Gospel: John 1:1-18               1-4-2026

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
  6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
  10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
  14 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. 15 (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.’ ”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing, life came into being and that life was Light for all. Bask in the light of the Word. Amen

We like to think we are number 1; that we have first place wrapped up. It is true we are very important to God. We were made special, unique, and gifted by God’s design. We are not the one and only, the end all and be all of what has been made, however. We are a part of a worldly and even a cosmic reality.  Within that creation we have been given a responsible, stewardship role to which we are to attend. If we have ever given that assignment any thought, we will have come to realize that we have not fulfilled our role to its fullest potential. Sometimes we have failed utterly. Knowing us, as God does, a plan was devised that would reveal to us a love and generosity that we could not have foreseen. The Christmas story was the unveiling of that very human connection God established for the unfolding of that relationship. Yet it did not start with Mary and Joseph, the baby in a manger, with those shepherds’ attendance or the angel announcements. On this second week of Christmas, John’s gospel further opens our world up and he takes us back to the very beginning. John wants to show us that right from the start all the pieces would fit together. The position assigned to Jesus is more than we may have envisioned with the celebrations and highlights of our Christmas season.

So how is it that John’s account starts? “In the beginning” That should ring a bell, one that takes you back to Genesis. John purposefully is forming that connection. Certainly, God comes near to humanity, joining us as flesh is taken up and this child is born of Mary. It is wonderful, worth a chorus from the heavenly host, and a telling of that story from generation to generation. But John is cluing us in that there is even more to recognize. What was the first thing our creating God said? “Let there be light.”  In that enlightening beginning, the first move was made to create. With that light, life itself comes into this cosmos where only darkness had existed. The building blocks of creation had begun to be put into place. It was the spoken Word that got each part going. You know how the litany goes:

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

God said, “Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And it was so

God said, “Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God saw that it was good. 

God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 

Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
 27 So God created humans in his image,
  in the image of God he created them;
  male and female he created them. And it was so. 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Gen 1)

Behind these words which God said there was a plan; it was God’s intention to create beings that would be in God’s image. They would be creative as well; they would make plans to enhance the existence in which they had been placed. They would contribute to all that was so it would be very good, a place of productive life, of light and love. Think again about the gospel testimony we have: “In the beginning was the Word. 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.”  

I would have you consider the way in which we use that term – word, as in ‘the beginning’ word spoken! Mostly of course we refer to the expressions we use to convey information, to talk or write to one another, as basic communication. We determine their meanings so we can understand each other. Yet there is more to our use of word. There are times when it is OUR OWN WORD.  We may say: I give you my word! We are not handing someone a word, we are making a pledge. We are asserting that behind these words is a guarantee that they will be followed through on. Your own integrity stands behind that word you have given. There also needs to be a strategy behind that word, some kind of organized proposal for fulfilling that word. When we hear that God said, we discover – it was so! This was not a temporary appearance of a thing, some sort of magic. There was a whole scheme prepared and put together that would make this life that was made, productive and lasting. God was standing behind his work and would see it through. We have His Word on that!

Therefore we learn: 14“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. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. …17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”  Behind that Christmas account of a child come down from heaven, to become fully human and share in the life of this earthly creation, we also have that enfleshed Word who lived out God’s promise of love for what God had made. We have a revelation of our Creator given in such a way that we are to follow in the way demonstrated to us, to be the stewards of this place.  We have received the Light and can see how this life has been designed to be. That is Good News for all creation – the Word became flesh to live among us and also to die for us. 

We have in this text another example to follow. It is John the Baptist. He is the one who first came to give testimony of this amazing gift from God, a living Word. He knew and we are to realize, that John was not the Light but he did give witness to that light. John did not usurp the place of Christ but gladly passed along the information that the Messiah had come. Not everyone was willing to accept that news, not everyone believes it today. As the gospel relates: But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.  As children of God we are designed to live in the Light. That Light will bring out the best in us and make it apparent how we are to go forward.  Let there be Light, it is for you.