Pastor Hugh's Monthly Meditation
Click Here for Other Meditations
CHI-RHO: TWO GREEK LETTERS
THAT STAND FOR HOPE
As we continue our investigative tour of St. Paul’s stained glass windows, we come to one that seems to sport an “X” with a “P” behind it. You’ll have to search a bit for this one, it’s in the narthex in the window that is kind of hidden behind the stairs leading to the balcony.
Click on image to see a larger view of St. Paul’s “Chi-Rho” Window, in a separate window.
This symbol is called a “Chi-Rho” (typically pronounced Kie, like “pie”, and Row.) It is made up of the first two letters in Greek of the word for Christ, Χριστος (pronounced, “christos”). If you look at the Greek letters, you’ll see that the first two letters look like an X and a P.
Now that we have located the symbol and understand that is is a kind of abbreviation for the word “Christ”, it would be helpful to ask, what exactly did it mean? So often we think of “Christ” as Jesus’ last name. In reality, however, “Christ” was a title, that meant the “Anointed One.” And this title had a long history before it was applied to Jesus.
While the term Christ comes from the Greek, the same word in Hebrew is משׁיח (pronounced “ma-shee-ah”) which we tend to spell as, “Messiah.” In the Old Testament, the term Messiah was applied to many different types of leaders. For example, when the prophet Samuel designated Saul as Israel’s first king, a vial of oil was poured over his head with the words, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel.” (I Sam. 10:1) He became the Lord’s “Messiah”.
A High Priest would also have been anointed with “holy oil” as a sign of their having been chosen by God. But the term “Messiah” could also be used to describe a foreign ruler, in this case the Persian king, Cyrus, who was used by God to free the Judeans from their capitivity in Babylonia—a far cry from our Christian understanding of this title.
As Israel began to struggle more and more with external forces that threatened its existence, and especially as it experienced national hardship at the hands not only of the Babylonians, but later the Greeks and, after them, the Romans, the people began to hope for a Messiah that would help usher in a new day of national renewal, peace and prosperity. But there was little agreement as to what this Messiah would be like. Some thought in terms of a king like David. Others thought in terms of a religious figure, like a high priest. And still others began to combine these hopes with a belief that one day God would send, “one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.” God would give to him “dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.” (Daniel 7:13) Despite this diversity of hope, by the time Jesus began his ministry, the people yearned for a Messiah who would solve their national, political, and economic problems with the decisive power of God.
It is odd, therefore, that while we, too, long for Jesus, our Messiah, to return and solve all of life’s problems in a decisive way, Jesus himself never acted nationalistically or militarily. He chose a path of peace—one that embraced all people of all backgrounds. He embodied the vision of Isaiah 53 where we read that surely this “servant” of God, “has borne our infirmities” and “upon him was the punishment that made us whole.” (Isa. 53:4-5) Unlike the powerful and victorious Messiah that most hoped for in Jesus’ day, he chose to be the Messiah (the Christ) who suffered on our behalf. It was his obedience to God that lead to his apparent humiliating defeat and destruction by crucifixion. And yet, it is precisely through this death that God, in Jesus, destroyed the ultimate and nihilistic power of death once and for all.
When we next look at the Chi-Rho window, or see this symbol elsewhere, perhap we will see this as a sign of hope. Jesus is our Messiah, our Χριστος (Christos), our Christ who has taken upon himself all of our earthly sorrows, hardships, and sins, and in return has given us the hope of true and eternal freedom. And while our Christ promises to return at the end of time to usher in his reign of peace and justice once and forever, it is in the moment we call “now” that his hope and life is ours. It is now that we have the privilege to live his resurrected life. This gift came at enormous cost, his very life. Our response? All he wants in return is our love, trust, joy and gratitude.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
April 2008
Click Here for Other Meditations
|
