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. (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.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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 1:1-18)
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John’s Gospel begins “in the beginning.” Appropriate enough, I suppose, but it is the only book of the Bible that dares to deliberately connect itself with the grand story of creation that we find at the beginning of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis: “In the beginning,” says the Book of Genesis - “when God created the heavens and the earth.” And John picks up this language and this theme, making me wonder if - just perhaps - John doesn’t intend for his Gospel to be a sort of extended commentary on the creation story itself. It certainly starts out that way. John says “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” and Genesis tells us that God created by the Word: “and God said ‘let there be light,’ and there was light,” etc. etc. And John tells us that “All things came into being through [the Word] and without him not one thing came into being.” John, as a witness to the life of Jesus, is telling us that in Jesus he saw for himself the creative and life giving power of God in: “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John and Genesis create for us a magnificent portrait on paper of an unimaginable scale of all that exists, and then John tells us that, ultimately, what it comes down to is Jesus. That creative and living force that was God’s Word became Jesus, and continues today the divine work of creating - now a transformative work to return things to that picture of perfection that we eventually come to at the end of the Genesis creation story when we’re told that God saw everything he had created - and it was all good.
All this hearkens back to a time that can only be described as “in the beginning.” What an appropriate way to begin a new year of worship as we gather together on the first Sunday of 2016 to continue that never-ending journey of faith; that never-ending quest to really know Christ.
What can we say of Christ based on this passage known as the Prologue to John’s Gospel. Well, we can say that all things began with Christ. We can say that Christ has always been present; that Christ is the power of God; that it is through Christ that God has created everything that exists. We can say, as John clearly does, that Christ is God; that all that is God is contained in Christ: in Christ we see power, law, gospel, love, compassion, hope - life itself. All this in Christ! And we see that Christ came in the flesh - “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Incarnation. What a fancy sounding word. Incarnation. It means “the Word became flesh.” It means that Jesus was God in the flesh. It means that through Jesus God experienced a human life and all that it contains. It is the ultimate display of divine love for the creation that God would choose to become a part of the creation. For me everything about Christian faith - including the resurrection - takes its meaning from the incarnation. And yet, here we are on the Second Sunday of Christmas and many people want to rush ahead and make today the celebration of Epiphany instead. I choose to pause. This is the Season of Christmas. The is the season when we mark and celebrate the incarnation of God. And I think there’s something truly meaningful about the fact that the Season of Christmas spans two calendars: that as one year ends with Christmas, the next year begins with Christmas. Our hope - from the beginning of our life to the end of our life - is ultimately found in the incarnation, just as the years begin and end with Christmas.
T.S. Eliot, in Four Quartets (a set of four poems he wrote over a six year span), wrote that “Last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.” That may well be true, but what about this year? Because, really, it’s always this year. This year’s words - the words that mean the most to us at any given moment are our words of faith and how we express that faith. As our understanding of and our relationship with God deepens, our language about God broadens and changes; new images spring forth that help us capture the divine. But even more important, this year - and, again, it’s always this year - our word is God’s Word; the Word made flesh. And that word - God’s Word - is a constant. It has always been; it will always be. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Also in Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot wrote that ‘Time past and time future - What might have been and what has been - Point to one end, which is always present.” That one end - that which is always present - is God; God’s Word; Jesus Christ. Our beginning and our ending is established by the Word; our eternity is with the Word; our lives are lived surrounded by and immersed in the Word. That’s ultimately what faith is about.
For us, today, January 3, 2016 - the first time we gather in a new year - is yet another new beginning. Throughout the year, may we keep in mind John’s thoughts: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The rest of our faith flows from this!
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