Dear Friends,
God has inextricably linked himself to the fortunes of people and His Creation. We are not just a mass hurling through space upon which the universe occasionally acts in our favour. Instead God is personally engaged with us, always and for good. I find that to be good news.
Although many folks have constructed their views of the world without God’s engagement, I’m not sure I want to live in a world in which love in its fullest form rightly shaped with grace and truth is absent or alien to us.
The Apostle John’s whole view of the world was changed by knowing Jesus. He introduced a new take on the origin story in the first line of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” His listeners might have found themselves nodding in agreement philosophically, but then this:
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)
John 1:14-15
Now John is also offering a new deliverance story not just for Israel but for all humanity. The history of Israel includes years of dwelling in tents before they settled in the land promised to Abraham and Sarah’s descendants. God himself visited Moses and Joshua in the tent of meeting and then the Tabernacle. That word tabernacle or tenting is used here in regard to dwelling. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. God’s active engagement with us is seen in that he shared our tent, our own bodily tabernacle: he took on flesh — he incarnated.
The full deliverance of Israel from Egypt and from themselves in the wilderness was accomplished by the God who dwelled with them. Now the full deliverance of humanity from darkness and themselves would be accomplished by the incarnation of the Word. Jesus has entered into all our relationships: with God, with self, with people, and with the stuff of earth!
Eugene Peterson famously seeks to capture the joyous announcement in this passage when he writes in The Message:
14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
15John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
John 1:14-15, THE MESSAGE
So, you want to know who God is?
You want to know what God is like?
You want to know what God thinks of us?
You want to know what God is saying to us?
Come, come and see Jesus. We are all pointing to Jesus. Listen to Him. Just like John the Baptist — we are all pointing to Jesus.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, The glory of Jesus is the glory of You. Help us see you. We want to know you. We want to be with you as we race through space and as we occupy a space on the globe. Our world seems to only have diminished versions of truth and of grace, such that we hardly know what these words mean. What is truth? What is grace? Something stirs within us and we know we need it. We need your truth. We need your grace. So, you have given us Jesus. Both are perfectly contained in Him. Thank you!
In Jesus Name, we say, Thank you!
Amen.
Our next reading will be from John 1.16-18
If you would like to get an overview of the book of John take some time with the short online course developed by Nick Crawley at Bible for Life.