Week 4—Sunday John 10:1-5
John 10:1-5
ALTERNATIVE INCARNATIONS
We are considering whether there is the one Word become flesh or whether there are many who are the Word become flesh? The answer to that depends on whether this statement is true: “glory as of the only Son from the Father.” If he is the “only Son,” then there can be only one “Word become flesh”—one Incarnation.
Arnold Toynbe was an able historian, but he missed his step when he said he no longer believed in one Incarnation, that he preferred the attitude of the Hindus who say that Vishnu incarnates himself many times. So he says he has given up an exclusive faith for a more inclusive faith in this regard. But when one looks at the so-called Incarnations of Vishnu, one wonders where Toynbe’s sense of history has gone when the list shows: A boar, a tortoise, a fish, a dwarf, a man lion, Parasuram, Rama, Krishna, Buddha. We must dismiss the first six as not worth consideration and look at the last three. Rama was a warrior and a spotty character; the Krishna of history is not only spotty, he is shady, while the Krishna of the Gita is not historical. Buddha would be a strange incarnation of God where he himself did not believe in God. The list is looked on by the Hindus themselves as unsatisfactory, for they are looking for the Nishkalank Avatar—the Spotless Incarnation, implying that the others are spotty.
When Krishnamurti, whom Mrs. Besant put forth as the coming messiah, returned from a trip to the West to the college he had founded, the students said to him, “Talk to us about your travels rather than being the Messiah,” for they knew he wasn’t. And he knew he wasn’t, so he has renounced the idea and has dropped out of the picture. I talked with him and heard him swear, “Oh, d— it all,” referring to his messiahship. A Hindu put it this way, “There is no one else bidding for the heart of humanity except Jesus. There is no one else on the field.” And there isn’t. Not only do the Scriptures say “only son”—history says the same.
O Jesus, we thank you that in the sifting of values, your values came out on top. In the sifting of persons, your Person stands above. To whom else shall we go, for you have the words of eternal life? Having seen you we want to see no other. We thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: All I have to do is to look in the face of Jesus to decide whether there is any other—there cannot be!