God's word is life

Dabar is the Hebrew word for WORD. For the Hebrews this dabar was a dynamic expression, perhaps best described as a ‘word-event’. It is better understood in the context of the first verses of the book of Genesis, where the writer has the LORD say Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis 1:3). Through the very utterance of those words, the thing that is spoken is made so. And so it was for the next 5 days. The WORD that emanates from God becomes what God intends should be.

The prophet Isaiah (55:10 – 11) wrote – so beautifully: Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.

This enlivened WORD of God continues into the second Testament, where Jesus becomes the incarnate, enfleshed, WORD. The Logos.

We, too, have to take what comes from our own mouths deadly seriously. We ought be accountable for and responsible for what we say. You and I know when our words have had the impact we are seeking. We say such things as – ‘I really hit the mark’, ‘I really spoke my mind’, ‘I told him like it is’. We know that our words can not only build up and give praise, but all too easily they can diminish and destroy. On the contrary, if we would only listen as well as we speak, then we would really hear what people are saying to us.

Explaining why he uses parables, Jesus tells his disciples, ‘Because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand.’

Our challenge, then, is to be hearers of God’s WORD, and to take that dynamic, living WORD and live it out in our lives, to become people of compassion, of justice, of hope, of peace. We must breathe out this WORD and thus help transform our world. And it starts with me. It starts with my ears. It starts with listening.

I will give you rest

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Matthew 11:28 - 29

Most of us dabble with the law on occasions – most often in dealing with parking and speeding fines. We all know something of the law as it relates to real estate, consumer affairs, traffic, industrial relations, marriage and family. In fact, it is hard to imagine if there are any aspects of our lives, work and recreation that are not in some way impacted by the law. While we know the 613 mitzvot (or commandments) of the Jews became a yoke, the early Christians of Pentecost could not have anticipated the Church’s Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the various Councils, Declarations, Constitutions, Instructions, which guide the faithful.

The Church’s output, however, cannot match the legislation produced by Australia’s ten parliaments (this includes New Norfolk’s Legislative Assembly)! The law, of whatever variety, surrounds us and immerse us. Thus, when things go wrong we invariably call on an expert to divine the way for us, to clarify, to test, to remedy.

The desire for freedom is expressed no better than the youth who leaves home for good, the rules and regulations which made up life in a family fall away, and every choice is a self-directed choice – when to eat, sleep, study, watch TV. This is most often freedom from. The exhilaration can be euphoric, and maturity becomes a mere acceptance of rules and norms. True maturity in fact means quite the opposite, if is freedom for - for others, for consideration, the environment, the community.

Jesus had an incisively clear view of the imposts that the law had upon the ordinary person. It could easily become a heavy yoke, it could bear down and make life difficult. For Jesus there was a single purpose for the law: the love of the Lord. And when this purpose was lost sight of, obeying the law itself was meaningless. It was his desire that we should be set free from these burdens in order to be free for the service of God and our fellows. Not so that we could do as we willed or what satisfied us, it was, is, and will remain, as freedom for. And most extraordinarily, the burden that lifted from our shoulders will be carried by Jesus himself.