our religious and theological talk. But who among us knows God? Who among us can grasp him, understand him, put him in a box, label him and put him on the shelf? That is our sin. That is where we have missed the mark. We think our greatest sins have to do with our actions, but they don’t. Our greatest sin is not that we do wrong, it is that we think we know when we do not. Make a few wrong assumptions about another person in your life and you’ll act wrongly towards them in all kinds of ways. Get your assumptions right – get to know that person – find out who they are – and you will automatically make corrections and begin to act rightly.
“God who are you, and who am I? Who are you, and who am I?” We absolutely must get the “who” right. That’s why we spent 45 minutes talking last week about the cosmic Christ – about the Logos.
In verse 14 of chapter 1 we read, “The Word (Logos) became flesh and dwelled among us.” God became man. And in that moment – in that instant – God saved human history. In that instant, God affirmed that human life is good. That physicality is good, that sexuality is good, that emotionality is good, that the earth and the whole creation are good, that being male and female are good – that human flesh can be the place of holiness, that divinity and humanity can and do co-exist. Right in that moment of Jesus’ birth. In our tradition we focus on the death of Jesus as being the thing that saved us. We believe our salvation came from the last three hours of his life. But actually we were saved when Jesus was born. Jesus went to the cross to show us the path we will each have to walk. We will each have to die to ourselves. We will each have to put ourselves to death in a thousand ways. We will each have to walk the road Jesus walked from life to crucifixion and then on to resurrection! That is what the death of Christ is about, my friends! But we’ll deal more with that later. For now I’d like us to look at chapter 2 of the Gospel of John.
Chapter 2 is interesting because there are only two events that occur. First is that Jesus does his first miracle by turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Second is that Jesus overturns the tables and drives out the moneychangers in the temple. That’s chapter two. Pretty simple. But what I want to focus on is the way these events that are about Jesus reveal to us his identity as the Logos – the Christ – the ever-existing Word of God.
Let’s look at the chapter.
John 2:1-25 (NIV)
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there,
2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so,
9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
10 and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
So here we have Jesus. He’s at a wedding. You have been to weddings, so you understand this. Jesus is there doing exactly what you have done a hundred times – hanging out talking to his family and friends at this wedding. I don’t know, Jesus was a human being and he experienced everything we experienced. And he was male, so I’m going to guess that, like the vast majority of males at a wedding, Jesus was probably bored and wanted to go home. I mean here’s Mary, volunteering Jesus to fix this problem with the wine shortage – and I think maybe Jesus is thinking, “Be quiet, woman. No wine means this gig is over, and then we all get to leave!” The text says, “Jesus’ mother was there and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited.” No way to prove this of course, but I’m wondering if Jesus and his disciples maybe had been bugging Mary. “Is this done yet? Can we go? When can we go? Are you about ready to go? I mean I barely know this guy.” And I wonder if it’s just at that moment that Mary leans over and says, “They have no more wine.” Hint, hint. And there’s Jesus, trying to weasel out of this. “Why get me involved. My time has not yet come, woman!” And there’s all the disciples sitting there, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it! You know what this means -- more wine might seem like a great idea right now, but how do you feel about more chicken dance and more hokey pokey?” Okay, that’s my totally facetious take on the wedding at Cana. Let’s get back to what the text actually says.
