Beginning and End
Revelation
21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done!
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will
give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Revelation
22:13 I
am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
Scientists
estimate there are 140 billion galaxies in the universe. If the Royal Albert
Hall was the equivalent of the known universe and each galaxy was the size of a
garden pea, then this famous concert hall could just about contain the 140
billion peas they represent. Mind-blowing, isn’t it. The vastness of space and
the start of it all and the ending of it all is just too much for us to even
begin to grasp. And yet, Christians believe that the cosmic Christ and the
energy of the Spirit and the creative power of the Creator were all there at
the start of life, the universe and everything.
In the
profoundly beautiful Christmas carol ‘In the bleak mid-winter’, by the poet
Christina Rossetti, there is a verse which captures this mind-blowing vastness
alongside the particularity of the birth of a small baby born to be Lord of
all:
Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
The two bible verses
chosen to help us think about this mind-blowing aspect of the Names of Jesus
come from the last book in the New Testament, the Revelation of John the
Divine. Jesus is recorded twice telling John in his vision that he is the Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end. These two words are the first and
last words of the Greek alphabet. It is as if Jesus, described in John’s Gospel
as the Word made flesh, is book-ended by the first and last letters of a
language whose life-giving words frame the glories of the good news.
Jesus is the
great communicator of a grace-filled universe. He was there at the birth of the
universe. He will be there at the time when heaven and earth flee away. And
even the vastness of the universe is not big enough to hold the God of grace.
Indeed, it might be that we find it quite possible to believe that it is the
God of grace whose life in fact holds the universe together even as it expands.
There is a
branch of Christian theology which thinks about the nature of Jesus. This is
called Christology. And within that branch of thinking is a faithful attempt to
think about this hugeness of Jesus, as the Cosmic Christ. This particular
understanding of Jesus springs from one of Paul’s letters to the Christians
gathered in Colossae. He begins his letter with a hymn of praise. These are the
verses which expand on our understanding as Jesus as both the ‘image of the
invisible God’ (yesterday’s blog) and Jesus as the Alpha and Omega.
Colossians 1:15-20 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all
creation; for in him all things in heaven and
on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for
him. He himself is before all
things, and in him all things hold
together. He is the head of the body,
the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might
come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness
of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was
pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by
making peace through the blood of his cross.
In Graham
Kendrick’s popular hymn ‘The Servant King’, there is yet another profound bit
of theology which links together the cosmic Christ with the work of the cross –
‘Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered.’ Jesus was
there at the start of all things and he was the one who went to the very end of
his own time-bound mortality. He is the beginning for us and he will also be
there at our end. But what we also believe is that the one who experienced our
end, our death, opened up the path to a second beginning. And between that first
beginning and our second beginning is Jesus, holding all things together. ‘In
him (Jesus) all things hold together,’ is a favourite concept which helps me
understand Jesus as the glue of life. Jesus is the beginning and the end and
the bit in the middle too!
Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, are applied to Jesus by himself in the book of Revelation, signifying Jesus, the Cosmic Christ, at the beginning of all things, and Jesus at the end of all things. These are difficult ideas to grasp with our finite human experience and understanding. How do I apply that to my life? I’m much happier with Jesus ‘the man’ here on earth because I can relate to him, he’s more my scale.
ReplyDeleteWe might translate Jesus the ‘Alpha and Omega’ as Jesus the ‘A to Z’. I used to have an ‘A to Z of Chess’ when I started playing, and I still use an ‘A to Z of Birmingham’ (preferring the old ways to a Satnav). Both these book titles imply completeness and an authoritativeness: it’s all there, everything you need to know, all twenty-six letters worth. Alas, the chess book failed to make me a grand master, but the atlas is very comprehensive, and does show the way if you read it thoughtfully.
So, ‘Alpha and Omega’ suggests to me that Jesus is all that I need to know to live in God’s way here on earth. The ‘A to Z of Jesus’ is complete and authoritative, and is found in the gospels. Like the ‘A to Z of Chess’, it contains what I need to start with, but it takes experience and practice to progress. Similarly, takes much experience in playing the game of life to begin to approach the grandmastership of Jesus, even in purely human terms. And the gospels, like the ‘A to Z of Birmingham’, will show me the way if read thoughtfully.
Of course there is more to Jesus than just the human level. John (1, 2) says Jesus (the Word) was there before the world came into being. He goes on to say life was in him, life that was the light of men, although they didn’t understand it in their darkness. Sometimes that still seems to be the case. I cannot get to grips with Jesus as the Cosmic Christ, as the ‘Beginning and End’ of all things, beyond time and space. It is beyond my experience and I cannot picture it. I find it hard enough follow the way Jesus showed us in his thirty-year sojourn within this earthly realm. Perhaps I need a really good ‘A to Z of Christology’ to paint this picture for me; or perhaps I should concentrate on trying to live by the comprehensive ‘A to Z of Jesus’ in this world. After all, as the parable of the sheep and goats tells us (Matt 25, 31), it is what I do here that determines my fate in the grander dimly-pictured scheme of things outside my earthly life.
Jesus the alpha and the omega: Jesus , the beginning and the the end, and as the main blogs states, everything in between too. How fortunate we are that He is there for us always. " Lo , I am with you even unto the end of age. "
ReplyDeleteHow do we make Jesus the Alpha and the Omega of our lives? The answer lies, I think , in the way the Jews in Jesus time lived. Their religion was a way of life. It permeated everything they did. When they woke up in the morning, they recited,
" This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."
When they went to bed, they recited the Shema and ended with
" Into your hands I commend my spirit" ; Jesus' last words on the cross.
As for what happens in between those times, St Paul instructs us to pray without ceasing, do everything with all our hearts as though we are working for God and not for human masters, take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. For the times we are discouraged, he says in Philipians 4: 8,9
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
In 1Cor 9: 24-27 he says,
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
St Paul's exhortation in Col 2:6 and 7 conjures up the image of a tree,
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Our roots are in Christ, our trunks strengthened in faith in Christ and the branches and leaves, being our gratitude.
May Jesus always be the Alpha and Omega of our lives.