John 1:1-4- "Among Us"
/“Among Us”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 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. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
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. 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. 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.
It’s the first Sunday of 2021, which makes it a great day to talk about beginnings. I have always loved new beginnings. I love even the artificial “new beginning” of a new year. Of course, the things that existed on December 31st are still very much around. COVID certainly doesn’t care that we’ve flipped a page on our calendars. But still, there is something about the new year that gives us a chance to re-evaluate, reset, and realign. And so, it is fitting that our lectionary passage is also about beginnings.
It’s the 10th day of Christmas and we’re still in the beginning of Jesus’ story, only today, we’re turning to a different gospel than we read throughout Advent. As you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m Bible girl through and through. I was raised in an evangelical denomination that prized scripture knowledge almost above all else. As a kid, I memorized monthly memory verses for candy in Sunday school. By the time I was in high school, I tried to memorize the whole chapter of Romans 12 and had bible verses taped up around my bedroom and bathroom in a futile attempt to memorize them as well. I love looking back on the bible I used in high school and seeing what verses I underlined, or better yet, what notes I wrote in the margins. Next to Romans 3, I wrote “good arguments” and next to 1 Corinthians 15 where it says “women should remain silent in church” I wrote a huge frowny face.
As Christians, we believe that the Old Testament points forward toward the coming of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, and the epistles of the New Testament are about the early church wrestling with what it meant to be a new faith community in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. But Gospels are the one and only time that we get to hear Christ’s words to us. Each of the four gospels tells the story in a slightly different way to a slightly different audience. Since today is a day about beginnings, let’s look at how each one begins.
The New Testament begins with Matthew—a thoroughly Jewish gospel, written to show how Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and King of the Jews. It beings with Jesus’ genealogy showing his kingly lineage as the descendant of King David. Matthew first brings the good news—the Messiah is here! Matthew’s birth story is only a paragraph long and in it, Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, is the focus.
Then Mark takes over the story, opting for the quick highlights rather than long sermons or narratives. He completely skips Jesus’ birth and childhood and jumps straight to the good news proclaimed by John the Baptist. Mark tells stories of Jews and Gentiles, both confused by the words Jesus is preaching. The audience is getting broader, even if the audience is confused.
Then Luke sits down to write an “orderly account” of the goings on of Jesus Christ on earth. I won’t lie, I’m incredibly partial to Luke with his sweeping narratives, gorgeous songs, and gender equality. Women and men both take center stage in Luke’s narrative, starting with Jesus’ birth. It is Luke that gives us the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary’s song, and the travel to Bethlehem. In fact, Luke’s account of Jesus’ genealogy is even different from Matthew’s. Whereas Matthew ended with King David, Luke’s version of the genealogy ends with, “son of Adam, son of God.” Luke is expanding who Jesus came to serve and to save. He is not just the Jewish Messiah, he is the Son of God, and he is here to save Jews and Gentiles alike. Luke alone gives us the story of the Good Samaritan. Christ’s reach is getting broader to include even Israel’s enemies.
And then comes along John with a truly epic first line, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It doesn’t sound anything like the other gospels, because John isn’t trying to tell the same story. He’s trying to connect this story to another one. You see, he gospel of John begins with the exact same words as the Greek version of Genesis—in the beginning. John is telling a creation story. John is saying, you know the story you’ve been told since you were a child? That God spoke this world into being? Well Jesus is that Word. Jesus is the Word of God and his words are God’s words. Want to know what God is speaking? Listen to him!
It’s a powerful reminder that words matter. We know that our words can have enormous impact on others, for good or for bad, but John reminds us that words also matter to God. The triune God used words to create this world. And now, John says that creative force that brought beauty and life into this world is who we know as Jesus Christ.
God is saying, “This is who I am!” God speaks in Jesus as in no other way; not as in the rest of the Bible, not as in nature, not as by human reason or accomplishment, not as by listening to inner voices. Those are all powerful, important, and real ways of hearing God, don’t get me wrong, but there is something unique in the words and life of Christ himself. In Jesus we hear that God heals, forgives, embraces outcasts, and prays for those who hurt him. In Jesus we hear that God understands betrayal and denial, suffering and pain, humiliation and death. Jesus tells us that God knows that, both as individuals and as a world, we need a Savior; and Jesus is that Savior. In Jesus we hear that God brings victory over despair, defeat, destruction, and death; and God wills and shares that victory with us, with humanity, with creation.
