John 1:1-18

January 2, 2022 | A sermon on John 1:1-18 | by  Judson F. Merrell |

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 overcome 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 God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

(Joh 1:1-18 NRSV)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Our Gospel today is one of my favorite parts of scripture.  It is also one that pops up in our lectionary multiple times, and one of the texts that I have preached on perhaps the most.  Today makes the 7^th time I have preached on this text to you as a congregation.  So what is new about it?  What can I say different today than I have said in the past?  Afterall, you all know this text.  Besides John 3:16 this is the most widely known text from John’s account. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Although this is the beginning of John’s account of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I look at this text as a transitional text.  For 4 weeks in Advent we heard about John the Baptist, and how he was not the Messiah, but instead the messenger sent to prepare the way.  John prepared the world for the coming of Jesus.  The story of John helped us prepare for celebrating Christmas.  In a few days we will move from Christmas to Epiphany, and then into the ministry of Jesus, starting with his baptism.  Maya Angelou once said “If you don’t know where you‚ve come from, you don’t know where you‚re going.”  The Disney film Moana has a similar phrase, uttered by the character Maui: “In order to know where you‚re going, you need to know where you come from.”  As we move into Epiphany and the time after Epiphany, we need to be reminded of where we have been so we know where we are going.  John does that for us today.  But John takes things a little farther back than the lessons we had in Advent….John takes us back to the very beginning of all creation.  A big part of our Trinitarian theology is that God is and always has been Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Old Testament includes many references to God’s Spirit, and when God created mankind he did so “in our image, in the image of God he created them.”  Yes, there is a plural used there when talking about God.  By beginning his account of the Gospel with “In the beginning….” John is reminding us all where we have been.

He moves from that intro into the story of John the Baptist.  He is very blunt in telling his readers that John the Baptist is NOT the light, but instead the one sent to testify to the Light.  John the Baptist did this so that all may believe in the work of God.  Remember, we are sinners who like things that are tangible…things we can see, and hear, and touch.  The concept of faith, to simply believe in something that is not tangible to us, works opposite of sin.  And yet it still works.  It’s been thousands of years since God led him people out of Egypt, thousands of years since Jesus walked the earth….and yet people in this world come to the faith every single day in a new way.  That is God at work continually re-creating and re-forming the world around us.  That is what we see.  That is what we hear. That is what we touch.  That is how the Holy Spirit is still making God known in the world today.

After the part about John the Baptist solely being the messenger, the text moves into this part about Jesus being in the world but yet the world did not know him.  That in a way is where we are now, and where we are going.  Every day the church continues to live by the words of Jesus recorded in Matthew 28:  “Go therefore, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  We go into the unknown of tomorrow having been commissioned to do the work of God.  We take with us the witness of the saints that have gone before us.  We take with us the strength that the Spirit gives us, the knowledge of the grace and truth of God, and we boldly step into a new day.  Today is the transition from yesterday to tomorrow.  And in order to take that step, we reflect on where we have been.  As we step into 2022, we can reflect back on 2021.  We learn from mistakes and things done rightly.  We continue to pray for the Spirit to be in our midst as we walk.  We give thanks that the Son has made the Father known to the world.  And we look with hope for what the future brings, knowing that one day we will put the past behind us as we live in the glory of the Kingdom of God forever.  In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.