The Word became flesh and lived among us
John 1:1-14
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 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.
John in opening his gospel, makes a remarkable claim. He is stating that the Word, which is how he is referring to Jesus, was with God in the beginning, was present at the creation. That in Jesus, all things came into being (vs. 3). Jesus was present with God the Father in the creation of the world. That claim is balanced by vs. 14, the Word (Jesus) became flesh, became a human being. So the one who was present at creation, through whom the creation came into being, that one became a human being and lived among us as a person.
This is the wonder of the Incarnation, which is the theological truth that stands at the center of Christmas. Christmas matters because the God of the universe came to live among us as a human being. In the baby in the manger in Bethlehem, the glory of God was present in our world. This was not God putting on a disguise, no, Jesus was fully human. But this was not a case of a human being somehow being so good that God said, “I will call Jesus my Son.” No, Jesus was also fully divine. Jesus was both – fully human and fully divine, that is the wonder and surprise that John is trying to unpack in this passage.
Vs. 10-13, invite us into the wonder. Many people did not, have not, recognized who this baby in the manger really was (vs. 10). Or they have chosen to not accept the wonder (“his own people”, would be human beings that Jesus made in the creation) (vs. 11). But everyone who accepts the wonder that Jesus was fully human, fully divine, who accepts that Jesus is God with us, they are welcomed as the children of God. Made God’s children by the wonder of the incarnation, God with us.
PRAYER:
We thank you, O Lord, that Jesus, the Word, came among us fully human and fully divine. Before this wonder we bow in humble joy and praise. Show us how to accept him into our lives, so that we might live as your children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.