I remember the story of the mother who was ironing while her little son was drawing
pictures from the set of art supplies he had gotten for Christmas. The mother asked him, "What are you drawing?" He said, "I'm drawing a picture of God." She said, "How can you do that? Nobody knows what God looks like." He said, "They will when I get through! " I think we all would like to know what God looks like. Even though in Exodus', chapter 34 God told Moses, "No one can see my face and live!" and Jesus told us in John chapter 4 the "God is Spirit and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in Truth." Still, we would like to get a peek at God. But the truth is we can only see him through the eyes of faith when we see his hand at work in the world about us. In the gospel lesson this morning we have moved rather suddenly from the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem to the cosmic purposes of God in the Incarnation of Jesus in order that we may comprehend it ourselves. The gospel reading this morning, the first Sunday after Christmas, is the very beginning of John's Gospel and is commonly called the Prologue to the Gospel. The author states at the end why he has written the gospel:
But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." [John 20: 31]
Why should we believe this author versus any other? First of all, John, the son of Zebedee and brother of James was said to have been the disciple who reclined close to the breast of Jesus at the Last Supper and was standing at the cross with the mother of Jesus. From the gospels we learn that John was one of the first disciples. He left his father's prosperous fishing business along with his brother James to follow Jesus. He, along with his brother James and Peter, comprised the inner circle of Jesus' disciples, because they were present when he raised the daughter of Jairus to life, they were present at the Transfiguration and they were the closest disciples with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he prayed earnestly to the Father to let his will be accomplished. John was also reported by Paul as one of the pillars of the church. This gospel is reported by Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in 177 A.D. to have been issued at Ephesus. Tradition has it that John spent his latter years in Ephesus preaching, teaching and writing. At some point he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos where he wrote the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Clement of Alexandria, - who died in 212 A.D. said,
"Last of all; John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospels, being urged by his friends and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel."
John set forth in cosmic terms the purpose of God. This gospel also refutes practically any heresy that might arise in any generation:
1. To those who deny the deity of Christ John argues: He is the Son of God, the very
Word of God himself.
2. To those who deny Jesus' humanity, John argues: He is the Word become flesh, the
very flesh that must be experienced.
3. To those who continue to look for a human messiah and an Earthly utopia, John
argues: He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the very One who had been
promised by God from the beginning of time.
That is why this prologue harkens back to the creation when he says:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John sets the Word or Logos right back to the beginning of everything in creation:
"He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."
You see for the Greeks and the Hellenistic Jews of those days the Word or Logos was the rational principle behind all creation and everything in existence. For the Jews, the Word of God expressed God's active, eternal purpose;
IN CREATION, Gen.1:3 "And God said 'Let there be light and there was light'. This was before He created the Sun and the Moon. Psalm 33:6 "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made..."
John establishes common ground with the readers, both Greek and Jew, of his day by using this concept of the Logos especially in the idea of the self-revelation of God to his people. For John this emphasis on revelation is a key point because he continually stresses throughout the gospel that Jesus is the very revelation of God. That is why he
wrote:
"No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." - John 1:18
In the Book of Genesis God revealed himself to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
These theophanies or manifestations took place either as the angel of the LORD, a vision of the LORD in a dream or the Word of the LORD coming to a person. In all these we have the direct revelation of God to the person being addressed. Prior to the coming of Jesus, there had been no prophetic word uttered in the land, for many years. That is why when John the Baptist came preaching a baptism of repentance the people came out in droves to see him.
The people were hungry for this Word from God. They came out expectant, looking for this revelation of the word from God through his prophets. John fit the bill in his appearance and in his manner. But even the author acknowledges that John the Baptist was a forerunner and was not the Word or the Light. For Jesus to be the very self-revelation of God he must be first of all pre-existent, and have been there from the beginning with God. The Greek words for "In the beginning" (en arche) do not mean from the beginning, he was already there. He did not become; he was not created; He never had a beginning. He "was in the beginning with God". The word "was" (en) is the Greek imperfect tense of “eimi” which is the word most often used for deity. It means to be or I am. To be means continuous existence, without beginning or origin.
