How Do You Start Your Gospel?
This is the manuscript I wrote for January 3; to preach on John 1.1-18. I delivered an abbreviated version of the sermon because we had a very sparsely attended service and the sanctuary was very cold. When the lector reads the lessons while wearing gloves, I can take a hint.
I love this piece of Scripture.
Of all of the Gospels, the Gospel according to John is my favorite. It is different from the three Synoptic Gospels. It tells a different version of the story of the life and ministry and it does so in the beginning.
Let’s assume you are called upon by the Holy Spirit to write the gospel of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. How would you start? Now up to this time, no one has ever written a ‘gospel.’ People have written narratives of the life or events surrounding a person. But no one has written an account of a person who is the Savior of humanity. So if you are called upon to do it, how do you start? You have the blank papyrus scroll and a fresh quill in your hand. How do you start to write YOUR Gospel about Jesus Christ?
Matthew decided to list the family tree of Jesus, from Abraham through David and onto Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Christ.
Mark jumps right into the story and introduces John the Baptizer who is preparing the way, and the scene, for Jesus.
Luke explains what he is doing and begins his narrative with angelic pronouncements of impending miraculous births.
John goes in a different direction, and I want to talk about what he wrote, verse by verse. John goes back to the beginning. Not the beginning of the life of Jesus, but THE beginning. John begins at the beginning of everything. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” [John 1.1-2] The Word, or logos is a concept rich in both the Roman and Jewish tradition. The idea of a power of wisdom and knowledge that runs throughout the universe or cosmos was understood by both traditions. John puts the Word with God from the beginning. The Word is a part of God from the beginning.
“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” [John 1.3-4] In the story of Creation at the beginning of Genesis, God spoke everything into being. “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” [Genesis 1.3]
All of Creation was spoken into existence; and the Word brought it into being. Everything that has lived, is living or will ever live, came into existence by and through the Word. “Without him not one thing came into being.” [John 1.3] Everything has been touched by the Divine Power of the Word, from women and men to the bacteria at the bottom of a swamp. From the cattle to the grass they eat, everything was made by and through God.
“The life was the light of all people.” [John 1.3-4] The life that we have, the life that has come into us through the Word of God is the light of all people. A light that shines in and on and through all people, touched and formed by God. All precious in God’s sight and all loved by God. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand or overcome it.”[John 1.5] The light of God, the love of God shines into the darkness. It goes where it has not been. It goes where it is not expected. It goes where it is not known. It goes where it is not wanted.
You can be in a dark room. You can turn off all of the lights. Yet there is still light coming in. You can draw the blinds. You can bury your head in pillows, pull the blanket up over your head and put on a sleep mask. Yet there is still light coming in. Even out here in Burke’s Garden, away from streetlights, traffic lights and the lights of the city, you cannot find total darkness, you have to seek it. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”[John 1.5] You cannot avoid the light; you can run, you can hide, but the light will find you. You do not seek out the light. The light seeks you out. “And the darkness will not overcome it.”
Darkness, the absence of light, did not understand the light. The darkness, the distancing from God, the power of Sin and Death, did not and could not understand why the light and life and love of God would pour forth from God and into Creation. The darkness, the powers that draw us to be fallen and flawed, did not and could not and will not overcome or defeat the light. It has been so since the beginning. Ever since the Word of God went out from God’s lips, declaring “Let there be light,” and forced the dark forces back, the Light has been victorious over those dark forces. Evil, Sin and Death cannot understand the ways of God. Evil, Sin and Death cannot defeat the power of God. Thus says John. That is how John decided to begin his proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He chose to spoil the ending. In the end, and actually, in the beginning, the bad guys are going to lose. That, my friends, is Good News.
I am going to skip the verses that talk about John the Baptizer, although he does not get that title in John’s Gospel, for just a few minutes. I want to stay on the subject of the light. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 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.” [John 1.9-11] The light of God, which is the life of all people; the light which is the life of all Creation; the light which created all existence through the Word of God, was coming into the world. The power of creation, the power of life, the power of God, God god’s self was coming into the world. That which was, is and always shall be came into the world, which came by and through the Word.
