One Substance
Wood: it’s everywhere in cars. The very first MG model, the 1930 M-type Midget, had a body made of fabric and plywood. Yes, plywood. During the same era, upper-crust Hispano-Suizas were decorated with tulipwood and copper rivets. Morgan famously employed wood in its wood-framed doors and floorboards, and even structurally, long after other automakers (except for Franklin) went to steel. In the first half of the 20th century, select American cars could be optioned with wood-paneled bodies; perfectly planed panels of beechwood and maple dovetailed together remain as a testament to American craftsmanship of that era.
All of this wood has one thing in common: it’s wood. Even when one car’s burled walnut dashboard comes from a different tree than the treated pine running boards, they share the same biological makeup.
This sameness is one of the central themes of John’s Gospel. The bold words and supernatural works of Jesus raised lots of eyebrows; Jesus was either possessed by something evil, or granted the authority of God the Father. So Jesus repeatedly testified about his Heavenly origins, his oneness with God the Father, and his divine purpose for curing people and preaching to them.
John starts his Gospel with this sameness of Father and Son: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3) Only the creator can exist apart from creation.
John’s use of the word “Word” intentionally symbolized the means God used to create. In the beginning, God spoke words, and new matter – new substance – burst forth from the void. A few verses later, John would say “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (v. 14) As the incarnation of God’s new covenant with His people, Jesus embodied the words of God’s promise to love, redeem, and restore people to Him. By these words, and by Jesus, all of the brokenness of Creation would be restored and rebuilt. This was Jesus’ role from the beginning: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together… For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:17-25)
For the most dramatic and most important reconciliation effort, look at yourself and at the people around you. We all experience the obvious inadequacy, brokenness, insufficiency, fractiousness, inefficacy, and decay that are inherent human qualities. Jesus, taking on the substance of frail human flesh, also took on the brokenness and sin. Because of his effort, we get to be restored and reconciled to God. In our new life in Christ, we live with this shared Godly substance in us: “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:57)
When Jesus talked about life after his death, resurrection, and ascension, he promised a small taste of the oneness and sameness that he shares with God the Father: “‘On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.’” (John 14:20-21)
Just as the same wood in so many cars shares the same substance, God’s substance lives in us. When God is allowed to work in our lives, we can prioritize and practice loving people and restoring broken relationships. These actions mimic – on a tiny scale – the actions of God.
Love is the good stuff, the substance that holds everything together. The perfect, redeeming love of Jesus, and the Creation-wide restorative love of God are the same substance that motivates us to call an old relative, listen to someone who believes something different, protect and preserve God’s Creation even when it’s a little inconvenient, and be honest and transparent with a parent or significant other. Those acts, and many more, are gorgeous, visible testaments to the loving handiwork of God.
