Where is God? Where do we find God? Where do we hear God’s voice? These are legitimate questions that we need to ask from time to time. After all, God is not a part of the world in the way that we are; God is utterly other. So where is God? Is it possible to hear and see something of God who created this expansive universe in which we live?
We find an answer to this question at the beginning of Saint Mathew’s Gospel. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, the Angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him that his espoused wife, Mary, has conceived a child through the power of God’s Spirit, and that he is to name the child “Jesus.” Matthew then makes the following comment: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord was said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’”
By adding this scriptural quotation, taken from Isaiah 7:14, Matthew accomplishes two things: First, he shows that the virgin birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy. Second, he draws out the significance of Jesus for us: Jesus is Emmanuel; Jesus is God’s presence in our midst.
If Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us,” the answer to the questions I have posed is this: God is with us in Jesus Christ. We hear God’s voice in the words of Jesus Christ. We see God’s actions in the deeds of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus Christ, God has pitched his tent in our midst. In Jesus Christ God dwells in our midst as someone who is near and dear to us. In Jesus Christ we have access to God, and God is present to us. The theological term for this the Incarnation: in Jesus Christ the eternal Word of God became flesh. Therefore, to hear and see Jesus Christ is to encounter God.
The claims that Christianity makes for Jesus Christ are not easy to accept. While nearly everyone acknowledges that Jesus was an extraordinary figure, perhaps the greatest religious figure who lived, very few people are willing to go beyond this. For many, the Incarnation is a stumbling block. How can a human being be the sanctuary in which God is present to us? How can a human being speak with such power and authority about God? How can we say that Jesus’ words are God’s words? How can we say that Jesus, who is truly human, is God?
This is the stumbling block that those who wish to come to faith must overcome. But when they overcome this stumbling block, they will finally know where God is. For, if Jesus Christ is the eternal Word of God, if Jesus Christ is the Son of God, if Jesus Christ is God, then God is very near us. God is present in our lives in the words and deeds of Jesus. God is present in our lives in the Eucharist in which the crucified and risen Lord is present. God is more present to us than we are to ourselves because God dwells among us in the risen Lord Jesus Christ is whose presence we worship each week.