God is like a rock or a fortress. God is seen as a pillar of fire or a burning bush. God is like a life giving stream of water that refreshes and restores. The New Testament has a diversity of images as well. God is a judge, a planter, a king, the master of a house, a shepherd, a woman with a coin, a woman baking, a hen with chicks.
Christians are lucky.
We have a way to understand and visualize and talk about God. As Christians we affirm that God is fully revealed through Jesus Christ, that when we meet Jesus Christ, we meet God. This morning s gospel passage is one of the most explicit affirmations of this position. This morning Jesus is in Jerusalem for Hannukah. The people of Jerusalem are celebrating the day when Judas Maccabeus tossed Antiochus Ephiphanes and all of his defiling desecrations out of the temple.