If we will listen, we hear in the voice of the Psalmist a plea for the people whose wandering has once again led them to bondage, [80:3] “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”
I must admit that as I have read those words there was a part of me that wants to say, why? Why should God do that for you? Nothing was hidden from you. Righteousness was spelled out in the law, in the voice of the prophets. But you, lost in pride, arrogance, and self-will, knew better. The prophet Isaiah will say just like sheep you have gone astray; you all chose our own way and so now struggle in the consequence. But if I am honest, then I must admit that as much as this is the story of ancient Israel, it is the story of me and all the rest of us. Salvation has come; the Christ has come. Yet, as quickly as the Christmas decorations come down we begin to wander in all the same social, cultural, and political structures and systems that have always kept us in bondage. Bondage that keeps us from living undivided lives, faithful to the Word of God alone.
John tells us in his uniquely poetic language. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” [John 1: 1 & 4] In his way John tells us that this one who has come to us, is something more than God enfleshed. The Christ is the divine Word of God heralded in our presence.
The teaching of Jesus is God’s Word, God speaking. The miracles of Jesus are God speaking, God’s Word. Everything, that we are witness to Jesus saying and doing in the gospels is God speaking, the divine Word poured out for all who have eyes and ears to consume it. We too are without excuse; the fullness of God shines brightly in the Christ. But finding salvation in the Word will always be tied to both faith, and obedience.
Obedience means abiding in the Word, actuating the Word and resisting, refusing, to wander into bondage … again.
Faith and obedience mean consuming and then living the fullness of what God is saying to us by the divine Word. Believing that doing justice and loving kindness and walking humbly with our God is the Word, and so we respond obediently.
Understanding that feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty a drink, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoner is the Word, and so responding obediently. Knowing that the blessedness of a peacemaker, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart is the Word, and so responding obediently. In Christ the face of God has shined upon us, salvation has come. We must choose to respond in faith by living an obedience that evidences a life reborn in the Christ so that others might know the Word and experience reconciliation and flourishing.
