Uniquely, for John in his gospel, Jesus
is ‘the Word [who] became flesh and lived among us’ (John 1:14). He also tells
us that the Word was ‘with God’ and that it was uncreated. ‘No one has ever
seen God’, John argues. ‘It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s
heart, who has made him known’ (John 1:18). Without wishing to elaborate further in philosophical
and theological speculation about the prologue to John’s gospel, for us the terminology of the Word, logos,
is particularly important. Logos can
mean much more than speech, but this aspect of ‘the Word’ is worth
concentrating on. ‘This speech of God is not only a possibility’, one
commentator writes, ‘ – it is an imperative. It lies at the heart of vital
faith and fullness of life. God speaking to humans and humans responding to God
provides the matrix for life, for meaning and vocation. And, when the
individual or the community turns away from the God who speaks, faith, life and
mission wane’ (Ben Campbell Johnson, The
God who speaks. Learning the Language of God (2004), p. 7). And if we speak
to God in fervent prayer, we need to know that on occasion he will speak to us
in reply.
Of course, when we think about it, we
know from both the Old and New Testaments that God speaks. He speaks to Abram
before he is renamed Abraham, telling him that he is to move from his land to
another of God’s choosing and that he will make him the father of a great
nation. He speaks to Moses after he brought the people of Israel out of
slavery, that they should have no other gods before him. And the Psalmist
celebrates the voice of God as ‘powerful’ and full of majesty, able to break
the cedars of Lebanon (Psalm 29:4-6). The true God ‘is in the heavens’ and is
able to speak, unlike the idols of other nations who ‘have mouths but do not
speak… [and who] make no sound in their throats.’ (Ps 115:3-8).
John the Baptist recalls in John’s
gospel that ‘the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom
you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit”’ (John 1:33). The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke affirm in almost
identical language that after Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan a voice
came from heaven announcing ‘this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased’ (Matthew 3:17); Mark and Luke have ‘thou art my beloved Son; with thee
I am well pleased’ (Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). And there are other New Testament
examples of the voice of Jesus after his death, resurrection and ascension
being heard by Saul/Paul, Ananias, Peter and others, so we can multiply the examples.
These various biblical testimonies have
enormous significance for our faith and our life of prayer. As Leslie
Weatherhead reminds us in his A private
house of prayer (1958), the first thing we have to do in our prayers is to
assert the presence of God. We are not praying in a vacuum or to someone who is
not present, but to someone who wants us to turn to him and is ready to listen.
Not only to listen, but on occasion, if we are ready to hear, to reply,
particularly with guidance in our spiritual life and our personal vocation.
In his secret spiritual diary of a
period of great crisis entitled The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen
writes: ‘it is not going to be easy to listen to God’s call. Your insecurity,
your self-doubt, and your great need for affirmation make you lose trust in
your inner voice and run away from yourself. But you know that God speaks to
you through your inner voice and that you will find joy and peace only if you
follow it. Yes, your spirit is willing to follow, but your flesh is weak’
(Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love. A journey through
anguish to freedom (1998), p.
89. Johnson, The God who speaks, p.
83).
Elsewhere in the same diary, Nouwen
writes: ‘God says to you, “I love you. I am with you. I want to see you come
closer to me and experience the joy and peace of my presence. I want to give
you a new heart and a new spirit. I want you to speak with my mouth, see with
my eyes, hear with my ears, and touch with my hands. All that is mine is yours.
Just trust me and let me be your God.” This is the voice to listen to. And that
listening requires a real choice, not just once in while but every moment of
each day and night’ (Nouwen, The Inner
Voice of Love, p. 113. Johnson, The
God who speaks, p. 84).
‘Conversion
is certainly not something you can bring about yourself’, Nouwen tells us. ‘It
is not a question of will power. You have to trust in the inner voice that
shows you the way’ (p. 6). God has called us to ‘speak the Word to the world
and to speak it fearlessly’. We must then ‘let God speak words of forgiveness,
healing and reconciliation, words calling to obedience, radical commitment and
service’ (p. 99). We can do all this only if we cling to ‘the real, lasting and
unambiguous love of Jesus’. Whenever we doubt that love, Nouwen tells us to ‘return
to [our] inner spiritual home and listen there to love’s voice’ (p. 93). Our
treasure is God’s love (p. 111); all we have to do is to nurture it in a quiet,
intimate place. Listening to God, then is the road to the kingdom: ‘it is the
journey to the place where [we all] can rest’ (p. 112).
