JESUS: THE REASON AND THE CENTER
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
He had “travelled over 695,081 miles, spent 9 days, one hour, thirty-two minutes, and fifteen seconds travelling over 250,000 miles from home . . . he saw the dark side of the moon, witnessed the earth-set and the sun eclipsed behind the moon, and after all of that, it was the sight of the cross on the lapel of the Navy chaplain’s uniform that made him most emotional.”
This is how the journey of astronaut Reid Wiseman and the crew of Artemis II was described by the Rev. Samuel P. Shuldheisz in his 1517 article. (1517.org “The Cross and the Astronaut” May 8, 2026) It was more than a physical journey through space. Much more. It was a spiritual journey.
What astronaut and his fellow crew members saw was beyond comprehension. No! It was beyond description. How does one describe to others who have never travelled beyond the blue skies of Earth’s atmosphere what the universe holds beyond the moon? Leaving life as he knew it on Earth, he discovered that the universe was teaming with life and light. It was difficult to comprehend what he observed: the grandeur and magnitude of the stars, the galaxies, and the heavenly realms. Taking it all in, he commented to his colleague, “The sun eclipsed behind the moon. I turned to Victor and said I don’t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we are looking at right now, because it was otherworldly and it was amazing.” For lack of a better description, the only word he could find to describe what he was seeing was “otherworldly”.
Have you ever gazed into the night’s sky – away from the city lights – and wondered at what you saw? Have you ever seen a “shooting star” streak across the darkened night sky and stood in awe? Have you ever observed the cloudy presence of the Milky Way and marveled at the magnitude of creation? All that is but a fraction of what Reid Wiseman experienced, yet it moves us doesn’t it?
Officer Wiseman described himself as not a particularly religious person. In utter awe and struggling to make sense of all that he was seeing, he could think of no other way to begin to comprehend what he was seeing and feeling than to summon the Navy chaplain. As the chaplain approached, Wiseman’s eye fell to the cross pinned to the chaplain’s collar. At sight of the cross, the astronaut was brought to tears. “I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears.”
Why? Because Jesus is Word (Greek: “Logos”). Jesus is God. “In the beginning”, He was front and center. He is the One who spoke everything we observe into existence. Jesus is the reason it all exists. Jesus makes sense of it all: where it all comes from, why it is here, and what will become of it all. He is way bigger than this world, existing well beyond the universe we live in. Still, He loved His creation, His masterpiece, so incredibly much that He humbled Himself to take on human form. He “became flesh and dwelt among us.” He is “otherworldly”. Yet He became “worldly” for us.
How can we explain the unexplainable? How can one describe the indescribable?
Jesus!
Your fellow servant,
Pastor Tim
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor… Psalm 8:3-5
