Coming To The Light

John 1_1-10 - Come to the Light

John 1 The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

There are times when we know we have crossed a threshold, come to a new place in life.

Abraham Lincoln saw the Great Civil War as such a watershed in American History. The question of course was whether the nation would survive or dissipate into hundreds of warring factions as happened in much of the world.

Father Abraham was called to leave Ur of Chaldea to go to a strange land and establish a new, Godly nation. That was a watershed in history that affected the whole world. No Christian nation, no Western European nation, no American nation would be what it is were it not for the light that guided Moses through the wilderness and the Magi from the East to the Babe in Bethlehem. The revelation of God’s will for the world, the light that he shed on the reason for our existence is essential to our individual understanding of why we are here as well as the basis for our understanding of the culture into which we were born.

I believe that our Church and our Communion has just passed such a threshold. This is the time of our visitation, meaning literally this is the time for which we were brought together. Our purpose will be shortly be made clear.

To help us come to common understanding of what is happening and what is about to happen, today we read from the Gospel of John, chapter 1 verses 1-10.

This was the turning point of human history, for in it according to St. Paul, we can understand God’s intention for our race and our individual lives.

Col. 1:15-17: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones of dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

We can understand the world better when we know the Creator.

We often misunderstand the word “word” as it is used in this passage. John the apostle is not talking about a word that is written in ink on paper, nor is he talking about a vocal expression with meaning. He is talking about The Eternal Son, the Word spoken at Creation by God by which all things were called into existence.

In Greek culture, logos (Word), was that which gave meaning to all things. The philosopher Philo saw the logos as a bridge between a transcendent God and the material universe. John is using a term that everyone would be familiar with and yet he expands and transcends its meaning. Since a word is an audible or visible expression of a thought, Jesus perfectly revealed what was going on in the mind of God. He’s the bridge between God and us.

In the little catechism we call the Gospel of John, in the very first verse Jesus the Christ is God’s pictured as God’s first and last word to us.

John 1:1-2

He is the first word spoken by God, calling all that is into being.

This Word was with the Father from the beginning.

This Word became not pen and ink but took on flesh. This Word entered, invaded humanity. We were made in His image, we are somewhat like our maker, there is a family resemblance. Here we see the Giver, taking on the flesh at Christmas and becoming the Gift. This is Grace. What Child is this? He is God’s gift God’s grace, God’s self-giving to us all.