The Word made flesh.

Many of us spend so much time and effort in the run up to Christmas that we have a hard time simply enjoying the moment, then with a whoosh it’s gone. It’s helpful to remember – and to remind others – that, like the song says, there are actually 12 days of Christmas. That’s a blessing for absorbing the season spiritually. It’s also a blessing in that it offers us an opportunity to further reflect on the astounding revelation of himself that God gave us in Jesus’ birth. Which brings us to today’s Gospel which is, in my view, the most important passage of scripture for two primary reasons.

First, it answers the great questions of human existence. We know we live in a universe that is beyond our grasp, and ever-expanding. And each of us has a distinct and ever-expanding universe of awareness, knowledge and relationships nestled in the larger scheme of things. How do we fit together? How does my life matter? What does it all mean, if anything at all? You may not spend much time thinking about such things but you need to know someone has, kind of like you hop on a plane trusting that someone figured out how to make it fly safely. And you do have some interest.

Here, in just 305 words or so, John summarizes how the Good News of Jesus Christ shapes our understanding of everything from the creation of the universe to the very nature of being. The story of Jesus is framed in the story of the everything. Jesus is at the very center of the universe, and so he should be at the very center of your universe. Or, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:17)

Second, we must take note of who wrote it. This is the Apostle John, one of Jesus’ original 12 disciples. John is also one of the three, along with Peter and James, that form Jesus’ inner leadership circle. He was on the mount at the Transfiguration. He was one of the very first disciples to follow Jesus. He was, with Peter, one of the two disciples who witnessed Jesus’ trial. He was the only one of the 12 who was at Jesus’ feet at the crucifixion. He outran Peter to witness the empty tomb that first Easter morning and he was in the upper room that night when the resurrected Jesus stood among them.

And he isn’t just a witness, he is a close friend. We get just a quick reference to it in this prologue, where he says in verse 14 “…and we have seen his glory” but John’s Gospel is very personal throughout. He repeatedly reminds us of his closeness to Jesus in those pivotal moments and he refers to himself repeatedly as “the beloved disciple.” The opening verses of the first letter of John speak directly to the intensely personal nature of his witness:

1We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— 3we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. (1 John 1:1-4)

“What we have looked at and touched with our hands,” John knew him, followed him, loved him as friend, teacher, mentor and came to know him as Lord – The Lord. We must remember that very personal connection between John and Jesus as we take in his testimony. That’s always the best sort of testimony, isn’t it, a word from someone who knew him well.

I want to focus this morning on just a few key points. I could literally talk all day about this. In a sense, I will never finish this sermon. But I suspect you have plans. I hope this morning that I can give you a bit of a launch into the wonder of God’s gift in Jesus. It’s always good to start in the beginning.

We tend to think of “In the beginning” in relation to Genesis and thus in terms of time. But it is also in relation to principle, advising us to “start here in your thinking” about life, about time, about yourself and about the universe. This testimony John is giving us about Jesus is first and foremost in every way.

In this beginning was the Word. The Greek word for “word” is Logos and it holds a very deep and expansive conceptualization of God’s means of action. We say God spoke the creation into existence, “…and God said let there be light…” and so on. That’s a poetic approximation that rightly points to the unlimited power of God’s speech, God’s thoughts, God’s conceptualization of what is to be – and it happens. What God thinks happens.

The Word is inseparable from its source, but it is not the same thing. Your thoughts are inseparable from your being, but they are also distinct from it. We have errant thoughts – right? You can change your mind, and sometimes it takes thinking about something or talking it through to settle your mind.

God doesn’t have errant thoughts but that distinction of thought, or Word, and being remains. That is why we say thinks like God from God, light from light. The flame of a candle isn’t the light, but the light cannot exist without the flame and the flame cannot exist without emitting the light. That’s just an analogy but it helps us get closer to the idea.

It is important to note that while the Jewish witness to God that preceded Jesus certainly testified continuously about the reality of God’s Word interacting with the world, others saw it too. The ancient Greek philosophers had come independently to recognize that above and beyond their mythology there had to be a singular rational being, a rational principle, that put everything into order. They knew they were discovering mathematics, logic and other disciplines and that there had to be a supreme mind behind it, creating in some respect as an artist brings a painting or a statue or a piece of music into being. Pythagoras knew he didn’t create the Pythagorean Theorem, he discovered it. It was already there and pointed to an ultimate mind that did conceive it.

Now comes the radical connection. God brought that aspect of himself, his Word, into being, into a human being. And he did that specifically for you. Yes, for the whole world, but specifically for you.

12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

This is the alignment of your story with THE story, which brings the unavoidable confrontation. Once we become aware of Jesus, we have to deal with him. You can ignore him. You can dismiss him. You can pack him into a tidy corner of your mind so that he doesn’t disturb you too much. You can study him from afar.

Or, you can grow to know him.  As we receive him, he shapes our universe such that our testimony to him is also born out of an intimate, loving relationship.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 

And that is my prayer for the days ahead, that together we will continue to grow to know him better, that God’s Word, his creative power working in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit will bring us grace upon grace, grace and truth, and bring us ever closer to the Father’s heart. We are all quite ready to put 2020 behind us, but we don’t know what 2021 may bring. I have an idea that we may see a new normal. Perhaps the struggles we’ve shared have nudged people closer to God and we are poised for a revival as people have had opportunity to consider what is truly important. I don’t know. But I do know we will meet the challenges and opportunity ahead led by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit as we continue to know him and make him known in our little universe.

AMEN