{"id":8644,"date":"2023-02-08T07:16:57","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T14:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8644"},"modified":"2023-02-08T07:17:44","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T14:17:44","slug":"whats-the-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8644","title":{"rendered":"
What\u2019s the Word?<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 1:1-18<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Season of Epiphany<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Hamlet Polonius comes to Hamlet and asks him: \u201cWhat are you reading?\u201d And Hamlet says: \u201cWords, words, words.\u201d What are words?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Gospel of John 1:1 states: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14 reads: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son of the Father.\u201d Two words are central, \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cglory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we take up \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cglory,\u201d what do words, any words, mean? We all know the nursery rhyme \u201cHumpty Dumpty\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall:<\/em>
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.<\/em>‘<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the Nineteenth Century Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland<\/em> and Through the Looking Glass<\/em>. In Through the Looking Glass <\/em>Carroll adapted this nursery rhyme for a conversation between Humpty Dumpty and Alice to take up the meaning of words. It goes like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I use a word,\u201d Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, \u201cit means just what I choose it to mean \u2013 neither more nor less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is,\u201d said Alice, \u201cwhether you can<\/strong> make words mean so many different things.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is,\u201d said Humpty Dumpty, \u201cwhich is to be master \u2014 that’s all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minutes Humpty Dumpty began again: \u201cThey’ve a temper, some of them \u2014 particularly verbs: they’re the proudest \u2014 adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs \u2014 however, I<\/u><\/strong> can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That’s what I<\/u><\/strong> say!’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWould you tell me please,\u201d said Alice, \u201cwhat that means?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow you talk like a reasonable child,\u201d said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. \u201cI meant by \u2018impenetrability\u2019 that we’ve had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you’d mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don’t mean to stop here all the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s a great deal to make one word mean,\u201d Alice said in a thoughtful tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I make a word do a lot of work like that,\u201d said Humpty Dumpty, \u201cI always pay extra for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh!\u201d said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAh, you should see ’em come round me on a Saturday night,\u201d Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to side, \u201cto get their wages, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Alice didn’t venture to ask what he paid them with; and so you see I can’t tell you<\/strong>.)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The important lines are the three in the middle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I use a word,\u201d Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, \u201cit means just what I choose it to mean \u2013 neither more nor less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is,\u201d said Alice, \u201cwhether you can<\/strong> make words mean so many different things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe question is,\u201d said Humpty Dumpty, \u201cwhich is to be master \u2014 that’s all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We think: \u201cA word means what I think it means, how I use it, how I experience and feel it to mean.\u201d How do words work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time we assume that words are plain, simple, and self-evident. But words don\u2019t work that way. You may have been taught that words have a literal or a figurative meaning, or that they are denotative or connotative. But these distinctions break down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four illustrations: First, take the word \u201cbox.\u201d That can mean a container, and it can mean the sport of boxing. Or it can mean \u201cboxing someone\u2019s ears,\u201d which is a kind of punishment. Or \u201cboxing the compass,\u201d which is naming all 32 clockwise points of the compass in order. There are even more meanings of the word \u201cbox.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, the same is true for the word \u201ccow.\u201d People will say: \u201cA cow is a cow is a cow. Don\u2019t pretend that that herd of cattle over there is not a herd of cows.\u201d But if you go to Madagascar, you would see a herd of cattle, but all of their cattle have a fatty hump on their shoulders. Those are Zebu. If you shipped one of our cows to Madagascar, they would say: \u201cThat\u2019s not a cow!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, if today I say to you: \u201cI\u2019ll see you next Monday,\u201d that really means tomorrow. But a lot of people would say that tomorrow is \u201cthis Monday,\u201d and \u201cnext Monday\u201d is eight days from now. How words are used can be confusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And fourth, an example from the Bible. Psalm 114:4: \u201cThe mountains skipped like rams; the hills like little lambs.\u201d Should we take those words in their plain, simple meaning? Was there an earthquake? No. The psalmist is expressing how the earth trembles with joy at the presence of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translating is even more complicated. We do manage to learn other languages, but it takes insight, imagination, and work to really hear what someone is saying and not merely transpose words from one language into another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matt 26:41 says: \u201cThe spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.