NASA just got a $10 billion space telescope for Christmas.
An Ariane 5 rocket launched today (Dec. 25) from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT; 9:20 a.m. local time in Kourou), carrying the highly anticipated, long-delayed James Webb Space Telescope — and the hopes and dreams of countless astronomers, astrophysicists and planetary scientists around the world — into the final frontier.
The huge telescope will peer at the universe's first stars and galaxies, sniff the atmospheres of nearby alien planets and perform a variety of other high-profile, high-impact work over the next five to 10 years, if all goes according to plan.
That overarching ambition meant the new scope should be optimized to detect and analyze infrared light, which we feel as heat — a key difference from Hubble, which views mainly in optical and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. After all, the optical and UV emissions from the first stars and galaxies have been stretched so much by the universe's ongoing expansion that we see them now in longer infrared wavelengths. And infrared light travels better than its higher-energy counterparts, more easily penetrating the clouds of dust and gas that pepper the cosmos.
Obviously, it is hoped we can get a peek back to the beginning.
I remember the story of the mother who was ironing while her little son was drawing pictures from the set of art supplies he had gotten for Christmas. The mother asked him, "What are you drawing?" He said, "I'm drawing a picture of God." She said, "How can you do that? Nobody knows what God looks like." He said, "They will when I get through! " I think we all would like to know what God looks like. Even though in Exodus', chapter 34 God told Moses "No one can see my face and live!" and Jesus told us in John chapter 4 the "God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in Truth." Still, we would like to get a peek at God. But the truth is we can only see him through the eyes of faith when we see his hand at work in the world about us. In the gospel lesson this morning we have moved rather suddenly from the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem to the cosmic purposes of God in the Incarnation of Jesus in order that we may comprehend it ourselves. The gospel reading this morning, the first Sunday after Christmas, is the very beginning of John's Gospel and is commonly called the Prologue to the Gospel. The author states at the end why he wrote the gospel:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." [John 20: 31]
Why should we believe this author versus any other? First of all, John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James was said to have been the disciple who reclined close to the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper and was standing at the cross with the mother of Jesus. From the gospels we learn that John was one of the first disciples. He left his father's prosperous fishing business along with his brother James to follow Jesus. He, along with his brother James and Peter, comprised the inner circle of Jesus' disciples, because they were present when he raised the daughter of Jairus to life, they were present at the Transfiguration and they were the closest disciples with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed earnestly to the Father to let his will be accomplished. John was also reported by Paul as one of the pillars of the church. This gospel is reported by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in 177 A.D. to have been issued at Ephesus. Tradition has it that John spent his latter years in Ephesus preaching, teaching and writing. At some point he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos where he wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Clement of Alexandria, - who died in 212 A.D. said,
"Last of all; John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospels, being urged by his friends and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel."
John set forth in cosmic terms the purpose of God. He used the simplest, purest and clearest Greek. Many first term Greek students are assigned this Gospel to read because of its simplicity. This gospel also refutes practically any heresy that might arise in any generation:
1. To those who deny the deity of Christ John argues: He is the Son of God, the very
Word of God himself.
2. To those who deny Jesus' humanity, John argues: He is the Word become flesh, the
very flesh that must be experienced.
3. To those who continue to look for a human messiah and an Earthly utopia, John
argues: He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the very One who had been
promised by God from the beginning of time.
That is why this prologue harkens back to the creation when he says:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John sets the Word or Logos right back to the beginning of everything in creation:
"He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."
You see for the Greeks and the Hellenistic Jews of those days the Word or Logos was the rational principle behind all creation and everything in existence. For the Jews, the Word of God expressed God's active, eternal purpose; in creation
In Genesis, chapter 1, verse 3-->"And God said 'Let there be light and
there was light'.
John establishes common ground with the readers, both Greek and Jew, of his day by using this concept of the Logos especially in the idea of the self-revelation of God to his people. For John this emphasis on revelation is a key point because he continually stresses throughout the gospel that Jesus is the very revelation of God. That is why he wrote:
"No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." [John 1:181]
In the Book of Genesis God revealed himself to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These theophanies or manifestations took place either as the angel of the LORD, a vision of the LORD in a dream or the Word of the LORD coming to a person. In all these we have the direct revelation of God to the person being addressed. Prior to the coming of Jesus, there had been no prophetic word uttered in the land, for many years. That is why when John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance the people came out in droves to see him. The people were hungry for this Word from God. They came out expectant, looking for this revelation of the word from God through his prophets. John fit the bill in his appearance and in his manner. But even the author acknowledges that John the Baptist was a forerunner and was not the Word or the Light. For Jesus to be the very self-revelation of God he must be first of all pre-existent and have been there from the beginning with God. The Greek words for "In the beginning" (en arche) do not mean from the beginning, he was already there. He did not become; he was not created; He never had a beginning. He "was in the beginning with God". The word "was" (en) is the Greek imperfect tense of “eimi” which is the word most often used for deity. It means to be or I am. To be means continuous existence, without beginning or origin.
