All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
John 1:3-5
Dear members and friends,
The simple question, “Who was Jesus Christ?” is 2,000 years old and is still causing wonder, confusion, and debate among Christians. At the heart of all questions regarding Jesus is his true nature: was he God or human? This was at the center of debate between Jews and the first Christians. Jews could not accept even the possibility of the existence of the Son of God, while the Christian faith was founded upon the belief in the divinity of Jesus. Later, there was a Christian elder from Alexandria, Arius, who claimed that Jesus the Son was a lesser deity created by God the Father, and thus is not eternal like the Father. Arius’ teachings were logical in a way, yet at the same time contrary to the monotheistic belief of Christianity. His teachings suggested that there are at least two divine beings: the eternal Father, and the divine Son who was begotten of the Father.
For the first Christians, understanding and accepting the nature and identity of Jesus was a critically important task as the people of the newly-emerging religion. Interestingly, what they chose to focus on was not figuring out the mysterious nature of Jesus, but learning and living the message of Jesus. For them, theological debate was less important than the experiential reality of love taught by Jesus. Emanuel Swedenborg insists that there is only one Creator, who incarnated into the human world in Jesus. According to Swedenborg, humanity is created and designed to host divinity. Thus, we are capable of living in God, and God within us by means of love.
My brothers and sisters in God, let us take a moment of reflection this week. Let us take into our hearts what it means to celebrate Advent (which means “coming”). God came into our world, our time, and our reality to remind us that we are here to practice love.
Blessings,
Rev. Junchol Lee