The One and Only by Rev. L. John Gable
In this age of hype and hyperbole it is difficult to know who is telling the truth when they tell us “This is the one and only”: “the one and only” diamond in this particular setting when there are a dozen more exactly like it in the cabinet behind the counter; that this is “the one and only” opportunity to get this great deal when we know a “once in a lifetime” opportunity seems to come around about every six months; that this is “the one and only” Messiah when there have been many “wanna be” Messiahs who have made exactly the same claim through the centuries, and even still today. Yet this is exactly what Jesus said about Himself; what the Gospels proclaim; what the Church through the ages has affirmed; and what we stand and profess today when we say, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord”, as we do in the Apostles’ Creed. In this affirmation of our faith we are saying that we believe that Jesus is “the One and only.”
That seven word phrase lays the foundation, not just for the Christmas story, but for the entirety of our faith. Each individual word makes a bold statement as to who Jesus was and what He came to do, so each word is worthy of our attention.
I believe in Jesus. Jesus was a common name for little boys in first century Palestine. It is the Greek derivation of the Hebrew name Joshua, who we recall was the successor to Moses in the Old Testament. The name itself means “Jehovah saves”, “God saves” which is a wonderful proclamation to make whenever that name is spoken, but particularly so, or better uniquely so, when we say the name “Jesus”. The angel announced to Joseph in a dream, “Mary will bear a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” While many of us may know the meaning of our names or why we were so named, Jesus is unique in that He actually came to do what His name says He would do. Stated another way, the angel announced “You shall name Him Savior for He came to save.” Jesus came to us in earthly form, to save us from our sins, an act surely given to God and God alone.
I believe in Jesus Christ. At the time of His birth Jesus would have been known as Jesus, son of Joseph, or throughout His ministry as Jesus of Nazareth, His hometown; but in the opening line of Matthew’s Gospel as in the Creed, and now through the centuries, He is called Jesus (the) Christ, “Christ” being the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Messiah”, or “the anointed one”, the one who would usher in the Kingdom of God’s reign. So, Christ is not Jesus’ surname, it is His designation. When we say, “Jesus Christ” we are saying, “Jesus, the long awaited Messiah, the One promised by God and spoken of by the prophets.”
Palestine in the first century was a hotbed of Messianic expectation; in fact at the time there were 19 identified “wanna be” Messiahs, all of whom spoke of over throwing the occupying Roman empire, except One who came not to set the nation of Israel free from their oppressors, but all people free from their sins. Jesus is that One and only.
Jesus stood alone among the rest. When He called the disciple Phillip, saying “Come, follow Me!” Phillip then went to his friend Nathanael and said, “We have found Him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth”, in short, “We have found the Messiah!” But Nathanael was less than impressed. He had been to that little backwater burg, so he replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Phillip answered simply, “Come and see.” “Come and see for yourself, that Jesus truly is who He says He is, the Christ,” and that is the invitation that continues to be extended to each and every one of us today, and through us to others, “We have found the Messiah, come and see for yourself.”
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son. The uniqueness of Jesus is that He is both fully human, born of Mary even before she had relations with her husband Joseph (more on that next week when we discuss the next phrase of the creed, “conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary”), and He was fully divine. In this, again, He is the One and only.
Unlike any of the other self-proclaimed Messiahs, in Jesus (the) Christ, we believe that God Himself became one of us by taking on human flesh, in carnis, incarnate. As the angel said to Joseph, “He will be called Emmanuel, which means ‘God with us’”
In John’s Gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word – the Greek word is Logos referring to the creative, life-giving power of God we spoke about last week which “spoke” the creation in to being – “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Who is this Word? What does John even mean when he writes that this Word was WITH God at the creation and WAS God? He answers that question in the 14th verse when he writes, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us” – literally “tabernacled” among us, “moved into our neighborhood” is the way Eugene Peterson phrases it, “and we have seen His glory, the glory of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”
When we profess that Jesus is the Christ, and further that He is God’s only Son, we are making the claim that Jesus is a full member of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which means when we look at Jesus the Son we are seeing God the Father. In another later conversation with His disciples Jesus makes the remarkable claim, “If you know Me you will know My Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him…for whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” Think about that for a moment, whoever has seen Jesus has seen God!
