The Word of God

Homily for Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s passage from the Letter to the Hebrews begins with a description of the word of God through a series of great phrases. The author tells us that the word of God is living and effective. Down through the years of human history, great men have uttered great statements. However, with the passage of time, few of those statements have remained alive. The word of God is something that every person must face; it offers something one must accept or reject, but it cannot be ignored.

Not only is God’s word living, it is also effective. It is one of the facts of history that wherever people have taken God’s word seriously things have begun to happen. God’s word is not simply ink applied to parchment; God’s word is something to be done. The Jews always had a very special idea about words. In their way of thinking, once a word was spoken, it did not have independent existence. It was not only a sound with a certain meaning; it was a power which went forth and did things. Isaiah heard God say that the word which went out of God’s mouth would never be ineffective; it would always do that which God designed it to do.

Next, we hear that the word of God is penetrating. It penetrates to the division of soul and spirit. In Greek thought, the soul is the life principle. All living things possess it, for it is physical life. The Greeks also thought, however, that human life was more than soul; it was also spirit. It is by spirit that human beings think and reason and look beyond earth to God. It is as if the writer to the Hebrews were saying that the word of God tests a person’s earthly life and his spiritual existence.

Finally, the writer to the Hebrews sums things up. He says that everything is naked to God and compelled to meet God’s eyes. We may be able to wear our outward trappings and disguises; but in the presence of God, these things are stripped away, and we have to meet him as we are. In the ancient world, when a criminal was being led to judgment or to execution, a dagger was fixed below his chin so that he could not bow his head to conceal his face. He had to keep it up so that people could look at him and know his dishonor and shame.

Having described God’s word, the author turns to the fact that Jesus is indeed God’s word made flesh, a high priest, great in nature who has passed through the heavens. It is to the son of God that we must hold fast, gripping the word of God. Because the word of God has become flesh, Jesus knows and understands our weakness and our every temptation. Therefore, we need not fear to approach his throne, to come to his altar where we will receive life and grace beyond our human expectations.