URC Daily Devotion 2nd January 2019

Gregory and Basil were two friends bound together by their desire to promote and defend the divinity of Christ as proclaimed in the Nicene Creed. This was against the seemingly overwhelming pressure from both Church and State for the establishment of Arianism, which denied Christ’s divinity and thus the whole Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Basil was renowned for being headstrong and forceful, in comparison to his friend Gregory, who would rather spend his days in prayer and living the simple, ascetic life. Gregory’s brilliance in oratory and theological debate meant that a hidden life was virtually impossible and Basil drew him into the forefront of the controversy. Their joint persuasive eloquence convinced the first Council of Constantinople, meeting in 381, that their teaching was the truly orthodox one and the Council ratified the text of the Nicene Creed in the form it is used in the East to this day. Basil died in 379 and Gregory ten years later.

‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.  No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

So let’s focus on Matthew’s words. How do they relate to the holiness of humanity and the human-ness of Christ?

Matthew asserts that we of the salt of the earth, light to the people, and our purpose is to further God’s glory. We are not merely human, but also holy. In all of our fears and frailties, desires and flesh, we share something of God, something of divinity, something of mission. Then we read that Christ has come to fulfil the law. We know that that fulfilment was, in part, a death. Jesus had to suffer and die as a human being, just like us.

Perhaps, then, we should also reconsider the divinity of our humanness. To be holy does not mean to set apart or overcome our fears, frailties, desires and flesh. Rather, it means to show that humanity is divine in as much as we love eachother not despite, but precisely because of, our diverse human identities. Who are you? Who is God in you?