Week 7—Monday John 1:9-11
John 1:9-11
STRANGE BUT IMPORTANT PASSAGES
We come now to an important question: If the Word became flesh, is the flesh made for the Word? When the Divine Word took flesh, did he take something alien? Is the flesh an alien or an affinity to the spiritual? A Hindu “holy man” said to me: “Teach me to get rid of my body. It is my enemy.” Was he right?
There are a number of passages in the New Testament which teach that God created the world through Christ. “Created the world through Christ”—when he appeared only two thousand years ago? What do these strange passages mean? The Christian Church has not taken these passages seriously. But if they are true, they are tremendously true—and meaningful and full of destiny. Here they are:
“All things were made through him [Christ], and without him was not anything made that was made. . . . He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not” (John 1:3, 10). “But in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb. 1:2). “He is the image of the invisible God, . . . for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible . . . all things were created through him and for him” (Col. 1:15, 16). “And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came to be, and we through him” (1 Cor. 8:6, NEB). “But it is not true that the body is for lust; it is for the Lord—and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor. 6:13, NEB).
What do these strange passages mean? Do they mean that the touch of Christ is upon all creation? And that everything is made in its inner structure to work in his way? And when it works in his way, does it work well, harmoniously, creatively? And if it works some other way, does it work its own ruin? Are we made by Christ and for Christ? Are we destined by our very makeup to be his? And when we are his, are we then most our own? I believe we can answer “Yes” to all these questions. We are made for Christ as the eye is made for light.
O Jesus, my Lord, am I fashioned by you and fashioned for you? Then that changes the whole picture. For then I can do your will with my whole being, knowing that my whole being, including my body, is made for you. You are its Home and when I’m in you I’m at home. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: My body is made for its Maker and finds its life in Jesus’ Life.