Monday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 305

In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe,

I think it is wonderful and remarkable that the first generation of Christians recognized Jesus as the "firstborn of all creation, through whom God created the universe."

That they hailed the Crucified as the Messiah is only somewhat less astonishing. There was, after all, an expectation of the Messiah throughout the Jewish world, from Spain to India. How the Messiah might appear and what he should do were not at all clear, but that he was coming soon -- that was understood!

Given such an expectation, it's certain someone will claim the title, or be pushed into it. We have seen the pressure that was put on John the Baptist who had to insist, "I am not the Messiah!" The world is full of crooks and cranks who are eager to satisfy our longing for a savior and redeemer.

It's rather amazing that Jesus' disciples recognized him as the Anointed despite the Crucifixion. Clearly his resurrection was persuasive and Inspiring with an underlined Capital I. Having seen the Risen Lord they were ready to abandon their homeland, families and careers to tell the whole world.

But that early Church also celebrated Jesus as the  raison d'etre of the whole universe. That was never the job description of the messiah. He would represent the God who was known as the Friend of Abraham, the God of Moses, the savior of the Hebrews, the King of David and so forth. But that the world had been created through and for the Christ -- that was a very new idea, and foreign to the Jewish tradition.

But there it is throughout the New Testament writings, and we have heard it often during the Christmas season.:

• Hebrews 1: 2 through whom he created the universe,
• John 1: 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be
• Colossians 1:15 For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together
• Ephesians 1:9 ….he has made known to us the mystery of his will in accord with his favor that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times, to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.
• Romans 8: 22 We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;

Remember that we're talking about a man who was born of a peasant woman in an obscure village in a backwater country of the vast Roman Empire. He had no claim to fame by way of family, status, wealth or military power; nor did he have any powerful sponsors or patrons. His career was pathetically brief and his destruction complete!

And yet, we insist, "without him nothing came to be."

This was not the claim of a powerful medieval church eager to claim its superiority over the other kingdoms of Europe, Asia and Africa. Nor was it the arrogance of a well-funded religion under the guidance of stuffed-shirt bishops and cardinals. These claims for Jesus emerged in the songs and writings of ordinary folk, including many slaves. As they shared their faith with one another, despite the challenges of former family and friends, even the level-headed who might not be given to hyperbole had to admit, "in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible." Even those under the earth must finally bow down before their born-of-woman Jewish Messiah.

The doctrine of the Trinity would help us grasp these teachings more clearly. We would understand the One God, Father, Son and Spirit, had created the universe. But that clarification did not appear in the tradition until the fourth century.

In the meanwhile the men and women who gathered to celebrate their faith each Sunday knew in their hearts that Jesus is Lord, with every dimension that entails.