What it says, basically, is they run out of wine, and Jesus gives some instructions about filling the jars with water, then he turns the water into wine, and it’s the finest wine of the evening. So Jesus says, “What do you think, boys? Not bad, huh? Maybe it won’t be such a bad night after all?” To which they reply, “Yeah – if you can get YOUR MOM to go home!” Nothing like partying like it’s 999 with the Virgin Mary sitting at your table. Normally I’d say Jesus too, but he’s the one who brought the wine. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Anyway, there’s a key line in this story, and it’s in verse 11:
John 2:11 (NIV)
11 This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Thus he revealed his glory. The miracles of Christ are often portrayed as occasions for Jesus to show that he was actually the Christ – the Logos. It is not merely that Jesus was born and he was God and had the capability of doing miracles so sometimes he did them. That’s just theism – that’s just believing in a deity. But we believe in Jesus – the Logos – the Christ, who holds spirituality and physicality together in one person. Miracles, for Jesus, were times when his “Christ-dom” was put out there for others to see. Most of the time he was just Jesus – walking around, having conversations, teaching, going to synagogue, working with wood – just an ordinary guy. But even in those ordinary times, Jesus was the Christ. He did not become the Logos when it was time to do miracles. He was always the Logos. He was the Logos at breakfast and the Logos in his shop and the Logos when the wedding started and ran out of wine. He was already the Logos in all those times and places. But on this occasion, when the wine had run out, and there was no way of getting more, the Logos did something that revealed this glory to other people – that made it obvious that this every day, average, normal human being they were with was at the same time, the Logos – the eternal Word of God – the Lord of Life. In John 1, John say:
John 1:14 (NIV)
14 … We have seen his glory…
That’s a big deal. The reason John and the disciples have “seen his glory” is because the man Jesus revealed it on occasions such as this one. But it was only on occasion. Most of the time, Jesus appeared as a regular guy, and he WAS a regular guy. That’s the message of Incarnation, remember. The glory of the Logos – the son of God, and God himself – dwelled in human flesh and was in fact fully human. What I want you to see here is that the glory Jesus carried with him in his flesh is the same glory you are to have in your flesh – the same glory you are called to partake in. As Jesus embodied the Christ in his flesh, you also are called to embody the Christ in your flesh.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Here’s what is amazing. The historical Jesus that we call the Christ, was merely part of the Christ. The head, as he is called by Paul.
Ephesians 4:15-16 (NIV)
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
That may sound scandalous, I know, and I’m seriously not trying to move your cheese here too much, but that is the clear teaching of scripture and that is what the Christian tradition tells us. Christ is the head of this body, and you ARE his body. Just as Jesus enfleshed, carried around in his body, the Christ, so you are to do it as well.
2 Corinthians 2:14 (MSG)
14 …in the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance.
Through Christ God leads us in one long parade. Christ is the head of this parade, but the parade itself is YOU – that’s YOU! That is perhaps why we see that Jesus never said to anyone “worship me,” but rather he said, “Follow me,” because the road he walked from birth, to childhood, to adulthood, to death, and then to resurrection is the exact same journey you must take as well. Jesus walked this road not by supernatural insight, not by virtue of his identity as the Logos, but by faith, and that is the same way you have to walk it. As soon as we start thinking, “Oh, it was easy for Jesus – he always knew what was going to happen, and he always knew exactly the right thing to say and the right thing to do – that drains him completely of his humanity. If Jesus always knew everything, and if he always was 100% confident of who he was, then he was not walking by faith, because faith by definition leaves room for doubt. And if Jesus didn’t have to walk by faith, then according to the Christian tradition, he has nothing to teach you.
I believe Jesus suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane because that is where he did battle to place his faith in God that God would indeed raise him from the dead. That’s where Jesus asked himself the same questions you ask yourself. “What if this is all in my head?” “What if I’m deluded?” “What if I go through all of this and it ends up being for nothing?” “Why not just enjoy my life?”
You can say, “Jesus wouldn’t have thought that. He had done too many miracles to have any room left to wonder if God was near.” But if there was no room left to doubt and to wonder, there was no room for faith. Anyway, this too is like you. How many times have things happened in your life that you were absolutely certain were signs of God’s presence and power in your life, and then just days or even hours later, you found yourself doubting again, unsure if what you had seen was really from God? Faith is that thing that, by definition, always leaves room for doubt. Your spouse can never prove to you beyond doubt that they love you. You are forever having to choose to weigh the evidence and go with your gut, relying on your experience to guide you. That’s faith. So at Cana, we witness the first time Jesus did a public miracle, and there he revealed a little of his glory.
The next story in our text concerns the occasion where Jesus was offended and repulsed by the people trying to make money in the temple.
John 2:12-25 (NIV)
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?"
21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.
24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.
