My original title today was \u201cThe Logos and our logos.\u201d No good. The reader would start thinking of the Nike logo or the McDonald\u2019s logo. I could go with the actual Greek alphabet and say \u201cthe \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 and our \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2\u201d \u2013 but that would scare some away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Logos <\/em>(\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2) is the Greek word for \u201cword.\u201d But it can mean so many other things: reason, explanation, discourse, account, sentence, meaning, language, communication, and much more. It\u2019s one of those Bible words that simply can\u2019t be translated without losing much of the meaning (much of the \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beginning of John\u2019s Gospel dramatically presents Jesus\nas the eternal \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, who was with the Father in the beginning, and who is\nhimself God. He is the spoken Word through whom all things came to be. That\nWord becomes flesh and makes his dwelling among us. That Word gives purpose and\nmeaning to our otherwise meaningless existence. He makes it possible for our\nlife to be worth something, and opens us up to share in his eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s John 1. Today I want to reflect on Hebrews 4<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Indeed, the Word (\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2) of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account (\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2)”<\/em> (Hebrews 4:12-13).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had a great \u201caha!\u201d moment this summer on retreat when I was praying my way through the Letter to the Hebrews. Over the last 12 years, I\u2019ve been slowly soaking in the New Testament on my annual retreats. During each hour of meditation, I read and meditate on the English translation of a chapter or two at a time. Then I go back and look at the Greek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, I was dumbstruck that this oft-quoted passage begins and ends with the word \u201cword\u201d (\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2). Jesus is the eternal Word of God, living and effective, penetrating soul and spirit, laying bare our hearts. In his presence, my own \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 comes to full light. I am part of a story. My human life is a \u201cword\u201d in its own right. My story will be told; my \u201cword\u201d will come to full light \u2013 possibly in this life and for sure in the next. Jesus, the eternal \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, promises to take all that is buried or hidden and expose it fully (Luke 8:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n His story is a judgment upon my story and your story \u2013 not in the sense that he is eager to dole out condemnation. Quite the opposite! He did not come to condemn the world, but to save it. He does not will the death of the sinner, but that we turn to him and live! But the only way for our guilt and our shame to be healed is for the entirety of our story to be brought into his light. So long as we keep parts of it buried away or hidden, we cannot be a whole person. The conflict that is playing itself out in the drama of your story and my story cannot be resolved until Christ, the great protagonist, is allowed to be present to all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why we Catholics put the\nPaschal Mystery at the center of all things. Every Sunday we gather to remember\nand participate anew in the saving event that is the suffering, dying, and\nrising of Jesus. Every year we enter the Paschal Triduum \u2013 the holy three days\nthat is one single celebration \u2013 to remember THE story \u2013 the only story, the\none true story, without which our human experience cannot be redeemed or\nresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 4:13 is typically translated in English as us giving an account<\/em><\/strong> in the presence of Jesus. Literally in Greek this passage says \u201cAll things are naked and uncovered to the eyes of him to whom belongs our \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2.\u201d The vulnerability of this experience is indeed unsettling. But deep down, don\u2019t we all ache to be known, seen, heard, and truly understood?\u00a0 Only the eternal \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 can make that happen \u2013 and only by uncovering and laying bare all that is within us! <\/p>\n\n\n\n We belong to him \u2013 not in the\nsense that he owns us, but that we are ordered to him in a relationship \u2013 both\nin creation and in redemption. The original creation happened through him. Through\nGod\u2019s Word all was made. God spoke us humans into being, breathed his Spirit\ninto us, and declared us very good. He gave us stewardship of the entire\ncosmos. We failed. He never stopped loving us. He promised to send the woman\nand her offspring to crush the head of the serpent. The Word became flesh and\ndwelt among us. The Word died of the Cross and rose from the dead. The Word\npromises to take our tangled mess, to expose and uncover all of it \u2013 and to\nheal, restore, and gloriously transform us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This, I think, is also the meaning behind Simeon\u2019s cryptic words to the Virgin Mary: that a sword will pierce her heart so that the hearts of many may be laid bare (Luke 2:35). She is the New Eve, the promised woman. Her heart is fully pierced, fully vulnerable, and fully exposed \u2013 for sure at the Cross on Good Friday \u2013 but actually at many moments. Jesus declares \u201cBehold, your mother!\u201d so that each of us can receive her fierce and tender motherly care throughout the rather unsettling process of our own hearts being pierced by the Word, exposed, healed, and transformed. His eternal Love is both fierce and tender, and it is the only way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus does not expect this transformation to happen all at once. It\u2019s a gradual process that happens over time. Like any great story, ours has moments of triumph, moments of loss and heartache, moments of betrayal, much adversity, and many setbacks. At every chapter, we can remember that THE story has already been told, and the victory has already been won \u2013 in the person of the \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2. His story gets to become our story. Will we, like Mary, say \u201cyes\u201d?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My original title today was \u201cThe Logos and our logos.\u201d No good. The reader would start thinking of the Nike logo or the McDonald\u2019s logo. I could go with the actual Greek alphabet and say \u201cthe \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 and our \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2\u201d \u2013 but that would scare some away. Logos (\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2) is the Greek word for \u201cword.\u201d … <\/p>\n