"Before the mountains were brought forth, ..." (Psalm 90) "...or the land and the earth were born, from age to age you are God." (Psalm 90:21)
From Jesus' "and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own High Priestly presence with the glory, which I had with thee Prayer ... before the world was made." (John 17:5)
Second of all he must have been and be co-existent with God. He was and is face to face
with God forever. The Greek word "with" (pros) has the idea of both being with and acting toward. John states that Jesus Christ (the Word) was both with God and acting with God. He was "with God": by God's side, acting, living, and moving in the closest of relationships. Theirs is the perfect eternal bond. John writes in his first epistle;
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us-that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing this that our joy may be complete. (l John 1: 1-4)
Finally John did not say the "Word" was "the God". He said, "The Word was God (Theos) He omits the definite article. He was saying that Jesus is the very nature and character of God the Father, but he is not the identical person of God the Father. He is a distinct person from God the Father, but he is of the very being and essence (perfection) of God the Father. The letter to the Hebrews puts it this way:
"He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his
nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on highs... "[Hebrews 1:31)
That is why Jesus replied this way to Philip's request to show them the Father;
"Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say; Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." (John 14: 9-11)
Jesus used the term I AM (ego eimi) several times in saying in no uncertain terms that He was and is deity. The Jews knew perfectly well what he meant when he used the term I AM to metaphorically describe himself He was associating himself with the I AM of the Old Testament who revealed himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Jesus uses the I AM term seven times throughout the gospel of John:
I AM the Bread of Life (6:35)
I AM the Light of the world (8:12)
I AM the Door of the sheep (10:7)
I AM the Good Shepherd (10: 11)
I AM the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6)
I AM the True Vine (15:11)
By using these metaphors Jesus hammered home to his listeners his nature in terms they could understand. He used these terms to relate to the people in order for them to come to grips with his deity. At this time of the year when we celebrate the coming of the Christ child, it is good to take a look at the purposes of God on a cosmic scale, to stand back and take a look at the big picture. When we focus in on the Babe of Bethlehem we see the action of God moving in such a way that we will comprehend his Incarnation and bring in to focus how he wants to relate to us. In John's Gospel we hear the term Father used for God many, many times. This was a new concept to the people of Jesus' day. God was Almighty, all-powerful, Judge, King, and everlasting, but to think of him as Father was new to them. Jesus brought that concept with him when he came to give us insight to his relationship with God -- his Father. He came as a little baby so that he could experience what we go through. And in that special relationship with Joseph, his earthly father he caught sight of the way he could let us know how he related to God. Barbara Dafoe Whitehead points out in her article in the Atlantic Monthly called "Dan Quayle Was Right" that family relationships is the critical issue facing us in the 1990's. I assure you that the men I minister to in prison for the most part have come out of bad or poor family relationships, where the missing ingredient was Love. Many have had little if any relationships of a positive nature with their fathers. Let us contrast Jesus' relationship with his Father. In Marks, gospel during the harrowing hours in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus called out;
"Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." (Mark 14:36)
In his anguish of the hour he called out "Abba-- Daddy" showing how close his relationship is to the Father. At the point of his making expiation for our sins, he cried out in his humanity to his Father revealed the intimacy of their relationship. It is into that intimacy that we are adopted, so that as St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians;
"God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba, Father!"' (Galatians 4:6)
When we can speak to God as Abba, then we are truly filled with grace, as of the Father himself, through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That gracious favor of God is exhibited through the Love of the Christian community. St. John also wrote in his first epistle;
"Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."
(1 John 4: 7-12)
This concept of God's love permeated John's writings. St. Jerome wrote in his
Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians a moving picture of St. John's waning years.
"When he tarried at Ephesus to extreme old age, and could only
with difficulty be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples, and was unable to give utterance to many words, he used to say no more at their several meetings than this, 'Little children, love one another.' At length the disciples and fathers who were there, wearied with hearing always the same words, said, 'Master, why dost thou always say this? "It is the Lord's command,' was his worthy reply, 'and if this alone be done, it is enough."'
I am a witness to the fullness of that Grace exhibited in Christian Love in many encounters of ministries, in the Cursillo Movement and the Kairos Prison Ministry. Men have testified to me that other inmates have seen their faces glowing with a light that is awesome to behold. The Light continues to shine in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. I went on trip down into a cave in Missouri back in 1961 and when they turned the lights out down there IT WAS DARK. I could see a thing. Then the guide struck a match and it was if the darkness ran away from the light. DARKNESS CANNOT OVERCOME LIGHT. LIGHT OVERCOMES THE DARKNESS. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the Word continues to dwell among us, full of grace and truth. Let us at this Christmas season comprehend the fullness of God's grace towards us, when he sent his Son, his word to dwell among us, that our light may so shine that others will see our goods works and glorify our Father in Heaven.
A. BACKGROUND -NOTES:INCARNATION
INCARNATION (Lat. in and caro, "flesh"). The act of assuming flesh; in theology, the gracious voluntary act of the Son of God in assuming a human body and human nature.
