Bazaar United Methodist Church

Bazaar, Kansas

Sermon Text
John 1:1-18

Incarnation

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 people. 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. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, "This is he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' ") Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:1-18 TNIV

It has been my habit during the time I have been here to use the Wesleyan Covenant Service on the first Sunday of the year. But this year I thought we would do something different. I thought we would look instead at Epiphany not so much as we tend to do so in the western church, where we tend to look at the coming of the magi and the giving of gifts. But instead, I thought we might look at a more ancient tradition, the tradition of the Eastern Church, and see if we can try to wrap our minds and hearts in the amazing incarnation.

It seems that at Christmas we simply go to a baby in a manger and we get all wrapped up in the sentimentality of that scene. But what we don't seem to capture is what John captures in his gospel; incarnation. And John is not always easy for us to read and understand so we prefer the sentimentality to searching out what incarnation might really mean and what it has to do with us.

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. The Word is the Logos-it is the Word for all people. Logos does not mean a specific word for a specific person or people but the word of God for all people. It's important for us as Christians to understand this. All too often we think we have the market cornered on God. We have Jesus and that means we have the truth and nobody else can have it. But right here in the first three verses of John, he tells us that the Word is for everybody.

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. These three verses are so beautifully poetic that it is easy just to read them and not take the time to dwell on their meaning; to dig into the depths. After all, why confuse ourselves with that theological stuff anyway? How about because we want to know God? So as in Genesis, in the beginning, in a time before there was time, the Word existed with God and was God in perfect unity; a oneness of relationship with an intimacy closer than human intimacy is able to come because physical bodies are not necessary.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The Word speaks life and light to all the people. He is a light shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. In 2000 years no matter how bad it seems things are in the world, how evil times still are, the darkness has not overcome the light of Christ's love because in every age and time there is someone, somewhere who is shining that light boldly.

Have you ever noticed, that no matter how dark a room is, the smallest of candles will illuminate it? Do you know that even a birthday candle will provide enough illumination for a person at the edge of an auditorium to safely find their way to the center of a darkened auditorium? It's true.

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. This is so significant to us. The true light, the light of the world, the one who gives light to everyone was coming into the world. And even though the Creator made the world through him, the world neither recognized nor received him. But, and this is a big one, to those who did receive him, who chose to believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-born of God. "Children of God are generated by God."

This is huge. Becoming a child of God immediately, one who is born of God, means that we don't have to wait until we die to begin living eternal life. But that eternal life is present in the here and now. There's just one little catch, while we don't "have to wait for an end-time to become a child of God. . .Johannine faith and so-called 'realized eschatology' demand continual commitment."

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. And so finally we have it. The Word becomes flesh and lives among us. The only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. This is where most of us finally pick up on incarnation. God in the flesh. But it has been hinted at already several times. In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. And The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Surely we recognize in these verses that notice has been given that the Word is coming into the world-the one who is one with God.

Think back to the first creation story in Genesis, where God speaks the world into existence. There "Jesus is the primal utterance of God," according to James Howell, "the Word behind the words, framed in the triune heart of God before time, yet not content to be sequestered outside of time." Before time. . .but not content to be outside of time, God opens the floodgates of heaven and love pours forth through the incarnation; to most people, to most religions a heinous thought.

"David Bentley Hart has written elegantly of 'the scandal of Christianity's origins, the great offense this new faith gave the gods of antiquity. . .a God who goes about in the dust of exodus for love of a race. . .who apparels himself in common human nature, in the form of a servant; who brings good news to those who suffer and victory to those who are as nothing; who dies like a slave and outcast without resistance; who penetrates to the very depths of hell in pursuit of those he loves; and who persists even after death not as a hero lifted up to Olympian glories, but in the company of peasants, breaking bread with them and offering them the solace of his wounds.'"

"It is the incarnation which more than any other divine action reveals the essential character of God. . ." Christ comes to us in the incarnation as the very love of God.

"Everything that came from Jesus's lips worked like a magnifying glass to focus human awareness on the two most important facts about life: God's overwhelming love of humanity, and the need for people to accept that love and let it flow through them in the way water passes without obstruction through a sea anemone."

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich." Max Lucado speaks to the wonder of it all:

The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.
God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created.

God's love overflowing into the incarnation is unfathomable to us. Yet it is this act of God that, more than any other, verifies God's love for us.

What Jesus did for us through the incarnation; throughout his life, was to demonstrate how a truly human being, a fully human being could live when fully connected to and trusting in God. Jesus did not in any way use his Godly powers when he walked the face of the earth. And we do ourselves and God a disservice if we think he did. He chose to limit himself when he chose to become incarnate. He did nothing of his own power. "He gave up everything so that by his dependent life he opened a door that would allow [us] to live free enough to give up [our] rights." He relied on his connection, his relationship in the Godhead for the power to heal, to cast out demons, to calm the storm. Jesus was fully human; limited as you are and as I am in his incarnation except for one thing. He believed God to the uttermost. He unreservedly trusted God. And the fact is that you and I do not. When we do, we will do the things that Jesus did. You see, Christ came to us first in the incarnation and Christ remains incarnate when we live out Christ's love in the world. Amen.