The Circle of Life

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the movement of life? In which direction are we moving? These are questions that people have sought to answer since society began. Fallen man, not knowing the mind of God, wonders whence things have come, and where they are headed. Therefore, we come up with explanations that sound good to our own minds.

One popular conception of the cosmos is that it is circular, or at least cyclical. One can find this view in philosphies of the East and the West. In some schools of Hindu thought, the universe is thought of as being infinite, both in time and space. However, the universe runs in cycles. As it is said, once every thousand years a bird flies over Mount Everest, brushing it with a silk scarf. When Everest has been worn down by this, the universe will reset, and a new age will come to be, and so things have been and will cycle on forever.

Another version of this is more popular with Western scientific minds. Some hold that the so-called Big Bang started everything off, and that all matter is hurtling out into space in all directions. However, it will someday get to the end of the line and start sliding backward. This backward motion will eventually result in the Big Crunch, where all matter and energy will crunch back together, and then, theoretically, another Big Bang will happen, and it will all start over again.

A great many more people believe in the near-endless cycle of reincarnation that enslaves us all. You are born into a station in life, whether as a plant or a king, and living as good a life as you can will get you moved one step up the ladder when you die and come back next time around. Moving up and down the ladder, you will step by step head for the end, which is nothing, or everything, depending on who you ask.

Today's epistle lesson presents a different image of how the cosmos works. St. Paul tells us, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” From and through and to God everything is and moves. The universe comes from God, exists through His care, and it all points to Him.

Aristotle, 700-some years before St. Paul, proposed an understanding of the universe as a circle, but not an infinite one. According to the philosopher, the universe has a fixed beginning and ending – God. God is the unmoved mover, the one who puts everything in motion, and yet is not Himself moved. Therefore, Aristotle says, God is also the End of everything, because He is the true reality, since He is the only thing that does not change.

A thousand years later, teachers of the Church came to understand Aristotle's model according the the teachings of Scripture. St. Paul's ascription is one of the texts that bridges this divide. Obviously, God is the beginning of all things, since He is the creator of the universe. Likewise, He is the end of all things, because all of creation exists to give glory to God.

From God are all things. He is the creator of all things, while Himself being uncreated and infinite. The first words of Scripture declare, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). God is the fount and source of all goodness and life. Moses records that the Word of the Lord came forth from His mouth, and that Word created all things according to the will of the Lord. He spoke, and everything that is came to be. Out of the mouth of the Lord came the Word of creation. No substance existed before He created it. No will formed the cosmos except His. No act was needed except His speaking. He spoke, and it was.

Likewise, the Lord still speaks, and His will still comes to be. His are the words of eternal life, as St. Peter ascribes. He bespeaks you righteous, and you are so. He gives His Name, and it is affixed upon His desired object. The Word of the Lord goes forth from His mouth, and it never returns void.

Nevertheless, St. Paul asks, “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Or who has given a gift to Him, that he might be repaid?” We ought not presume to peer into the darkness of the mind of God, beyond what He has revealed in His Word. To peer into the mind of God is idolatry, and invites death, as the Scriptures warn, “No one may see God and live.” He is so far beyond our faculties of comprehension that we must simply let God be God.

And yet, you are not content with that. No human being is; in fact, this is the first sin. You want to know the unknowable. You want the mind of God. You want to know everything. You want to be like God. And sometimes you think you do know everything. Or at least you know enough. What does God have to say to you that you don't already know? You are smart enough to come to your own conclusions and to find your way on your own. If you just work hard enough, plan smart enough, and keep your nose clean, you'll do alright.

Then, when things go wrong, you still want to exalt yourself over God. Why did this have to happen? Where was God in all this? Why do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people? You want to question God and His will and purpose, as if you know better how things should be. The Scriptures over and over warn that the ways of God are beyond your knowing, and yet you keep trying, as if somehow God might let the mask slip and show you what no one else has found.

Even if you realize that you cannot know the mind of God, you still want to lay claim to the gifts of God as if they were your own. Your land, your animals, your family, your church, your money, your whatever. You put your name on these things and thing that somehow you are entitled to them, and that if you have them now you are entitled to keep them.

However, just as from Him are all things, so also through Him are all things. St. John proclaims, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (1:3). Through the Word of the Lord, that is, through Jesus Christ, you were made. Your heavenly Father spoke the Word, and by the word of Christ, you came to be. By that selfsame Word of the Lord you have been remade, again through and by Christ.

For through our Lord Jesus Christ comes the new creation, the Church of God. Through Him comes the forgiveness of sins for you and me and for all mankind. Through Him was death vanquished once and for all upon the cross. Through Him did life once more arise and the light of God shine upon this dark world. Through Him, you who were once dead in your sins and trespasses became alive in Christ and sons and daughters of the living God. You who were once not a people have been made into a holy people and a chosen race through Christ our Lord.

From the Lord are all things, and from Him come all good gifts, but through Christ, in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, do you come to know the Giver of all these things, and through Him do you learn to glorify God for all His benefits to you. Through Christ all that is the possession of God – namely, forgiveness, life, and salvation – come to you and abide with you because of the grace that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Finally, from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Just as all things flow from the Lord, because He is the author and creator of all, so also do all things flow back to Him, because we are all created in His image and for His glory.

St. Paul says in Colossians, “And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” (1:18-20). Through Jesus the Church came to be, and in Him we all remain, because He is our Head and our Bridegroom. You have been baptized into Him, and abide in Him, and shall evermore remain united to Him in faith.

Just as the Psalmist proclaimed that “the heavens declare the glory of God”, so also you, with all creation, serve to proclaim the wondrous works of God (19:1). He has redeemed and sanctified you, and He has opened your lips and given you the words of eternal life, that you might bear witness to Him and His glorious work of creation and salvation in Jesus Christ. He is the object of your thanks and praise because He has done marvelous things toward you, His children. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4). Thanks be to God!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host:

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. (LSB 805)