Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; our 4 Gospels that were chosen to be put in our Bible. Each written in a different time period, each a different author and each for a different reason to different audiences. The Gospel of John (the one that was written last) was written for the church, by a man who was an elder in the church of Ephesus where he was looked up to because of his wisdom and experience.
I have heard many people mention that it is time to put the residential school issue behind us. It happened, apologies have been made, but now let’s move on. But, that is not what we need to do. It needs to be in our history books and taught in school.
When I look at this reading from the beginning of John’s Gospel I see in that first sentence: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Word has been used 3 times in the same sentence. Must be important. And of course it is. This ‘Word’, with a capital ‘W’ is Jesus (it begins with a capital so it is important). So Jesus has also been around since the beginning. As a cradle Anglican, I have been part of the church for many years and have had lots of teachers, priests and others to help me understand GOD. There was a time that I believed that Jesus didn’t really exist until that day in the stable. That God realized he needed to do something to get the world to listen, to change, to be better, but once I truly looked at the following two sentences I understood that Jesus was a part of God all along.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And further down in this reading: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…”
These two sentences are so helpful to get us to understand or at least try to get it through our heads that the “human Jesus” who walked among us was God.
I read an article from R. Gehring who referred to this section of John’s Gospel as a Christmas text. There is no manger, no virgin birth, no star, no shepherds. Instead John concentrates on the “theological significance of the event”, and “Just who was this Jesus?” Those two sentences above tell us just that. Two parts of the Trinity wrapped up neatly in two sentences.
But, are these words (small ‘w’ so not meaning Jesus here) all there is? Of course not. It isn’t quite that easy but the more I look at those two sentences the more I understand.
Speaking of understanding, before God became our human Jesus, he sent someone to break the ice so to speak. To be the messenger for God, to let those to whom he came in contact with that there was to be a messiah coming soon. John the Baptist who was not anyone special. By special I mean he was just an ordinary person who was sent out by God. God didn’t make him a King so that people would maybe listen more, but instead God sent someone he knew would get the job done.
Moving on to today, and our lives, God sends many people to be in our lives to also get the job done. To help us or guide us to where we need to be. Priests, teachers, friends. The priests and teachers have been called by God to do those particular jobs and we look up to them for guidance and to learn what we need to know, not just about God, but also about living in the world. But what happens when those people we look up to are not sent by God, those who take the power and use it for their own gain. Those who are not listening.
This Sunday we celebrate Orange Shirt Day. (the actual day is September 30th), to remember how a little girl, so proud of her new orange shirt that she wore on her first day of school was taken from her and what that did to her. Because of that day, the colour orange reminded her that her feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how she felt like she was worth nothing. She stated in an article, “all of us little children were crying and no one cared”.
I have heard many people mention that it is time to put the residential school issue behind us. It happened, apologies have been made, but now let’s move on. But, that is not what we need to do. It needs to be in our history books and taught in school.
Like all of our history, it has made us who we are, good or bad and we cannot just erase it and move on. It needs to be there to remind us that not everyone is sent by God to help us out and we need to stand up for what is right, doing everything in our power to stop injustices from happening, to treat everyone like we would want to be treated.
We are all “Children Of God” and “Every Child Matters”