\u201d Someone put this verse in a translation machine, that is, translated it into another language and then back to English and it became: \u201cThe whiskey is good, but the meat is underdone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Gospel of John the birth narrative is John 1:14: \u201cThe Word became flesh and dwelt among us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Apostle Paul uses the word \u201cflesh,\u201d he does not mean \u201cthe meat on the bone.\u201d  He means that force which is against the Spirit. As he writes in Galatians 5:17: \u201cFor the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.\u201d (Sometimes when he is quoting something else, he doesn\u2019t follow this usage.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Gospel of John says \u201cflesh,\u201d it means \u201cthe meat on the bones.\u201d The Word became a human being with flesh and blood and bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 1:14 reads: \u201c. . . dwelt among us,\u201c but that\u2019s not what the Greek says. It should be \u201cThe Word became flesh and tented among us.\u201d But modern translations do not use \u201ctented\u201d because that would imply that Jesus was only here for a short visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWord\u201d is the first word. The second word is \u201cglory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 1:14b states: \u201cWe have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.\u201d What is \u201cglory\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we often think of \u201cglory\u201d in terms of Christmas hymns such as \u201cAngels from the Realms of Glory,\u201d and Easter hymns such as \u201cThine is the Glory.\u201d Glory is a powerful way of saying \u201ctriumph.\u201d Someone has said that we should spell glory: Glow-ry. There is that halo, that nimbus that shines out from behind the head of Jesus in many paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humpty Dumpty had something to say about \u201cglory.\u201d Just ahead of the conversation already cited, there is this exchange:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Humpty Dumpty says]: \u201cThere\u2019s glory for you!.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what you mean by glory,\u201d Alice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously: \u201cOf course you don\u2019t \u2013 until I tell you. I meant \u2013 \u2018There\u2019s a nice knock-down argument for you!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut \u2018glory\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean a nice knock-down argument,\u201d Alice objected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Humpty famously says: \u201cWhen I use a word, it means what I choose it to mean, no more and no less . . . .\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cglory<\/strong>\u201d is found throughout the Bible, but in the Gospel of John it is found in John 1:14 and three other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 12: 23: \u201cThe hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 12:28: \u201cFor this purpose I have come to this hour. \u2018Father, glorify<\/strong> thy name. Then a voice came from heaven, \u2018I have glorified <\/strong>it, and I will glorify <\/strong>it again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 17:1 in the high priestly prayer: \u201cFather, the hour has come; glorify<\/strong> thy Son that the Son may glorify<\/strong> thee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201ccross\u201d = \u201cglory\u201d! That\u2019s counter-intuitive. The cross is a scandal and foolishness. Paul knows that. In 1 Cor 1:18-25 Paul writes about the cross as a scandal and foolishness. He ends up in 1 Cor 1:28-29 with glory and boasting: \u201cHe chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast<\/strong> in the presence of God.\u201d The word \u201cboast\u201d is also \u201cglory.\u201d There is nothing on our part that we can glory\/boast about. And then in 1 Cor 1:31, quoting Jeremiah 9:23-24, Paul writes: \u201cLet him who boasts, boast of the Lord\u201d (also 2 Cor 10:17).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that mean for you and me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It means something very specific. It means God is changing us. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul writes: \u201cAnd we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory<\/strong> of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory<\/strong> to another.\u201d Note the present tense: We are being changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then 2 Cor 4:3: \u201cEven if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.\u201d Those who are outside of Christ can\u2019t see it; they don\u2019t know it. It means nothing them except foolishness and scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul continues in 2 Cor 4:6: \u201cFor it is the God who said, \u2018Let light shine out of the darkness,\u2019 who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory<\/strong> of God in the face of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The glory<\/strong> is the Crucified One. That\u2019s the glory<\/strong>. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 1:1-18<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Season of Epiphany<\/p>\n

In Hamlet Polonius comes to Hamlet and asks him: \u201cWhat are you reading?\u201d And Hamlet says: \u201cWords, words, words.\u201d What are words?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Gospel of John 1:1 states: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:14 reads: \u201cAnd the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son of the Father.\u201d Two words are central, \u201cWord\u201d and \u201cglory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8644"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8650,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8644\/revisions\/8650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}