This is the third week in the season of Advent. During this season, our scripture lessons come to us from the prophets. Some of the prophets who foretold of the coming Messiah lived centuries before Jesus’ birth. For them, the birth of the Messiah was something to dream of far-off in the future. This morning, we are going to focus on the final prophet who predicted the coming of the messiah: John the Baptist. John was only a few months older than Jesus. But, he started his work as a prophet before Jesus revealed himself to the world. John was working to prepare people for Jesus in the immediate years and months before Jesus’ baptism. And, John was the baptizer – he was the prophet who baptised Jesus and proclaimed that he was here.
This morning, we turn to the book of John and read a portion of the first chapter. Listen now to the word of God….
The Scripture John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 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.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)
16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray….
The Message – The Word Became Flesh
December is one of the darkest times of the year. The winter solstice is next Sunday, on the 21st. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the 21st will be the blackest day of the year – the sun will rise around 7:20 and it will set around 4:40.
We live in the twenty-first century – we have electric lights. Our technological advances include HVAC systems and warm coats and snow boots. With the light pollution from the prison up the road, we don’t ever experience total darkness…we always have a bit of light.
Yet, our society still considers darkness scary. We don’t like it when we cannot see our surroundings. Gothic novels begin with statements like, “It was a dark and stormy light…” We are afraid of “things that go bump in the night.” We associate darkness with hiding the truth and concealing our true self – darkness is associated with evil and debauchery and misbehavior. Scary movies often have the bad guys sneaking up on their victims in the dark. The night and darkness is still thought to be scary and dangerous – we crave the light.
In the first century, as was true in the ancient world, people had to be very careful when it was dark outside. The main source of “artificial” light came from olive oil lamps made out of clay pots. The light was concentrated to a small area around the lamp. The lamps were fragile. And, when the lamp went out, darkness prevailed.
In Ancient times, the dark became metaphorically associated with night, sin, and evil. And, light became metaphorically associated with God, truth, virtue and good.
The first chapter of John is John’s introduction to his evangelistic text. He wanted everyone to know about Jesus – through Jesus, God had come to the world in a wholly new way – choosing to be embodied in a human being. Jesus came to transform how we understand God’s wishes for the people of the world. And, Jesus came to bring truth and love to the world.
John’s words are very philosophical – but the key message is that through Jesus “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus is the “light” of the world. Jesus is the source of spiritual illumination and truth.
Before Jesus came to earth, all people did not have knowledge about our relationship to our gracious and loving God. The Jewish people at least knew about God, but the world was filled with people who had not heard about our God and didn’t know about our loving creator. Since Jesus’ time on earth, Christianity has spread around the globe to people of every continent. People can learn about Jesus and choose to believe in God and follow Jesus’ teachings.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Yet, we are living in a society that is increasingly secular. Many people reject Christianity. Many others don’t understand how or why it could be relevant to their lives. They see pretty churches as part of the landscape of their lives, yet don’t feel the need to walk through the doors.
So, we must work to share the light – the Good News – with our friends and neighbors and family members. We must join with the light to help prevent the darkness from overcoming the light. We must invite people to join us at church for worship – and invite them to join us at church for Bible studies and community meals and special services and potlucks. If you have a friend who is having a hard time with the Christmas holiday, invite them to join us on Thursday at 7 pm for our Blue Christmas service. If you have neighbors without a church, invite them to join us for worship on Christmas Eve at 6 pm. Tell your friends about how being part of a community of prayerful Christians makes a difference in your life. We come here to worship God and to experience and participate in a loving, supportive environment. And, many, many people in our community are lonely and hurting. They need to be embraced by loving, non-judgmental people that are part of churches like ours, churches like Trinity.
So, as we “wait” for Christmas Eve and recall the birth of the baby Jesus, let us remember to do our work of inviting people to church, inviting people to experience God, and do our part of shining the light of Christ into the world. Together, we will continue to do all we can to not allow the darkness to overcome the world. Amen.
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