Scripture Teachings. In addition to the gospel record of the miraculous conception and birth of Christ (see Luke 1:26-35; 2:1-14, cf. with Matt. 2:1-15), the Scriptures disclose this doctrine in several ways:
a. In the OT prophecies, which represent Christ as a person both human and divine, He is set forth in "the seed" of the woman, a descendant of Abraham, of Judah, and of David, "a man of sorrows." But He is also called "the Mighty God," "the Eternal Father," "the Son of God," "the Lord [Jehovah] our righteousness." Although these familiar Scriptures do not formally state the doctrine of the incarnation, they logically suggest or lead up to it.
b. Also in the NT there are many passages that present the elements of this doctrine separately-- Christ is represented as a man with a human body and a rational human soul; physically and mentally He is truly human. The designation "the Son of man" occurs more than eighty times in the gospels. But elsewhere this same person claims for Himself, and has ascribed to Him, the attribute of deity.
C. Although the doctrine does not rest for its authority upon isolated proof texts, but rather upon the Scripture revelation as a whole, still there are certain utterances of great weight in which the truth is distinctly, and we may say even formally, stated (see [John 1: I- 1 4]1 cf. [I John 1: 1-3; 4:2-3; Rom. 1: 2-5; Phil. 2:6-1 1; I Tim. 3:16; Heb. 2:14]). The only way in which the force of these teachings can be set aside or lessened is by proving lack of authority on the part of the Scriptures. It should be added that the only way in which the Scriptures can be understood or intelligently interpreted is in the light of the essential facts of the incarnation. (From. New Unger's Bible Dictionary)
B. DOCTRINAL POINTS:
1. Jesus is the Word of God. In John's gospel alone do we find this term for Jesus. The Word expresses in tangible form the inner life of a person. Word is self-revelatory. No one is closer to God than the Word.
2. God is present and revealed in creation. All that comes to exist comes to be through the Word.
This reaches a climax when, in the incarnate Word, God makes a home in the human community. In the enfleshment of the Word, God found the best way to reveal who God is. In Jesus the compassion; forgiveness and love of God are visible. Forevermore the human is revelatory of the divine.
3. Eternal life dwells in human history. The divine presence is operative in human experience, in the ebb and flow of earthly, contingent existence.
4. God continues to take on the flesh of those in whom he dwells - the ongoing Incarnation. The Word has entered this disordered and murky world and entered it precisely where sin is most deeply entrenched - in weak and frail humanity. But darkness cannot and will not have the last word.
C. APPLICATION/DISCUSSION:
Theological Development of the Doctrine. The early centuries of the history of the church were marked in an unusual degree by speculations concerning the Person of Christ. The representation of Scripture raised many questions among thinkers and led to numerous attempts to give scientific form and elaborateness to the doctrine of the incarnation. These speculations were affected in some instances by Jewish opinions and prejudices held by members of the Christian community but more frequently by one form or another of pagan philosophy. It is not surprising, therefore, that various styles of error, heresies that became historic, appeared, and were overthrown, during those centuries.
Among the prominent heresies were the following, namely:
1. Ebionism, or the doctrine of the Ebionites, a Jewish sect that existed even in the time of the apostles. This error arose from mistaken Jewish preconceptions concerning the Messiah and consisted in the denial of the divine nature of Christ.
2. Gnosticism, a name indicating the assumption of superior capacity for knowledge (Gk. gnosis, "knowledge"). Gnosticism in its diverse forms received its impulse, and in the main its guidance, from pagan philosophy. In different ways it denied the humanity of Christ, even to the extent of denying the reality of His human body.
3. Sabellianism, which at bottom was a denial of the tri-personality of God, denied, accordingly, the existence of the Son of God as a distinct person before the incarnation. The union between the divine and human natures in Christ was held to be but temporary.
4. Arianism denied that the Son was of the same essence with the Father but held that the essence in both was similar, hence reaching the conclusion that Christ was created, though the greatest of all creatures. In connection with this heresy was the fierce contention over homoousios, "same substance," and homoiousios, "similar substance," a discussion to which uninformed persons, who do not realize the importance of the issue involved, sometimes sneeringly refer.
5. Apollinarianism, resting upon the platonic distinction between body, soul, and spirit as three distinct elements in man, viewed Christ as having a human body and soul, or animal life, but not a human spirit having rationality and intelligence, in place of which was the divine nature of Christ. Thus Christ was not completely human.