In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
(John 1:1-14a)
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Last week I referred to what I called Paul’s Christmas story - a handful of words in Galatians that tell us that Jesus was “born of a woman.” And that was it. Today we have another of the less familiar Christmas stories - not Matthew or Luke, but John. I love the introduction to John’s Gospel. So much is accomplished in just a few verses, and as I was reading and reflecting on the passage over the last few days, I found myself drawn to these words: “The Word became flesh.” That’s quite a statement. I think sometimes we overdo these comments - but’s that’s awesome; in fact, that’s radical! “The Word became flesh.”
As I thought about those words I started thinking back to last Sunday’s Question & Answer service. One of the questions that was asked was along the lines of whether Christianity was “right” compared to all other religions. That’s the gist of what the question was. My answer (in part) was that as Christians we tend to focus far too much on being “right” and far too little on being humble - and I think humility is a much better witness to Jesus than constantly throwing in people’s faces that we think we’re right - because when we start to focus on being right then we even separate ourselves from other Christians, because there’s always a tendency (even in our own beloved and supposedly inclusive United Church) to assume that we know the right way to be a Christian and if everyone else would only listen to us and do it our way then everything would be all right. In the United Church we tend not to put it quite so bluntly. It’s more a passive aggressive assertion of being “right.” But it’s most definitely there. But rather than being called to be “right” all the time, we’re actually called to be humble, and it seems to me that if we really took time to think about the fact that “the Word became flesh” that would push us in the direction of being humble rather than telling everyone else that we’re right.
Over the last few weeks, one of my repeated refrains leading up to Christmas has been that if we really want to understand and be touched by the Word of God, we have to go beyond the Bible. Too many Christians fall into the trap of thinking that the Bible is the Word of God and that’s that. Now before I get hit with accusations of heresy from here and there and everywhere (because this service is being streamed around the world!) let me explain first what I mean by that. I believe that the Bible is of divine origin and I believe that the Bible is inspired by God. I’m neither denying nor questioning that. The question, for me, is whether we see the Word of God as being merely the words on the pages of the Bible, or whether we see it as more. I believe that the Word of God is a living word that has the power in and of itself to touch people and to change people. I believe, though, that the Word of God can also be deadened. I believe we deaden it when we reduce the Word of God to mere words on a page; to nothing more than ink on paper. That takes the power away from the Word of God, and it conveniently gives all the power to - guess who - us. How does it do that? Because the moment we decide that the Word of God is nothing more than ink on a page (even if the page is in the Bible) we’re going to start to pick and choose. We’re going to let our attitudes and prejudices and pre-existing beliefs dictate how we read the Bible. That’s why Christians, frankly, have been able over the centuries to justify all sorts of obnoxious beliefs and practices and behaviours. Do you want to support slavery? Just read Ephesians 6. It assumed that there would be masters and slaves. Do you want to prevent divorced people from getting remarried? Just hang everything on Mark 10:11 and ignore everything else. Do you want to rant against homosexuals? Just throw Leviticus 18:22 at them - and ignore that a chapter later God seems pretty steamed about people with tattoos as well. But this is what happens when we decide that the Bible and the Bible alone is the Word of God. If that’s the case then the only lens we have to filter the Bible through and understand it is our own - and that renders the Bible dead because the only things alive when we do that are our own attitudes and prejudices and pre-existing beliefs. And that’s what happens with most Scriptures of most religions. They can’t really transform people who deaden their words. Instead, people warp them to suit their own purposes. If I want to avoid the tendency to claim that Christianity is “right” - here, nevertheless, is the point at which I want to say that Christianity is (or at least can be) different. It’s all because of the Word made flesh.
The Word made flesh gives us an appropriate lens through which to interpret the Bible, and it really isn’t that complicated. To say that Jesus is the Word made flesh means that in the life of Jesus the Word of God itself was wrapped in flesh and lived out. You interpret the Bible not by seeing if it matches what you already believe and not by letting each verse stand on its own, but by vetting it through the life of Jesus. Was the life of Jesus consistent with what you’re trying to make the Bible say? And if it isn’t - then you have to keep working at it. Remember that Jesus didn’t say that the Bible was the truth. In fact, he couldn’t have - because there was no Bible in his day. Jesus didn’t even say that the Torah was the truth. Jesus said that HE was the truth. The only way to interpret the Word of God and to be sure that it’s being lived out is to filter it through the life of the Word made flesh. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus said. The way is to follow Jesus and live as Jesus lived; the truth is Jesus himself and the example he set of how to live out the Word of God; the life is what we receive when we do it - liberation from all that frightens and oppresses us and holds us back and prevents us from truly living for God. That’s the difference of Christianity. We don’t have just words on a page or ink on paper to guide us - we have the life of Jesus, and whatever isn’t consistent with the life of Jesus (no matter how many scattered verses of the Bible we can find to justify it) isn’t the Word of God. And if that’s the difference, that’s also the challenge, isn’t it. Because it isn’t easy to do.
Our pre-conceived notions and ideas; our pre-existing attitudes and prejudices - these are among the things that hold us captive. Jesus challenges them all. That’s why the concept of the Word made flesh is both awesome and radical. If the Word has been made flesh then it calls us to an entirely different way of looking at life; an entirely different way to live. And that’s our challenge: to live like Jesus; to love like Jesus; to forgive like Jesus. I often quote G.K. Chesterton: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; Christianity has been found difficult and left untried.” No, it’s not easy to live, love and forgive like Jesus. But it’s what our faith challenges us to do, because Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. We know what God asks of us not just from words on a page, but because of the Word made flesh. We know what God asks of us not just because of ink on paper, but because of the life of Jesus. That’s what’s different about what we believe, and that’s the challenge for how we should live!
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