Tuesday, January 9, 2024  

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Scripture Reading
John 1:10–18

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 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. (NRSV)

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Reflection

The gospel of John can be very inspiring — the majestic images of Jesus as the first Word spoken by God at Creation; the mystical descriptions of Jesus as God’s very self; the mysterious description of Word becoming flesh. These images and ideas can expand the mind if we open our hearts to the vastness of Creation and of God as omnipresent.

But this gospel can also trap us in any number of oversimplified dualisms that were originally crafted to distinguish the early Jesus followers who were breaking away from the Jewish religion and forming a new religion called Christianity. It’s as though Christianity was in its teenage years, trying to break away from its parent religion, Judaism.

It turns out that parents actually aren’t as bad as teens sometimes imagine. The law was given through Moses indeed, and grace and truth also came through Moses. Moses saw God face to face (Exodus 33:11) even though scripture also says that no one can see God face to face and live (Exodus 33:20).

The idea that God took on human form in Jesus Christ is unique to Christianity, and it’s powerful. We have a variety of ways to think about and talk about how close God is to us, and yet how much more than us God is. A mature Christian faith can allow us to honor our co-religionists of the Jewish faith and also embrace the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as inspirational and formative of our lives.

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Prayer
God of All Creation, you are Emmanuel, God-with-us. Thank you for this life that you have given me. Help me to recognize your image in all human beings, and help me to honor you through loving and serving my neighbors. Amen.

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Written by Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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