"The Super Scroll"
EPISODE 21
Listen to Christ’s Voice
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This week my wife has been writing stories for our kids about their superpowers. She watercolor painted them as heroes that seem straight out of an anime show. They love it. My son’s character has a mysterious scroll that materializes whatever he writes on it. Need a pet dinosaur to help you defeat a bad guy? Write it down. Need a time-jumping Delorian to get back to yesterday? Put it in the scroll!
When I imagine that scroll, I can’t help but think of Jesus.
”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
The Word That Creates
Jesus is the mighty scroll, so to speak. Without Jesus, God the Father has never made “any thing made” (John 1:3). For those keeping track at home, the triune God is the only being in the history of everything that was not made. Jesus is the “arm of the Lord” at work (cf. Isa. 40:10; 52:10; 53:1; 59:16). He’s the Word spoken, the “Let there be light” that started it all. No wonder John’s next verse calls his life “the light of men” (John 1:4).
The Word That Commands
Jump forward in time, from the miracle of order entering chaos (Gen. 1:2-10) to the mystery of Light entering darkness. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). When the mountain sculptor climbed a mountain, what did he do? He spoke more life-giving words, pregnant with creation all over again (Matt. 5:1-2). He told people to light up the world (5:16), challenging them to think of themselves like the lamp that brightens a bedroom at night (5:15). When he finished his sermon that day, “the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority” (Matt. 7:28–29).
The Word That Cleanses
When some scribes questioned Jesus’ power to forgive sins (Mark 2:6-7), he did something less extraordinary, but more visible. He healed a lame man (Mark 2:10-12). As the healed (and forgiven!) man test-drove his new-and-improved legs, I wonder if he realized that Jesus’ first miracle surpassed the second. And do I remember that forgiveness surpasses all my other answered prayers? “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name “(Acts 22:16). I called on Jesus for help, and by his power, my sins were washed away.
His voice commands the attention of demons (Luke 9:42), fig trees (Matt. 21:19), and storm patterns (Luke 8:24). He speaks, and his authority can change everything for you. Or nothing — of course, that choice remains yours. What Jesus did with his feet on the ground, he can still do while seated above.