Skipping down a couple of verses, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”[John 1.14] The power of creation became a person and lived among people. How exciting and terrifying is that thought? The power of God Almighty is in the world, taking part in the world just as you and I do. The Word was with God, the Word was God, and now the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
But the world, which was spoken into being by the Word of God; the world that was brought to life by the Light of God did not know him. How horrifying and heartbreaking is that thought? The power of God Almighty is in the world, taking part in the world just as you and I do, and we don’t know or recognize him. The power of all creation is here and we do not realize it. Wait, it gets worse. The Word of God, the Light of Life went to ”what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.“ This is not good. Again, John spoils the ending of his gospel. Those who are God’s own, God’s chosen, will reject God-with-us. Immanuel has come to Israel, and they do not accept him.
But Israel are not the only ones to whom the Word and the Light have come. “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.” [John 1.12-13] While Israel, as a nation rejected him, some received and accepted him, and whether they are Jew or Gentile, those who believed in his name, who believed that God is with us; they became children of God. They became God’s children, not by birthright, or because of their will, but because it was God’s will.
“We have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. … From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” [John 1.14b, 16] In the Ancient Near East, during the time of Christ, an only son was irreplaceable. An only son was a one of a kind experience, to be valued and treasured because that son was the only way in which the name of the father would live on. It is only through the actions of the only son that glory and honor can be brought to the name of the father. And in the case of Jesus Christ, what honor and glory that would be.
The word ‘grace’ or charis appears only four times in John’s Gospel. All four uses are in this passage. John establishes the theme of grace, the grace of God, in the prologue and then never mentions it by name again. Instead the remainder of his Gospel is ripe with illustrations of grace. We have seen God’s glory and we have received God’s grace. The witness John speaks of is what he, as a first-hand eyewitness saw and received. This glory and grace is shared by each succeeding generation and community that accepts and receives the Word.
Jesus brings glory to God the father by doing God’s will. The prophet Isaiah wrote “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” [Isaiah 55.11] God sent the Word into the world to become flesh, to live, to teach, to save, to suffer and to die. The Word did not return to God empty, but returned after it had done God’s will. That meant even dying on a cross and being raised again. By submitting to his death on a cross, Jesus has brings glory to God. By becoming incarnate, God has proven God’s active role in the lives of humanity. Rather than being a passive, disinterested God that so many people believe, God has jumped into the deep end of the pool with humanity, to be one with and amongst us.
“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 1.18] The tradition of the Jewish people teaches that a physical encounter with God, or the Power of God, is very, very dangerous. Moses had his face transformed from being in the presence of God to such a degree that he had to wear a veil. Anyone who touched the Ark of the Covenant died. God was only to be personally encountered by the high priests, and only then behind several curtains in the Holiest of Holies within the Temple in Jerusalem. Their tradition taught that no one had ever seen the face of God and lived. If you have not met someone, the best way to understand who he or she is and what he or she is like is if someone tells you what he or she has done. If I want you to know about one of my friends, I will tell you about some of the things they have done and said. That way, you will have a picture of them. So, in order to know God, we must know what God has done. Beyond trying to know God through creation, beyond trying to worship God by following the law given by Moses, we can best understand God by what God has done. That is, the Word of God and the Light of Life has come down to us, and become a person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and it is through him we can best attempt to understand God.
Now to get back to John, not the writer, but the Testifier. In John’s Gospel, the person we know as John the Baptizer is never referred to with that title. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. … 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.' "” [John 1.6-8, 15] In those 3.5 verses, the responsibility of John is laid out. He was sent from God to witness and testify to the light. He came to testified to the light. He testified about the light. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptizer is better called John the Testifier.
This is our role as those who have received and believed in Jesus the Christ, the Word made Flesh. We are to testify to the Light. We are to make known the works and word of the Living God. We are men and women, sent from God. We come to witness to the light so that all might believe. We can do so by sharing the Gospel, the Good News. We write our own Gospel each and every day of our lives, by what we do, and say and act. We may get to share the story of Christ with people from time to time. But we get to share the love of Christ every day. We are sent out by the Word of God into the world, and we must not and cannot return empty, but must accomplish the purpose for which we were sent. Our living Gospel, the Gospel according to you or me or any of us is not written on blank papyrus with a fresh quill. Our Gospel is written in what we say, how we act, what we do or do not do. With God’s blessings, we must make ourselves a Gospel worth reading.