25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
So there were two groups of people making money in the temple courts. See when you went to the temple you had to bring a sacrifice. But people would often have to travel for miles to get to the temple, so people had begun to buy and sell animals in the temple courts as a convenience, so that people could travel lightly to the temple and then purchase their animals for sacrifice when they got there. Abuses developed and ridiculous profits were being charged for these animals. I mean – dang – you think it’s expensive buying a hot dog at the movie theater – try buying a spotless sacrificial lamb just outside the temple. Funny, but actually the same principle!
There were not only merchants but what are called moneychangers. Temple dues had to be paid, and they would only accept Tyrian coinage, so worshippers often had to convert their money. There were moneychangers set up in the courts to do this, and they too were charging exorbitant fees. That’s the background on this story. But I want to focus not so much on the story itself as what happens after Jesus has cleared the temple.
Obviously people were angry. He had turned over tables and, I assume, generally made quite a mess of things. The Jews demand to know where Jesus comes off doing something like this. “Give us a miraculous sign,” they say, “that you have authority to do this.”
Jesus answered not as the historical man, Jesus of Nazareth, but from his identity as the Logos – the eternal Word. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.”
So there’s Jesus standing in the temple, talking about destroying the temple. No wonder the Jews didn’t realize he was referring to his own body, and not to the physical structure. And interesting, isn’t it, that Jesus referred to his body as a temple to begin with. The Apostle Paul tells the church:
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NIV)
19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
It is not only your body that is a temple of the Holy Spirit, but the body of Jesus was a temple of the Holy Spirit as well. In fact, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit only because Jesus did it first. Jesus made it possible to combine flesh and spirit, without taking anything away from either one. When you read this passage, you are to understand that the Holy Spirit lives in you in exactly the same way it did in Jesus. Jesus’ identity as God did not give him special access to the Holy Spirit. In our Western, dualistic, all-or-nothing, label-and-categorize-everything way of thinking, we tend to assume that the Holy Spirit was in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit Jr. is in us – that Jesus lived life with God, and we live with God-LITE -- that we have less of God than Jesus had. Less access, less power, less holiness. Now it is true that none of us is as holy as Jesus, but that is because Jesus was able to fully empty himself, and live completely filled with the spirit of God at all times. You and I have the same spirit in us that will make us holy in the same way, but we too must walk that same road, continuing to empty ourselves of ourselves, that the Spirit may live more fully in us. We are less holy than Jesus not because God’s Spirit is not near, but because we are often not listening to the voice of that Spirit. We are instead listening to a million other voices. Voices of self-interest, voices of anxiety and fear, voices of hectic worry, voices of fascination with death and how death happens, and how to avoid it, voices of the blowhards on CNN and Fox, voices of shame and regret, voices of lust, voices of defensiveness that bid us to remain in the dungeons so many of us are locked in, voices of depression, and doom, and gloom, voices that condemn us falsely for our flaws and exalt us falsely for our excellences.
Yet always beneath all of those voices is another voice. One that is quiet. So quiet that you can only hear it in stillness and silence. That voice calls to you, whispers that you are the beloved of God, that you bear his blazing image, even in the woundedness of your flesh, that you are not these voices of death that call to you, but that you are infinitely more. This voice reminds you that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that your life – your real life – is hidden with Christ in God – beyond all harm, unassailable, and shot through with splendor. You are the child of the Logos who made you with all love and all power – the same love and power which now sustain you, whether you know it or whether you don’t. Therefore you do not have to live in fear. You do not have to wonder whether you are loved. And you never, ever, ever need to fear death. For when your hour comes, as I have preached many times before, you will close your eyes and awake the next instant in the kingdom of your Father. And when he says to you, “Welcome,” you will recognize that voice, and you will know you are home.
The Logos has revealed itself to men and women in the person of Jesus Christ. The same Spirit that was in Jesus is in you. The Logos calls to you even now. Can you hear him? If not, what voices are already ringing in your ears? May you, this week, get alone and quiet, and learn to listen to the voice of the Logos, who has revealed himself in time and space as Jesus – the one who is called the Christ, or the Anointed One.
John 10:2-4 (NKJV)
2 …he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
Will you pray with me.
