December 7th

John 1:10-14

Today’s reading begins with the sad acknowledgement that the world did not recognise Jesus for who he was, and his own people (the Jews) rejected him.  The Word was the agent of creation, and so the world was made by him yet, tragically, it did not receive him. That creation has come through the Son of God is an idea that appears in other places such as 1 Cor. 8:6, Col.1:16 and Heb. 1:2.

This is contrasted with the good news that those who did accept him received new life as children of God. Verse 12 tells us they were given the right or the power to become a child of God. The power to do this comes from God, we are not born again by our own initiative or resources, it is a gift.

John doesn’t bother to tell us anything about how the ‘Word’ became flesh but that he does become flesh, that is what matters, and it has huge consequences. We have beheld the glory of the one and only Son, sometimes translated as the ‘only begotten’ but the emphasis is on the fact that there is only one. John uses the same word (monogenes) in several places (Jn. 1:18, 3:!6, 3:18, 1 Jn 4:9). The same glory that once filled the temple in the Old Testament now lives in the Son, and we have seen him John says. We have also seen his glory expressed in his grace and truth. This is sometimes translated as love and faithfulness, an echo of Ex. 34:6-7. When Moses witnesses God’s glory he is proclaimed as ‘abounding in love and faithfulness’, that glory now dwells in the Son.

The story of Christmas is that of the ‘word become flesh’.  This is astonishing news – good news. The Word, there at the beginning of time has come and inhabited our times. The presence and power of God have been contained in human flesh. The creator has become the created.

Reflection

The hymn writer Charles Wesley wrote these lines:

 Our God contracted to a span,

Incomprehensibly made man.

Spend a moment reflecting on those lines. Jesus became the God/man. He was human, he experienced all that we do and there is comfort for us in that. At the same time, when we see Jesus, we are seeing the glory of God.