I love this piece of Scripture.
Of all of the Gospels, the Gospel according to John is my favorite. It is different from the three Synoptic Gospels. It tells a different version of the story of the life and ministry and it does so in the beginning.
Let’s assume you are called upon by the Holy Spirit to write the gospel of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. How would you start? Now up to this time, no one has ever written a ‘gospel.’ People have written narratives of the life or events surrounding a person. But no one has written an account of a person who is the Savior of humanity. So if you are called upon to do it, how do you start? You have the blank papyrus scroll and a fresh quill in your hand. How do you start to write YOUR Gospel about Jesus Christ?
Matthew decided to list the family tree of Jesus, from Abraham through David and onto Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Christ.
Mark jumps right into the story and introduces John the Baptizer who is preparing the way, and the scene, for Jesus.
Luke explains what he is doing and begins his narrative with angelic pronouncements of impending miraculous births.
John goes in a different direction, and I want to talk about what he wrote, verse by verse. John goes back to the beginning. Not the beginning of the life of Jesus, but THE beginning. John begins at the beginning of everything. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” [John 1.1-2] The Word, or logos is a concept rich in both the Roman and Jewish tradition. The idea of a power of wisdom and knowledge that runs throughout the universe or cosmos was understood by both traditions. John puts the Word with God from the beginning. The Word is a part of God from the beginning.
“All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” [John 1.3-4] In the story of Creation at the beginning of Genesis, God spoke everything into being. “God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.” [Genesis 1.3]
All of Creation was spoken into existence; and the Word brought it into being. Everything that has lived, is living or will ever live, came into existence by and through the Word. “Without him not one thing came into being.” [John 1.3] Everything has been touched by the Divine Power of the Word, from women and men to the bacteria at the bottom of a swamp. From the cattle to the grass they eat, everything was made by and through God.
“The life was the light of all people.” [John 1.3-4] The life that we have, the life that has come into us through the Word of God is the light of all people. A light that shines in and on and through all people, touched and formed by God. All precious in God’s sight and all loved by God. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand or overcome it.”[John 1.5] The light of God, the love of God shines into the darkness. It goes where it has not been. It goes where it is not expected. It goes where it is not known. It goes where it is not wanted.
You can be in a dark room. You can turn off all of the lights. Yet there is still light coming in. You can draw the blinds. You can bury your head in pillows, pull the blanket up over your head and put on a sleep mask. Yet there is still light coming in. Even out here in Burke’s Garden, away from streetlights, traffic lights and the lights of the city, you cannot find total darkness, you have to seek it. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”[John 1.5] You cannot avoid the light; you can run, you can hide, but the light will find you. You do not seek out the light. The light seeks you out. “And the darkness will not overcome it.”
Darkness, the absence of light, did not understand the light. The darkness, the distancing from God, the power of Sin and Death, did not and could not understand why the light and life and love of God would pour forth from God and into Creation. The darkness, the powers that draw us to be fallen and flawed, did not and could not and will not overcome or defeat the light. It has been so since the beginning. Ever since the Word of God went out from God’s lips, declaring “Let there be light,” and forced the dark forces back, the Light has been victorious over those dark forces. Evil, Sin and Death cannot understand the ways of God. Evil, Sin and Death cannot defeat the power of God. Thus says John. That is how John decided to begin his proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. He chose to spoil the ending. In the end, and actually, in the beginning, the bad guys are going to lose. That, my friends, is Good News.
I am going to skip the verses that talk about John the Baptizer, although he does not get that title in John’s Gospel, for just a few minutes. I want to stay on the subject of the light. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 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.” [John 1.9-11] The light of God, which is the life of all people; the light which is the life of all Creation; the light which created all existence through the Word of God, was coming into the world. The power of creation, the power of life, the power of God, God god’s self was coming into the world. That which was, is and always shall be came into the world, which came by and through the Word.
