Edgework

For much of my life I have conflated Jesus, born in Bethlehem, with the cosmic Christ through whom the world was made. It is only recently that I have come to see that “Jesus and Christ are not the same.” John Dun Scotus, that famous Franciscan theologian of the 13th century, has helped me to see this via the gentle prodding of Richard Rohr. I am somewhat embarrassed and surprised not to have noticed a distinction between the two before, but also amazed at how doing so opens up new vistas of understanding.

Richard Rohr says in a recent daily reading, “Christ is not Jesus’ last name. The word ‘Christ’ is a title, meaning the Anointed One, which many Christians so consistently applied to Jesus that to us it became like a name. But a study of Scripture, Tradition and the experience of many mystics reveals a much larger, broader, and deeper meaning to ‘the Christ” (Dec. 3). It is of interest to note that only a few early Church Fathers – Origen of Alexandria and Maximus the Confessor – noticed that Christ was both older and larger that Jesus himself.

This proclamation sent me back to re-read some of the biblical texts about Christ, like John 1, Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, and Acts 17. And when I checked with the William Barclay commentaries I have had on my shelf for half a century, I was even more surprised to note that although Barclay confirms this conclusion, somehow I had overlooked it. I – along with many Christians through the centuries – have assumed for too long that Jesus Christ’s central role was to come to earth in God’s plan B to be the problem solver after humankind had messed things up. As Rohr says, “The Good News is that the Christ is Plan A from the very beginning, and Jesus came along much later to make it all visible, lovable, and attractive” (Dec. 5).

A good resource to reflect on these things is the prologue to the Gospel of John. It is clear that at the outset, John has something else in mind than the Jesus born in Bethlehem. Eventually he gets to the man Jesus but not straight away. While some would argue that John begins to focus on Jesus in verse 10, I think a logical reading could push that all the way forward to verse 14. That is to say that for 13 verses John is talking about the cosmic or universal Christ before proclaiming that this Christ made his dwelling among us in human form.

John begins by proclaiming that the “Word,” which he will later identify as Christ, pre-existed creation and in fact “was” God. Barclay notes that the Greek construction – without the definite article – carries the connotation that the Word “…was, as we might say, of the very same character and essence and being as God” (17). This thought would later be corroborated in Hebrews 1:3 where it states that, “The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…” This points us to the great revelation, “God was and is and ever shall be always like Jesus; but men could never know and realize that until Jesus came” (Barclay, 16). In other words, we have no authority to assign to God any characteristics other than those we see in Jesus, which means that we must always read all of the Old Testament presentations of God through the lens of Christ.

John goes on to say in verse 3 that this Word was instrumental in creating all things. That lines up perfectly with Paul’s assertion in Colossians 1:15-16. “He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation…all things were created by him and for him.” Paul even adds in verse 17 that, “…in him all things hold together.” Jesus was not yet born in Bethlehem at creation and at the time Paul was asserting Christ’s role in holding all things together the man, Jesus, was no longer walking the earth. So we are forced to come to the conclusion that for both John and Paul there is a clear distinction between the universal or cosmic Christ and Jesus who came to dwell among us.

While this distinction between the cosmic Christ and Jesus born in Bethlehem may not seem that significant to some, for me this revelation has brought with it a better perspective with which to celebration of the birth of Jesus.

• Jesus was not waiting around within the Trinity for the grand opportunity to come to earth as a problem fixer when humankind had messed things up. In some senses it is even fair to say that in the “pre-existence” of Jesus there existed only the “Christ” by whom all things were created and held together. In a broader sense, that Christ is the One we worship and follow in this world.
• Christ-followers will always need Jesus to begin to comprehend the cosmic Christ. Is that why Jesus still appears in “human” form in visions for those whose spiritual eyes are open?
• Jesus was born, dwelt and died among us, not because of an assignment to placate his angry Father who was intent on inflicting conscious, eternal torment on depraved humankind, but rather to demonstrate “in real time” the loving heart of God which had always and would always remain constant.
• In that sense, Jesus born in Bethlehem was “…a precise, concrete and personal referent” which would make God’s presence in the world more obvious and believable.

So I will celebrate the birth of Jesus two millennia ago with enthusiasm during this Christmas season. But I will at the same time be more cognizant of the eternal presence and work of the universal or cosmic Christ whom Jesus represents – the Christ who is both the Alpha and the Omega point of all history and gives the whole universe meaning, direction and goal!