Hope past hope’s conceiving- Day 5
John 1:1-18
1 In 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 [the word] 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.
Parts of this passage are frequently quoted, and a great deal is going on here, so we will try to be focussed in what we pay attention to so as not to be distracted.
The Word (vs. 1) – the light (vs. 2, 3, 8, 9) – refer to the same person, Jesus. The world was made God the Father through Jesus. The world should have recognized its creator, its maker. Instead, the creation, human beings included, or more accurately human beings first and foremost, chose to ignore and exclude God in their living and planning (vs. 10, 11).
Such ignoring and excluding caused human beings to turn their back on the light. Turning one‘s back on the light is to live in the dark. In the darkness evil happened, bad things took place, and despair rose. At times it has appeared that the deepening darkness was going to win, extinguishing the light. But despite the actions that have taken place in the dark, and the seeming strength of the dark, the light has continued to shine. Nothing has been able to prevent the light from shining. Jesus will bring his light to anyone who desires the light to come to their lives. Jesus invites us to see beyond the present darkness, to see beyond the seemingly growing threats of despair and destruction – to see beyond all of that to the real truth – that Christ will come again and all darkness will be gone, and the light will shine. In that hope we live our lives now, living in the light that can never be put out. We live in that light, to that light we point – Jesus, the light of the world will come again.
PRAYER:
God of light, the light of your Son, Jesus Christ, shines in the darkness and the darkness has never overcome it. Grant us the courage to not only live in the light, but also to point to the light as the only way to life abundant. In Jesus’ name. Amen.