Skipping down a couple of verses, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”[John 1.14] The power of creation became a person and lived among people. How exciting and terrifying is that thought? The power of God Almighty is in the world, taking part in the world just as you and I do. The Word was with God, the Word was God, and now the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
But the world, which was spoken into being by the Word of God; the world that was brought to life by the Light of God did not know him. How horrifying and heartbreaking is that thought? The power of God Almighty is in the world, taking part in the world just as you and I do, and we don’t know or recognize him. The power of all creation is here and we do not realize it. Wait, it gets worse. The Word of God, the Light of Life went to ”what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.“ This is not good. Again, John spoils the ending of his gospel. Those who are God’s own, God’s chosen, will reject God-with-us. Immanuel has come to Israel, and they do not accept him.
But Israel are not the only ones to whom the Word and the Light have come. “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.” [John 1.12-13] While Israel, as a nation rejected him, some received and accepted him, and whether they are Jew or Gentile, those who believed in his name, who believed that God is with us; they became children of God. They became God’s children, not by birthright, or because of their will, but because it was God’s will.
“We have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. … From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” [John 1.14b, 16] In the Ancient Near East, during the time of Christ, an only son was irreplaceable. An only son was a one of a kind experience, to be valued and treasured because that son was the only way in which the name of the father would live on. It is only through the actions of the only son that glory and honor can be brought to the name of the father. And in the case of Jesus Christ, what honor and glory that would be.
The word ‘grace’ or charis appears only four times in John’s Gospel. All four uses are in this passage. John establishes the theme of grace, the grace of God, in the prologue and then never mentions it by name again. Instead the remainder of his Gospel is ripe with illustrations of grace. We have seen God’s glory and we have received God’s grace. The witness John speaks of is what he, as a first-hand eyewitness saw and received. This glory and grace is shared by each succeeding generation and community that accepts and receives the Word.
Jesus brings glory to God the father by doing God’s will. The prophet Isaiah wrote “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” [Isaiah 55.11] God sent the Word into the world to become flesh, to live, to teach, to save, to suffer and to die. The Word did not return to God empty, but returned after it had done God’s will. That meant even dying on a cross and being raised again. By submitting to his death on a cross, Jesus has brings glory to God. By becoming incarnate, God has proven God’s active role in the lives of humanity. Rather than being a passive, disinterested God that so many people believe, God has jumped into the deep end of the pool with humanity, to be one with and amongst us.
“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 1.18] The tradition of the Jewish people teaches that a physical encounter with God, or the Power of God, is very, very dangerous. Moses had his face transformed from being in the presence of God to such a degree that he had to wear a veil. Anyone who touched the Ark of the Covenant died. God was only to be personally encountered by the high priests, and only then behind several curtains in the Holiest of Holies within the Temple in Jerusalem. Their tradition taught that no one had ever seen the face of God and lived. If you have not met someone, the best way to understand who he or she is and what he or she is like is if someone tells you what he or she has done. If I want you to know about one of my friends, I will tell you about some of the things they have done and said. That way, you will have a picture of them. So, in order to know God, we must know what God has done. Beyond trying to know God through creation, beyond trying to worship God by following the law given by Moses, we can best understand God by what God has done. That is, the Word of God and the Light of Life has come down to us, and become a person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and it is through him we can best attempt to understand God.
Now to get back to John, not the writer, but the Testifier. In John’s Gospel, the person we know as John the Baptizer is never referred to with that title. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. … 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.' "” [John 1.6-8, 15] In those 3.5 verses, the responsibility of John is laid out. He was sent from God to witness and testify to the light. He came to testified to the light. He testified about the light. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptizer is better called John the Testifier.
This is our role as those who have received and believed in Jesus the Christ, the Word made Flesh. We are to testify to the Light. We are to make known the works and word of the Living God. We are men and women, sent from God. We come to witness to the light so that all might believe. We can do so by sharing the Gospel, the Good News. We write our own Gospel each and every day of our lives, by what we do, and say and act. We may get to share the story of Christ with people from time to time. But we get to share the love of Christ every day. We are sent out by the Word of God into the world, and we must not and cannot return empty, but must accomplish the purpose for which we were sent. Our living Gospel, the Gospel according to you or me or any of us is not written on blank papyrus with a fresh quill. Our Gospel is written in what we say, how we act, what we do or do not do. With God’s blessings, we must make ourselves a Gospel worth reading.
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