(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Five Other Uses for Omicron”, originally shared on January 20, 2022. It was the 183rd video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
Omicron is the 15th letter in the
Greek alphabet. It’s the name given to the current variant of the coronavirus.
It has many other uses, though. Today, we’re going to look at five of them.
We did a video/podcast/blog called “Pronouncing Omicron” last week. If
you haven’t seen them, then SPOILER ALERT! The “o” is pronounced like the
“o” in “not”. Omicron.
Since then, new cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have
surged, though in some places they seem to be leveling off.
Nevertheless, LA County posted nearly 42,000 cases a day last week, a new
record. We are now averaging 38,000 cases a day. That’s a huge improvement but,
hey, “38,000 cases a day”! Hospitals are filling up again and health care
professionals are burning out. I spoke with a Dr. at Cedars-Sinai who said that
his hospital was 110% full, mostly the result of coronavirus patients.
Vaccines,
as I said in the video/podcast/blog last week, will not necessarily prevent us
from getting the Omicron variant. But they change its effects on us to being a
horrible few days at home instead of a horrible long hospital stay and death.
More importantly, they make it way less likely that we will transmit the virus
to someone else. That is why we take the precautions and get our vaccines.
Because we are Christians, and we live for others in response to the selfless
love that God has first shown us in Jesus Christ.
But, the letter “o” pronounced “omicron” in the Greek alphabet, the
original language in which the New Testament was written, has many uses other
than as a designation for a variant of the coronavirus.
It’s
used to begin words in New Testament Biblical Greek. Here are five of them.
The first word is “Odos”
Odos (which has a breathing mark pointed at the word, so it is pronounced “(h)odos”),
is used 101 times in the New Testament and means “way, road, journey,
conduct” in Biblical Greek. Fun fact: words in Bible Greek are said to have
“glosses” instead of definitions because, as in all languages, there isn’t a
precise word in English for every word in Biblical Greek. (H)odos reminds us
that we are on our way.
In our journey,
Jesus is the way. Jesus said, in John 14:6,
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Our conduct is a
natural, organic outcome of our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the way. As
C.S. Lewis said, “One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness.” Jesus is the Way.
The second word is “Omothumadon”.
Omothumadon (same breathing mark, so “(h)omothumadon”) is used 11 times
in the New Testament and means “with one mind”.
Can we even conceive of being
with one mind among a group of people today? Paul counsels this in Romans
15:5-6,
5 May the God of steadfastness and
encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with
Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one
voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are divided in the Church, as in the
world, over politics, behavior, and health. We are united in the Church, as not
in the world, by our common relationship with the one true living God in Jesus
Christ.
Let’s focus on what unites
us and not lose our ability to proclaim it in the world. We can focus on what
is important: our witness to what God is and has done for us in Jesus Christ,
as in the next word:
The third word is “Omologeo”.
Omologeo (same breathing mark, so “(h)omologeo”; the last “o” is an
“omega”, so it’s pronounced with a long o, as in “tone”) is used 26 times in
the New Testament and means “I confess, profess”. We say the same thing that God says. We say
it because we are in a relationship of faith with God. Jesus says, in Matthew
10:32-33,
32 “Everyone therefore who acknowledges
me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33 but
whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
We are not vague about what
we believe, and we offer the world a coherent and cohesive alternative
worldview that begins with Creation and Fall, proceeds with the history of
Salvation, calls us to faith and baptism in the present, and extends forward to
the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and eternal life with a new Heaven and a new
Earth.
If we don’t present
an alternative, what are we? Ross Douthat, a conservative who was a senior
editor of The Atlantic magazine and is now a columnist for The New York Times, writes
about how most of American Christianity’s current wounds have been
self-inflicted in his 2012 book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of
Heretics.
Toward the end of the
book, he observes that Christianity has been in similar decline several times
in its history and two things have brought it back: holy living and the arts.
The renewal of the Church
begins with our confession and our profession and then our expression of the
work of God in Jesus Christ.
The fourth word is “Orao”.
Orao (same breathing mark, so “(h)orao”; the last “o” is an “omega”, so
it’s pronounced with a long o, as in “tone”) is used 454 times in the New
Testament and means “I see, notice, experience”.
A classic leadership
illustration describes the difference between being a worker, a manager, and a
leader. A worker does the work that he or she knows how to do, a manager
decides what work to do, and a leader knows the larger vision for why the work
is being done. Workers cut through the jungle, managers make sure they have
enough workers, they get fed, and paid, etc., and the leader is the one who
climbs a tree, looks out and yells “wrong jungle!”.
A vision gives us a look
at the bigger picture. It’s another way of seeing.
But there is a difference
between sight and insight, as Jesus often said, as in Matthew 13:14-15,
14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look
with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’
The fifth word is “Oros”.
Oros is used 63 times in the New Testament and means “mountain, hill”. The
Church has a mountain to climb in today’s culture, but we are not alone. God is
with us, not to be our partner, but to be our God so that we are empowered to
see what God is doing and to be a part of it.
Jesus took three of his
disciples, Peter and James and John, to a mountain top with him. Moses and
Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets, appeared. A cloud covered them,
and God spoke his affirmation and command regarding Jesus. The disciples saw
the big picture regarding who Jesus was. And when it was over, this happens in Matthew
17:6-8,
6 When the disciples heard this, they
fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But
Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And
when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
These five words, (h)odos, (h)omothumadon , (h)omologeo , (h)orao, and oros remind us that Jesus
is the Way, that we find our unity in Jesus, that we are witnesses for Jesus, to
look to God to let us understand what we see, and that when we come down from
the mountain, to keep our eyes on Jesus only.
We are cautious and
concerned for the physical needs of others during this pandemic, especially
during this very contagious omicron surge. Let us show the world a similar life
changing concern for the world in its relationship with God.
How do these five words guide
us? For one thing, they all start with the letter “omicron”.
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