This morning, we are turning to a familiar scriptural passage, the first twelve verses of the book of John. This is a passage we hear twice a year in worship – on Christmas Eve and on Maundy Thursday. These poetic and philosophical words summarize the mission of Jesus and God’s intentions for sharing the embodied Christ with the world.
This morning’s “favorite” comes to us from our own Janet Crossgrove – Janet lifted up a verse from this passage as her favorite scripture ‘’Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” This is a description of the Christian faith in one sentence.
Let us now listen to the entire passage as we turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 1 and read verses one through eighteen:
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The Scripture Lesson John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
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.
(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.’”)
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and 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…Living God, by Your Holy Spirit, let the same Word that was in the beginning speak to us now. Silence the noise of our minds and the distractions of our hearts. Let Your truth pierce our darkness, and let Your grace transform our lives as your scriptures are read and proclaimed. Amen.
The Message The Eternal Word
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Although we are focused on the Gospel of John today, we need to start at the beginning of the Bible...the beginning of time…the beginning, period.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
In the beginning of creation, God the Creator was present. God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, was Present. And, God’s word, the voice of God, was present. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
The Creator of Creation, The Redeemer of all People, and the Sustainer of all the faithful were together from the beginning.
This is Christianity in a nutshell – we were created – our earth was created – the heavens were created by our Triune God – As Psalm 19:1 sings: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” Jesus was always present as part of God – He is the word of God made flesh….God’s word embodied in a human form.
The first verses of John explain, in very poetic language, that God decided to split off the Part of God we call Jesus to live on earth – for a moment in God’s time and for a human lifetime as we understand time and space.
God wanted us to hear directly from God. And for those of us who embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and who believe in God “...he gave the right to become children of God…born of God” As followers of Jesus Christ, as followers of the Way of Christ, we are God’s children.
And, because of our faith in God, and the illumination of Jesus Christ, “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” We receive Grace and Truth through Jesus Christ. Grace is God’s unmerited favor – God forgives us and loves us even though we are deeply flawed and make mistakes. Jesus revealed God’s truth to us, and shares God’s grace with us.
Jesus came to earth to teach us about God….that God is real…that God has a good plan for us as individuals and for us as the collective body of humanity. God wants us to live lives in service to God – caring for God’s creation and caring for those Jesus called “the least of these”: people who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick, or imprisoned...people who are often overlooked or marginalized.
God wants us to have our faith at the center of our lives – not as an afterthought, not as something we do when we are not too busy, not as something we only think about a few hours a week on Sunday mornings – but at the center of who we are, how we live, and how we treat each other.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Jesus was part of the creation of the world, the creation of the universe, and our own creation from the beginning. Without Jesus nothing was made. There are no mistakes….no accidents…no forgotten corners of creation. The same Word of God that engineered the creation of the cosmos and the oceans knit us together in our mother’s wombs. We are unique creations of our loving God…our personality, our gifts, our senses of humor, our senses of justice…everything that we are, our whole existence is crafted by God.
Sometimes, when we are feeling blue, we feel like we are worthless. We sometimes feel invisible. We sometimes feel like our mistakes are dominating our lives. We can feel unworthy or unloveable. In these hard times, we must remember we were created by God, on purpose, with our unique talents and personality and gifts. We are part of God’s creation. We are a gift from God.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Let us remember we are a cherished creation of our God, as is everything that surrounds us in the natural world and the cosmos. Let us care for God’s creation, each other and ourselves and remember we are loved and cherished by our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sustainer.
Amen.
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