John 1:1-14

John profoundly states the nature of Christ in his first chapter. So much so that any commentator finds it difficult to give an explanation that matches its profundity. The nature of the incarnation is simply astounding.

The Greek word for “word,” is Logos, which means word, spirit, and mind. The word, or Logos of God then is the word, spirit, and mind of God. The very character of God is tangibly present in every word of God. During his ministry, Jesus stated a stark confession of scripture when he said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, a good person brings good up from the good within them and an evil person brings up evil from the evil stored within them.” [1] Our words reflect our essence, our spirit, our mind, our very being. This has dramatic implications for the logos of God.

When John talks about the “Word of God” he is talking about the very essence of God’s character. God’s word, displays the very spirit and mind of God. The logos is God. It that “Word” that became flesh. The word is the incarnation of Christ.

John is expressing the reality that the Word that is God is now human. The word did not take on humanity in the way we put on a winter coat. Jesus is God as a human being. Fully human, fully God. Jesus is the essence of God’s grace with legs. Jesus is what God’s peace looks like with a face. We all have those people in our lives who embody peace. Those who just exude tranquility and love just by their presence. Jesus fully exuded the grace and character of God by his presence because he was with God and was God.

John tells us that it was through that word, the spirit and the mind of God that all things were created. All that we see, hear, touch, and know, all of reality was brought through this essence this word of God. This is a world changing realization. John is trying to get us to see here that to know what is real, to know what is true, we must know the source of all reality and of all created things. It is the word of God, which was made flesh in Jesus. To know God is to know truth. To know Jesus is to know God. We must learn to hear this word, follow this word, write this word on our hearts.

Paulo Freire, a Brazilian Educator reminds us that it is not enough to just know how to read the word, we have to learn to read the world, namely, reality. The word reality comes from the word “royalty.” Thus to know what is real is to know what is royal. It is to know what is divine. In our age it seems that the almighty mass media is the one who tells us what reality is. It favors a virtual, fantastic, cinematic, plastic reality at the expense of “true” reality. The pursuit of truth in our culture then becomes more about what we want reality to be rather than what truth is in reality.

We as Jesus’s disciples then need to be wise and discern the world in order to be held accountable to God’s reality. John helps us to know what is real. He points out the way to know what God’s reality looks like. God’s reality looks like Jesus. We are to follow Jesus. The truth is not so much what reality is, as much as who is reality. Reality is the one who says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

If all things were created through Christ, the word of God, the Jesus is truly the only way to know ourselves, each other, and creation. t was through Jesus that all things were made and have there being. It is only through Jesus that we find the reason we were made and the purpose of our being alive. f you want to understand how a painter was inspired to paint a piece of art you talk to the painter. If you want to know why an inventor created a specific invention, you ask the inventor. f you want to know the purpose behind an author’s book, you sit and learn from the author. To understand the created you must understand the creator. He is our ultimate and truest reality.

What is shocking in the world we live in is that even given the magnitude of Christ’s reality, people still reject him for a reality of their own. John reminds us that it is not only the Godless who reject him, it is not just those who have never known him, it’s also his own people. It is those who know him and know him well who also reject him for a reality they prefer. John writes that “His own people did not accept him” (vs 9), which tells us about the way “this world” works.

The frightening nature of this message is that we can become blind to the light of truth when we become convinced of the world’s darkness. Once we reject God’s reality for a reality of our own, reject what is unseen for what is seen, we start to make our own standards of right and wrong.

We start to make our own standards of who is accepted and who is not. In kingdoms of this world, children gain their citizenship either through their blood rights or by of property rights.

If you are born to an American, you are granted citizenship by blood. If your family is not an American, but you were born on our soil, you are granted citizenship. In the reign of God, however, Jesus offers full citizenship to humanity in the kingdom of God, leaving behind geographical walls and blood rights. It is only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ that we become children of God.

This Christmas, just like every Christmas before, we are called to acknowledge what the brith of Jesus represents. What we need to be faithful to remember is that Jesus represents the one true God made flesh to usher into the world the reality of the heavenly kingdom. This should dramatically shape our view of reality. The world needs a people transformed by the truth of Jesus Christ. The world needs a people who not only recognizes, but makes room for the savior of the world to be their reality. When the church allows Jesus, the one through whom all things came, to be their way, their truth, and their life, all people are then free to encounter Jesus through the church.

May the church encounter the reality of God in Jesus Christ afresh this Christmas.

​ [1] Matthew 12:35; 25:19, Luke 6:45, Mark 7:21, Jeremiah 17:9, Psalm 139:23-24, Proverbs 4:23; 13:3, ect.