A new name for God
In the centuries before Jesus Christ there were many names for many gods. The gods were elements and forces and passions and hungers and perplexities that were given names. There was bitter and spiteful Zeus. There was licentious Baal and his consort Asherah. There was the bloodthirsty Kali, the immoral Aphrodite and Dionysus and his drunken crew. All these and a larger host got the name of god. Then Jesus came and we saw the one true God and got his name. The name he called himself!
No Christian with a New Testament in her hand will end the story of Jesus Christ at the birth in Bethlehem. No Christian with eyes opened by the cross as the moment when the universe was reconciled to God will want to say the Story lost its way after the stable and the incarnation. The cross and the resurrection and glorification of Jesus Christ must be given their place at the heart of the Christian faith. But it would be tragic to nod at and pass by the incarnation as if it were not a blinding revelation and a moment of astonishing glory to God.
All the above were called God until Jesus Christ came with the smell of a stable on him, the love of humans in him and a cross on his back. Heinrich Heine, German-born poet and literary figure, after quoting the Homeric description of the feasting gods, says:
"Then suddenly approached, panting, a pale Jew with drops of blood on his brow, with a crown of thorns on his head, and a great cross laid on his shoulders; and he threw the cross on the high table of the gods so that the golden cups tottered, and the gods became dumb and pale, and grew even paler till at last they melted away into vapour."
In the ancient Middle East when someone would ask the name of God the multitudes would chant "Baal, Baal". In the worst forms of Hindu religion when people asked the name of God hoarse devotees would cry out "Kali" and when you asked a school boy in ancient Greece who the supreme God was he’d quickly tell you "Zeus".
And when Joseph asked what they would call Mary’s baby who would be Immanuel the angel said, "Call his name Jesus because..." (Matthew 1:21)
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
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