One day a little girl was drawing a picture in her Sunday School class. Her teacher asked her what she was drawing and she said, “It’s a picture of God.” Somewhat perplexed, and I’m sure wanting to help this little girl have a more informed theological understanding, said, “Well, dear, no one really knows what God looks like.” And without missing a beat the little girl said, “They will when I’m done!” If ever you’ve wondered what God looks like, look at Jesus. What God sounds like, listen to Jesus. What it means to be a God-follower, follow Jesus. For when we look at Jesus we see God in human flesh, Emmanuel, the One and only.
On the one trip he made to the United States, Karl Barth, whom many consider to the greatest theologian of the 20th century, gave a lecture at Princeton Theological Seminary, followed by a question and answer session. A student stood and asked him a question we all wonder about in one-way or another. “Sir, don’t you think God has revealed Himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?” Barth’s answer, those who were there said, came like a bolt of lightning. “No, God has not revealed Himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed Himself in His Son.” Again, He is the One and only. As John writes, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.”
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. “Jesus is Lord” is the first and primary creedal confession of our faith and what is implied in that statement is the term “Savior”, even as it was in our understanding of the meaning of His name. In this, Jesus did for us what He came to do, that which we could not do for ourselves, He came to save us.
We read in I Timothy, “Jesus Christ came in to the world to save sinners” (1:15) which leads us to the absolutely necessary first step of faith for each and every one of us – to acknowledge and confess our sins and then turn to Him in faith, trusting Him as Savior. This first step establishes our relationship with God, but that alone is not all there is to the life of faith, we must also submit to Him as Lord, which actually makes sense for us to do if we have already affirmed the first six words we have used to describe Him: that He really has come to save us; that He really is the promised Messiah; that He uniquely has a relationship with Father as His only Son; and that He invites us, all of us not only some of us, to enter in to a right and restored relationship with God as we put our trust in Him. If we really do believe Him to be our Savior, then it only makes sense that we would also submit to Him as our Master and Lord. To be a follower of Jesus means more than merely standing and uttering a printed confession or nodding our heads in agreement as we sit and listen to a sermon, it means actually hearing His invitation to “come and follow” and then getting up and following. To be His disciple means to commit to disciplining and training ourselves to His teaching, to listening to and obeying His Word as any student would their master or servant their Lord. To be a Christian means to be a “little Christ” putting into practice in our everyday lives and relationships His truth, His mercy, His grace, His justice, His being. When Jesus invites us to “follow Him” He is inviting us to enter in to a relationship with the Father that can only be offered by the Son, the One and only.
The story is told of a wealthy man who had just one son, whom he loved dearly. Together they shared a passion for art and traveled the world collecting and adding the finest treasures to their collection. As the young man came of age he was drafted in to the army and went off to war where he was tragically killed while trying to rescue another wounded soldier. For years the father was distraught and nearly inconsolable at the loss of his son, until one day a visitor came to his estate. He explained that he was the one the man’s son had given his life to save. He knew of the father’s love of artwork, so he presented him with a painting he had made of his son. It was by no means good art, but the man had done his best to capture his image. The father loved the painting and without hesitation he removed the valuable masterpiece hanging over his fireplace and hung this painting in its place. Though no one would ever consider it the work of a genius it became the father’s favorite piece of art and his most prized possession.
Years passed and the old man died. The art world waited in anticipation. With the collector’s passing, and there being no apparent heir, the amassed collection would be sold at auction. The day arrived and collectors from around the world gathered to bid on these great works of art. However, the auction began with a piece that was not on any museum’s list. It was the painting of the man’s son and it was in accordance with the stated wishes of the father’s will that the auction should begin in this way. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid and the room fell silent. No one wanted this painting. “Who will open the bidding at $100?” asked the auctioneer. No one spoke. “Just pass over it and move on”, shouted one of the bidders. “No”, said the auctioneer, “the owner of these treasures made his wishes very clear. We have to start with this one.” Finally a friend of the old man spoke up and said, “Will you take $10 for the painting? I knew the boy and I’d like to have it.” Seeing no other bidders the auctioneer let the gavel fall, “Sold, for $10!” There was a stirring in the crowd as the real bidding was about to begin, but rapping the gavel again the auctioneer announced that the auction was over. “What do you mean, “over”?” asked one stunned bidder. “There are pieces here worth millions of dollars!” “I know”, said the auctioneer, “but it’s very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son, gets it all!” In this age of hype and hyperbole we confess a very plain and simple truth: that knowing “God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” is the privilege we have been given when we know “Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord”, the One and only. Amen.