My favorite thing about scripture is not just what is says about who God is—it is what scripture does. There’s a reason my Sunday school teachers had me memorize those verses as a child. Those bible verses got engrained deep, deep in my memory and when crisis comes, I have a deep well of scripture within me to pull out when I need them most. And then, those verses get tangled up in the memories of when I needed them most. The word of God that holds my joy and my sorrows, still speaks.
This opening passage of John will always carry with it the memory of one of the hardest experiences of my life. On what became my last day of college, a man with serious mental illness and far too easy access to a gun, walked on to my college campus and opened fire in the science building. He shot several students before one of my peers tackled him to the ground and stopped him from taking more lives. The gunman did, however, kill at 19-year-old freshman named Paul Lee. Paul loved to dance and was studying psychology before his life was cut short. That day, and the weeks that followed, were a horrific blur. The campus was on lockdown and I truly hope you never have to experience the kind of terror that comes from text messages that read, “Active shooter. Stay in place.” The frantic texts to see if our friends were alive. That year, there were so many school shootings that SPU’s barely made the national news because “only” one person died. But I learned that “only one death” doesn’t even come close to telling the whole story. The ripple effects go on and on. My last day of college was robbed from me. A season that was supposed to be all about celebration was bittersweet as we thought about Paul and his family, who would never get to see him walk across that stage.
About a week after the shooting, we had our School of Theology convocation service. I was one of three graduating seniors who was asked to give a short 5-minute homily. The first student spoke about John 1 and the light that shines in the darkness. And then I got up and I spoke about John 1 and the light that shines in the darkness. And then the third student got up and with a bit of a sheepish laugh, spoke about John 1 and the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness.
It was a thin space in the sanctuary that afternoon—we could feel the Holy Spirit’s presence so closely as she guided each of us to this same passage. Yes, God’s light shines in the darkness. And even on our darkest days, we can have hope that the darkness will not overcome the light. The dawn will come again.
The Word is still speaking. This year, at least for me, it’s not the light shining in the darkness that has spoken to me. The line that has grabbed ahold of my soul is that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.” He lived among us. Among our fears, among our family fights, among our insecurities, among all makes this life beautiful and hard.
In a year of unprecedented isolation, I need to know that Jesus has come to live with me. And he does. Friends, that is the holy and wonderful mystery of Christmas. It just not just that Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby, but that he came to earth to live with us. Even death cannot stop his glory, grace, and truth from being present in our lives today. We live at the intersection of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost—Christ was born, Christ rose from the dead, and Christ sent his spirit to live within us. Jesus didn’t just come to live among the people who happened to be alive in 1st century Palestine. He came to live among us. We can feel Jesus’ presence when we read the Bible and a verse sticks out to us in a way it never has before. We can feel Jesus’ presence in a moment of prayer or meditation. And we can always see Jesus’ in the face of another. As hard as it is to remember on our worst days, everyone around us bears the image of Christ. They are known by Jesus, loved by Jesus, and filled with Jesus’ spirit.
Today is a day of new beginnings. Well, sort of. The kind of new beginnings we find in John 1—it’s the beginning of this story, but it’s really about the beginning of a much older story. Our lives don’t magically start over every January 1st, but it can be an opportunity to create new stories. And stories have to start somewhere after all. As we look out into this brand-new year ahead, we cannot know what it will hold. We cannot know the sorrows that lie ahead, nor the joys. We cannot know when the pandemic will end or what life will look like on the other side of it. What we can know is that God is dwelling among us. Scripture speaks at the moments we most need it. If you are in need of more of Christ’s presence in your life, and God knows we all are, then turn to the place where you can hear the words of God made flesh—the gospels.
Let us go into this new year ready to write new stories and participate in the new chapter of a very, very old story. The story that begins with the Word that has brought all things to being. A story that has been passed down from generation to generation until it got to you. And now you get to be the light of the world that shines in the darkness.
