Christmas
January 4, 2015

Scripture Reading: John (1:1-9), 10-18

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 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.” ’) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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. — John 10:14-18

It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1:18b) Thus the author of John ends the prologue by saying this is what I am going to discuss now. Translators have been challenged by this scripture since it was first discovered. My guess is those who read Greek were perplexed by it also. It speaks in mystery about the nature of a person, Jesus Christ, as he apparently was sent to us to help us understand better the nature of God. Perhaps God was also able to grasp better the ways of humans in the process.

I do not like math. My mother taught math and both my sister and brother excelled in it, but not me. It’s rather funny because I enjoyed logic. To get my degree in sociology and to qualify for graduate school, I had to pass a higher level statistics course for which I was very ill prepared because I had avoided taking math in college. I was fortunate though to have a good friend who was a math major who understood the intricacies of math so well she could distill it down to its simplest level for someone as limited as I was. I passed the class and am pleased to note that I actually learned a lot about statistics due to her help.

I think this is what John is trying to say about Jesus. John says it succinctly at John 3:16. To paraphrase, God loved us so much that he invested a part of himself in getting to know us better in our own environment and time so that God could help us know God better because God wants the very best for God’s children. Therefore, we need to pay close attention to the words and actions of Jesus for he is the one who will make God known to us and our wholeness is wrapped up in our relationship with God.

Prayer: Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits Thou hast given me, for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me. O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly and follow thee more nearly, day by day.* Amen.

*Prayer of Richard of Wyche, Bishop of Chichester (1197-1253)

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.