BY AARON HANSON, Headmaster
Mirus Academy, Ellsworth, ME

In many ancient cultures, but in particular the Hebrew culture, the structures of meaning were not exactly the same as with what a modern mind might expect. We, in the western world, often expect the strongest point of a speech or essay to come at the end – something strong to resonate in the minds of the readers. But, as seen all throughout the Bible, the Hebrews had the pivotal point in the middle. The structure is called a chiasm. If you can picture a chevron shape, or a right angle pivoted 45 degrees, the point of the angle is found in the middle. On either side of that point are parallel structures that repeat or develop a thought. This is often seen in the Psalms. Here is an example:

Psalm 4:1

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! (A)

You have given me relief when I was in distress. (B)

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer! (A’)

The pattern is easily seen here where A and A’ express a similar idea and B is the fulfillment of that idea. This is seen all over Scripture, both in poetry and narrative. But, what is the glorious part, is that all of human history can be understood as a chiasm as well. While we often think that the greatest part of existence is yet to come, and we wait for the fulfillment of all things, this may be not completely true. Consider this very simplified chiasm:

Creation (A)

Betrothal (B)

Christ (C)

Consummation (B’)

Recreation (A’)

Christmas gives us the point of all of human history. Both creation and the relationship with the faithful reaches its pinnacle of meaning in Christ coming to Earth. To fully explain all of this would take a much larger space than is provided for here, but suffice it to say, that God has oriented all of time and space to point to one individual person – Christ. He is the glory of all existence and His glory is ever increasing. The point of the chiasm is not a static point, but rather a dynamic point that can never be fully comprehended. It is a mystery of infinite depth. So this Christmas, remember the point is not to look back or forward, but to look at Christ fully and let your heart be pulled into that infinite chiasm!

BY AARON HANSON, Headmaster
Mirus Academy, Ellsworth, ME

Originally published as “Mirus Memo – Week 16”