In the beginning God did not lift a hammer nor shape the world with His hands. He spoke. And the world came to be. Creation began not with noise but with obedience to the Word of God.
When Saint John opened his Gospel, he did not contradict Genesis. He completed it. What was spoken in the beginning was revealed in the fullness of time. The Word was not only said. The Word became flesh. The Word became Jesus Christ.
This tells us something very important. The Word of God is not dead ink on a page. It is not a memory. It is not a quote. The Word is alive. And because the Word is alive, it cannot remain neutral. A living Word always demands a response. A living Word always seeks movement. A living Word does not ask for admiration but for obedience.
Here is where many of us become uncomfortable. We like to hear the Word. We like to reflect on it. We like to explain it. But the moment the Word asks something of us, we hesitate. The moment it commands us to forgive, to be honest, to choose what is right even when it costs us, we begin to negotiate.
But a Word that does not move us is a Word that we silence. Let us be honest. Every time we hear the Gospel and refuse to act, we do not merely ignore the Word. We weaken it in our lives. And if the Word is Christ, then our refusal becomes more serious than we think.
We do not crucify Jesus only with nails. We crucify Him again when we refuse to listen. We crucify Him again when we hear His Word and choose convenience over obedience. We crucify Him again when we know what is right and still do what is easy. Now some may say that the Word of God should compel us to action. And that sounds dangerous. Because to compel seems to mean forcing someone against his will.
But God never violates our freedom. He respects it so deeply that He allows us even to reject Him. The Word does not compel by violence. It compels by truth. It presses on the conscience. It unsettles the heart. It refuses to leave us comfortable in wrongdoing.
When the Word truly enters a person, it does not chain the will. It awakens it. This is why obedience is not slavery. Obedience is how the Word becomes alive in us. Jesus is not made alive in the world by our emotions. He is not made alive by our songs alone. He is made alive when His Word takes flesh again in our choices, in our actions, in our daily faithfulness.
If we want Jesus to live in the hearts of men, then we must first allow Him to live in our own lives through unwavering obedience. Not selective obedience. Not delayed obedience. But obedience that trusts even when it is costly.
The Word became flesh once in Bethlehem. Today, it seeks to become flesh again in us. The question is not whether the Word is alive. It always is. The real question is whether we will let it live through us.