"Before the mountains were brought forth,
From Psalm 90: --> or the land and the earth were born,
from age to age you are God. [Psalm 90:21
From Jesus' "and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own
High Priestly presence with the glory, which I had with thee
Prayer: ------ > before the world was made." [John 17:5]
Second of all he must have been and be co-existent with God. He was and is face to face with God forever. The Greek word "with" (pros) has the idea of both being with and acting toward. John states that Jesus Christ (the Word) was both with God and acting with God. He was "with God": by God's side, acting, living, and moving in the closest of relationships. Theirs is the perfect eternal bond. John writes in his first epistle;
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, whichwe have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete."
[l John 1: 1-4]
Finally, John did not say the "Word" was "the God". He said, "The Word was God (Theos) He omits the definite article. He was saying that Jesus is the very nature and character of God the Father, but he is not the identical person of God the Father. He is a distinct person from God the Father, but he is of the very being and essence (perfection) of God the Father. The letter to the Hebrews puts it this way:
"He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on highs... "[Hebrews 1:31]
That is why Jesus replied this way to Philip's request to show them the Father;
"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say; Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." [John 14: 9-111]
Jesus used the term I AM (ego eimi) several times in saying in no uncertain terms that He was and is deity. The Jews knew perfectly well what he meant when he used the term I AM to metaphorically describe himself He was associating himself with the I AM of the Old Testament who revealed himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Jesus uses the I AM term seven times throughout the gospel of John.
I AM the Bread of Life [6:35]
I AM the Light of the world [8:12]
I AM the Door of the sheep [10:7]
I AM the Good Shepherd [10: 11]
I AM the Resurrection and the Life [11:25]
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life [14:6]
I AM the True Vine [15:11]
By using these metaphors Jesus hammered home to his listeners his nature in terms they could understand. He used these terms to relate to the people in order for them to come to grips with his deity. At this time of the year when we celebrate the coming of the Christ child, it is good to take a look at the purposes of God on a cosmic scale, to stand back and take a look at the big picture. When we focus in on the Babe of Bethlehem we see the action of God moving in such a way that we will comprehend his Incarnation and bring in to focus how he wants to relate to us. In, John's Gospel we hear the term Father used for God many, many times. This was a new concept to the people of Jesus' day. God was Almighty, all-powerful, Judge, King and everlasting, but to think of him as Father was new to them. Jesus brought that concept with him when he came to give us insight to his relationship with God -- his Father. He came as a little baby so that he could experience what we go through. And in that special relationship with Joseph, his earthly father he caught sight of the way he could let us know how he related to God. I assure you that the men I minister to in prison for the most part have come out bad or poor family relationships, where the missing ingredient was Love. Many have had little if any relationships of a positive nature with their fathers. Let us contrast Jesus' relationship with his Father. In Mark’s gospel during the harrowing hours in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus called out;
"Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." [Mark 14:36]
In his anguish of the hour he called out "Abba-- Daddy" showing how close his relationship is to the Father. At the point of his making expiation for our sins, he cried out in his humanity to his Father and revealed the intimacy of their relationship. It is into that intimacy that we are adopted, so that as St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians;
"God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying,' Abba,
Father!"' [Galatians 4:6]
When we can speak to God as Abba, then we are truly filled with grace, as of the Father himself, through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That gracious favor of God is exhibited through the Love of the Christian community. St. John also wrote in his first epistle;
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
[1 John 4: 7-12]
This concept of God's love permeated John's writings. St. Jerome wrote in his
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians a moving picture of St. John's waning years.
"When he tarried at Ephesus to extreme old age, and could only with difficulty be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples, and was unable to give utterance to many words, he used to say no more at their several meetings than this, 'Little children, love one another.' At length the disciples and fathers who were there, wearied with hearing always the same words, said, 'Master, why dost thou always say this? "It is the Lord's command,' was his worthy reply, 'and if this alone be done, it is enough."’
I am a witness to the fullness of that Grace exhibited in Christian Love in many encounters of ministries, in the Cursillo Movement and the Kairos Prison Ministry. Men have testified to me that other inmates have seen their faces glowing with a light that is awesome to behold. The Light continues to shine in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the Word continues to dwell among us, full of grace and truth. Let us at this Christmas season comprehend the fullness of God's grace towards us, when he sent his Son, his word to dwell among us, that our light may shine so that others will see our goods works and glorify our Father in Heaven.