PBPC - Sunday Sermon Available
Sermon – "The Word Became Flesh" – John 1:1-18
January 10, 2021
Chris Coon, PBPC
Introduction
When we were kids maybe we were taught that, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me," but we all know that it isn't true. Words are powerful; anyone who has ever heard the words "I love you" or "you're fired" knows this. Also, as we've seen this past week, words are powerful, conveying messages of truth or falsehood, projecting the will, and directly causing actions far beyond the simple passage of air across vocal cords. Words have lasting influence, with effects and consequences lasting far into the future. Taking words back is somewhat akin to putting toothpaste back into the tube – messy and nearly impossible. Once words are spoken, they can take on a life of their own. Words are powerful.
If this is true for us as humans, imagine how true this is for God. The Bible speaks of God's Word as "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword." God's Word has the power to create from nothingness, for in Genesis 1 we read that God "spoke" the world into being from nothingness. God's Word is alive, a continuing expression of who God is. And as we shall see from today's scripture passage, the "Word" is not only a description of God's revelation to us through Scripture, but the very way that God has entered into human life and history through Jesus Christ.
John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
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. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
The Logos
The concept of logos in Greek is complex and certainly goes far beyond the simple English word (which would actually be lexis in Greek.) Logos came to be a philosophical term that meant not only speech or reason, but more – order, knowledge, the generative principle of the universe. In Genesis, when God spoke creation into being, it does not mean that God literally spoke (with sound waves emanating from vocal chords) but that God's active intention was projected forth, power which resulted in creation. This active intention of God is the Logos, or the Word, of God.
John uses the language of Genesis to describe the Word of God as a person. This is the Christmas story, told from the other direction. Rather than the human child of the nativity that we hear about in the other gospels, who is revealed to be divine over the course of the narrative, in John we start from the other side, with the divine being who becomes the human being. The Word was with God in the beginning, before creation, and the Word was God. Without getting into the mystery of the Trinity, the very first thing that John wants us to know is that the Word is God.
Because the Word is eternal, he was with God in creation. But there's much more: because he is the Word, the Logos of God, all of creation happened through him. He was the expression of God's active will, the power that brought creation into being. Nothing was created apart from him. Life itself has come into being through the Word. This gives us a new understanding and appreciation for the words that we will hear later in John, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Word Became Flesh
Knowing that the Word was the source of creation and life makes the next statement all the more dramatic: the Word became flesh and lived among us. Other contemporary translations have tried to capture the sense of this by saying the Word became human and pitched his tent among us, or that he became one of us and moved into the neighborhood. The eternal Logos entered into creation and became a human being.
I've shared this story with you at least a couple times over the years, but I can't help myself in sharing it again. When I was a young boy I could easily get caught up in interesting details around me, and one day I found myself following a trail of ants as they wound their way out from a crack and along the rain gutter on the edge of our street, until they finally disappeared into another crack dozens of feet away. I became quite engrossed in the life of this ant colony – what they were carrying, how they managed to stay organized, why they might be moving – when I suddenly realized that my neighbor was washing his car and that as the water flowed down the driveway into street and along the gutter, it was as if a tsunami was approaching this ant colony. I wanted to warn them about the danger and tell them to get out of the way, but of course even if I could speak "ant" I practically existed in a different dimension to them. I thought, if only I could shrink down and become one of them and speak their language, I could warn them of the danger and even show them the best way to escape the coming danger.
This begins to help us understand what is happening in John 1. The Logos, who is one with God, who is God, has set aside his god-ness and entered into creation and become one of us. Now to say that he did this in order to show us the way – in a manner that we could understand – is true. But this is where the illustration shows its limitations, because as the gospel of John unfolds, we'll see that the Word does so much more than point the way to salvation, or to God. We'll see that the Word actually does the saving.
God Made Known
But for now, let's stick with this idea that the Word actually shows us something, and points us towards something. And while as an ant I would be frantically pointing to the curb of the gutter and yelling, "climb higher, get to high ground, save yourselves!" the Word doesn't point away but rather points to himself and says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Of course, even though John has not said his name yet, the Word is Jesus Christ, and John is setting up for us right here in chapter one that Jesus is God in human flesh. This is the first great challenge that comes to us when confronted with Jesus: we may like him and find him inspiring, but do we actually believe that he is God? And why is it important that we do so? There are many reasons, but let's touch on a few that will come up for us in this gospel.
Jesus shows us what God is really like. Because the Word lived a human life, we see in the life of Jesus what God is really like. As the Word, or the Son, Jesus is the perfect image of the Father, a perfect representation of who God is. And it says he is filled with truth and grace. Through Jesus we see and experience that God truly is love, that God reaches to us even in the lowest moments of our lives, that God longs to forgive us and to redeem our lives, to give us a hope and future. In Jesus we see that God is gentle and kind.
If Jesus' shows us what God is like, his life also shows us what we are supposed to be like. You and I are created in the image of God, so we are created to be like God, not so much in his infinite power but in his character. Because of our sins we have stumbled and fallen short of this purpose. But Jesus, because he is God in human form, shows us what it truly looks like to be in God's image. Jesus shows us what godliness in human life looks like. We now have an example of what it actually means to be truly human. No more do the words, "I'm only human" describe for us inadequacy; I'm human means that I'm created in God's image, designed to reflect who God is – created to look like Jesus.
Of course, we can't do this on our own. We need help – specifically, we need the help of the Word, of Jesus, to live into this calling for our lives. So throughout the gospel of John, beginning here, we are invited to put our faith in Jesus. "To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." Through Christ's help, we are able to fulfill our calling to be God's children. "From his fullness, we have received grace upon grace." Think about that – through Jesus, you have received grace upon grace – that free gift of love and acceptance that flows out from God to us in the person of Jesus.
Conclusion
Jesus Christ is the Word, the living and active power of God, through whom God created the world and through whom God is saving the world. In Christ, we see who God is and what God is like. In Christ, we learn what it means to be truly human. And through faith in Christ, we become children of God. I invite you to read through the Gospel of John, and to join us in this adventure as we continue our journey through this amazing story of "the Word becoming flesh."