December 6th

John 1:1-9

So, now we come to the gospel accounts of Jesus birth and, as with all witnesses to an event, their stories are both similar and different. Mark contains no birth stories and starts with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Matthew and Luke are our sources for how the nativity unfolded, but John does something very different. He writes a prologue starting before creation to explain Jesus’ eternal significance, and echoes the start of Genesis, ‘In the beginning’. John’s aim for his gospel (Jn. 20:31) is to show us that ‘Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God, and that believing in him you will have life’. Hence, Jesus’ eternal beginning matters, he has come from God and is himself God (Jn 1:1). He is God become human – a mystery. He has come to bring light into our darkness and that light will never be put out (Jn. 1:15), not even death will do that. One of Jesus ‘I am’ sayings in this gospel will be ‘I am the light of the word’ (Jn 8:12).

Darkness will not have the final word, the upper hand. One has come in whom there is no darkness, so that not even crucifixion can put out the light. Jesus was born into a world that was as evil and dark as ours is, yet he was not overcome by it. These days we are aware of the evil in our world well beyond our immediate community and it can be overwhelming. When we celebrate Christmas, we remind ourselves that there is light and hope even in our darkness, whatever that might be.

These days we can take being able to turn on a light for granted, it will be rare to be in a place where there is no light at all. Once when visiting an old mine, as we got close to the bottom of the mine, our guide turned off the lights and we experienced total darkness. It is disorienting, alarming and feels quite unsafe. In that moment you can understand just how important light is to life.

John describes Jesus as ‘the Word’ ( the logos) which was a very important and significant concept in Jesus’ time amongst many cultures. Those who read this when it was first written would have had some idea that the Word was to do with God. In the OT God’s word is creative and sustaining, in other cultures it would refer to divine reason or to the mind of God, sometimes in Jewish thinking it was also the Wisdom of God. It is a concept unfamiliar to us now but would have had a powerful impact at the time. For John it matters because the Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. In Jesus we meet the Father.

Jesus is distinct from God, yet one with him. Jesus is the mediator through which all things were created, and the one through whom our ‘re-creation’ will come.

Reflection

How has the gospel of Jesus Christ brought light and hope to you? How might you share that with others this Christmas?

If there is something in your world that brings a sense of darkness at this time then ask God to show you where he is in this, and how he is at work on your behalf.