Today s sermon title is taken from the 1926 film, Flesh and The Devil, starring

Transcription

1 John 1:9-18 Flesh and The Word Today s sermon title is taken from the 1926 film, Flesh and The Devil, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, though I expect there are no other similarities between movie and sermon. In fact, we should hope that they are opposites, for the movie is a tragedy, with Garbo dying at the end, but the sermon should end with a proclamation of hope. But maybe this is a perfect way to compare the devil and the Word. One is about death and darkness and lies, and the other is life and light and truth. In the prologue of John s gospel there are a number of named and implied opposites: light and darkness are the most obvious, but look also at the statement, his own people did not receive him - but then, there were those who did receive him verses (11-12); and the phrase, the world did not know him, but then, there were those who believed in his name. So we have the opposites of welcome and denial, of the limit of knowledge and the limitless power of life granted to belief. But of course, the greatest opposites are pointed out by the title of the sermon: for half the title has everything to do with eternity and holiness and the glory of heaven, and creation- making life and giving life- and grace and truth; and the other half- well, just think of what flesh means: our frailties, our faults, our short span of years, the commonness of our existence and the substance of our

2 bodies- made of the dust of the earth- and finally, the darkness of the grave. And yet, these two opposites are joined together, for verse 14 tells us, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. One of the most dramatic sentences of scripture, that emphasizes the profound transformation of the Logos from glorious, holy existence to the lowliness of this world. Today is the first Sunday after Epiphany, the season that commemorates the visit of the Magi who came from afar to see the Baby Jesus; to the churches of the East, it is the day of Jesus baptism. Epiphany means the revealing, and in these stories, Jesus is the child King manifested to those who came to worship him, or revealed to us as God s chosen one when he came up out of the waters of River Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended and the voice from heaven spoke, You are my beloved Son, I am pleased with you. Epiphany is an appropriate time to consider these verses from John, for the author wants to prove to us that this person, and only this person, is the right and ultimate Revealer of God. He is the Word- with God from before the beginning of time (v. 1); he is the light that comes from heaven and shines in the darkness (v. 5), the true light that enlightens humankind (v. 9); he is the light of the world (8:12); he is the life that creates (v. 3), and that recreates- making children of God (v ); he is God s only Son

3 who exhibits the glory of God (v. 14); he is Jesus the Messiah who brings grace and truth to the human race (v. 17); and he is the only one who has seen God- who in fact resides in the bosom of God the Father- in perfect intimacy with God, closest to God s heart, someone has written- and who says, the Father and I are one (10:30), who says, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father (14:9), and he has made God known to us (v. 18). Our author want us to understand that no one else in all the world s history could reveal God to humankind as this one can. Moses, from our passage, was a great man of God, but it was only law and not revelation that came to the people through Moses; God s heart, God s compassion are revealed in Jesus the Messiahjust as the central message of this gospel spells out, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (3:16). John the Baptist, from our passage, was a great prophet of Israel, a man Jesus recognized in another scripture as the best man who ever lived (Luke 7:28), but he was merely a witness to the glory and preeminence of the Son of God (v. 15). John is representative of the long line of prophets and men of God who preceded Jesus as witnesses, making ready all who would listen and believe

4 their testimony about the coming eternal Word, who finally and completely would reveal God to us. But maybe we don t want that revelation, it may be that we don t really wish to know that much about God. How else to explain that the light could possibly be unnoticed or unrecognized in the darkness? Think of your own experience at night or in a dark room. When a light turns on it is impossible to miss. Yet these first verses of the gospel talk about the world not knowing the True Light as it comes into the world, and about the darkness of minds that cannot comprehend the Light (v. 5). How is this possible? Is it that we intentionally face the wrong way, so that the light is behind us or, do we refuse to turn and see the light? Do we surround ourselves with false light so that we don t recognize true light and so never permit the True Light to confront us- is this the meaning in verse11 of those who did not receive him? Do we close ourselves in, are we content with the limits of lesser light- so that we are happy with the Law of Moses- so that all we really want is a list of rules to keep- and which will help us keep score, a measurement of our personal goodness; are we happy with the words of John the Baptist and the other prophets so that we can read their noble teachings, but perhaps only think of God as a concept- some ultimate ideal we may (or may not!) aspire to, but not truly ever

5 know? But this True Light is a Person, so what we must realize is that he demands, and makes possible, a relationship. It begins with seeing what he reveals and believing the truth about him; it is becoming God s child, as verse 12 has it; it means giving up the control of ourselves, yielding what we think about ourselves to a belief in his name, and yielding our pride to his humility and our will to his will for us (v. 13). And it means what all relationships mean: it is the promise and blessing of friendship and love and sharing. It is not always easy, but you know that about relationships. It is a relationship with this particular Person, and to take part in the relationship, we must take part in his kind of life, for just as he is Logos and Light and Revealer of God, he is also that opposite- he became flesh, and in that negation of his Self, he took part in the darkness of human suffering and rejection. So that he is revealed to us and reveals God to us, we know him not simply as the eternal, Holy One, but as the One who loves, whose glory is that he suffered for us, who displays grace and truth as a man whose flesh was torn and whose blood ran red onto the very ground he had created in the beginning. And we honor him by revealing, our part in the relationship is revealing, in our flesh- by the way we live on this earth- the love of God for all the world.

6 It seems a battle sometimes to keep sane or to maintain your health, to remember what you were and what you are. It is a struggle just to stay alive, and sometimes it takes all we ve got to keep going: we re afraid sometimes, we grow weary, or the numbers don t add up in the checkbook. It is a war against the weakness of our flesh, the hurts we have felt, and the things and the people we have lost, the temptations we face; the darkness is very powerful, and there is so much we do not know, and often cannot see the way we should go. This is what it means to be flesh. It is a struggle to keep relationships. Friendships, marriages, partnerships at work, relationships at school, even the fellowship with other church members- they are difficult: we are all hard to live with. Verse 12 tells us that he gives to those who believe in him the power to become God s children. And while power is not an ideal translation of that Greek word, it seems to mean that we are granted the power to keep fighting the battle, to keep striving- so long as we are flesh- to maintain that relationship with God, and our relationships with other people, as well. Truly, it is an amazing thing to think about, to be God s child- we re not good enough for that. But it is a gift, and with the gift comes strength to battle

7 against the darkness when it tries to overwhelm us, and power to fight against the evil that tries to destroy; and the assurance that it is God s power, after all, God s power given to us, the power of selfless and unending love.