The poster hung on the wall of my high school journalism teacher’s classroom. There was a black and white photo of a landscape and at the bottom of the poster was this phrase: “God is a concept.” I remember staring at the poster during class in fascination. I wondered what it meant.
One day, I chatted with the teacher about this phrase. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly what she said. What I do remember is the sense that we had two very different understandings of God. I believe God is a person, an actual being who wanted a relationship with me. My teacher’s understanding, on the other hand, was a less personal God and more of God as an idea.
Is God a concept? What would it mean if God was a concept? Does a concept change lives? Does a concept change our lives? Can a church gather around a concept?
Methodist minister David Watson opined that modern Christians have a hard time believing in the supernatural. We live in an age coined by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor called the Immanent Frame. In the Immanent Frame, It’s hard to believe in miracles; things that can’t be easily explained. We have a hard believing God acts in history. For many people, God is more of a construct, the name we give to our ethical claims or our feelings of social justice. But we don’t think God enters into history and changes things.
This is why today’s text is so fascinating to me. God isn’t a concept here. The people are amazed when Jesus starts teaching in the synagogue. One version of this text says that Jesus teaches as someone who is authorized to preach. That’s a fascinating interpretation. Here was a guy who was the son of a carpenter, who didn’t seem to have the background of the scribes and yet taught as if he was from this background. It’s an example of seeing God show up in a place they never expected.
And that’s where things went weird.
The service was broken up by a man shrieking like a devil. Which is probably because he had a devil in him. The demon tried to name Jesus in order to challenge the authority of Jesus. He wasn’t having it and commands the demon to leave this man. Again, the people were amazed. This didn’t happen every day. Who was this man? He possessed a power they had never seen.
Here’s the thing: do we believe that God can act in the world? Do we believe that God can make a difference in our lives? When we pray, do we think God listens and do we expect God can heal those who are sick? Is God more than a concept, more than a good feeling, but a person who can turn this world upside down?
God is so much more than a concept. God can show up in places we never expected and do things we never expected. The bread and the wine remind us of God’s love for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we see God as more than a concept, then we know healing can happen and evil can be confronted through the power of Christ who defeats the powers that oppress.
God is not a concept. God is so much more. Let’s go into the world knowing that God will do wonders in our lives.
Seems bizarre that you even have to write such words as "God is not a concept," but such is the time we are living in...