Yosh
Originally scheduled for December 13
Most men
understand the protocol. If you get a new shirt for Christmas,
particularly from your wife, you wear it as soon as possible to
demonstrate that you like the shirt. This particular shirt was one
which was nice, but not the kind that would ordinarily invite a lot
of attention — or so I thought. I came up to the breakfast table but
before I could sit down my daughter interrupted me.
“Dad, that
shirt is YOSH.” Having no idea what the content of that sentence
might be interpreted as, I snappily replied with, “Yosh?” I thought
I was expressing my ignorance of the word; however, my younger son
thought that I was challenging his sister’s judgment on matters
sartorial. “Oh yeah, dad, that shirt is definitely YOSH.” So at this
point I had a shirt, it was Yosh — but more than that I did not
know.
The Urban
Dictionary defines the word as an adjective which expresses an
enthusiastic affirmative. This was quite some time ago, so we didn’t
have that definition available. But my son rose to the occasion, and
informed me that something which is Yosh can be a person, place or
thing (most commonly a thing). The word is an adjective and has two
characteristics:
·
It means that its object is perfectly suited to whatever
task is assigned to it.
·
It means that the task assigned is a very specific one for
which that object is designed.
(I would
advise the reader that the meaning of the word has changed over the
years since this incident, acquiring several new meanings which
might not be acceptable in polite company. Use with caution.)
The concept,
if not that specific word, applies to communion. We may see it this
way:
·
Christ was perfectly suited to the task of bringing
salvation to us. He is Son of Man, and therefore knows our
weaknesses. He is the Son of God, and as such is the Word of God,
the message in the flesh.
·
The task of the atonement, by which we are saved, required a very
specific individual. As detailed in the Old Testament Law,
the sacrifice must be perfect; only Christ is. He is uniquely
qualified to be our atonement.
Ah, but you
might ask, “where’s the enthusiasm part?” If you want to find that
you’re going to have to look in the hymnbooks. You won’t have far to
look; like the writers of the Psalms, the writers of the hymns
understood the enthusiasm generated in our salvation. Perhaps you
might remember this old hymn:
We have heard the joyful sound,
Jesus saves! Jesus saves!
Sometimes we
must look back and see what great sacrifice it was for Christ to go
to the Cross for sinners like you and me. When we look back at that
we can see what a tremendous gift he has given us, and that is cause
for great joy. The time when we do that “looking back” is when we
take communion. As you take of the cup and the bread this morning,
remember: this is the visible echo of the joyful sound — Jesus
saves!
