John 1:1-18    

                 January 3, 2009 

“NEW CREATION”

          If we page through the Gospel of John looking for an account of the birth of Christ, we may be initially disappointed.  There are no shepherds, no cradle, no swaddling clothes.  There are no pregnancy stories of Mary, and there is no account of Joseph struggling with the news that his betrothed is with child.  There are no angel choirs, no depressing journeys from inn to inn with “no vacancy” signs in the window.  But there is a birth story in the Gospel of John.

            Some have called the beginnings of John’s Gospel poetry.  Others have called it a song or a symphony.  The entire Gospel is much different than the other three.  One scholar writes, “…Matthew, Mark and Luke were largely technical manuals of Jesus’ life.  They are the “How To” manuals of Christianity.  Many years after their completion, John released this book about the ‘Why’s.’”  That same author continues, “After seventy years of reflection and prayer, John laid forth truths revealed in decades of reflection.”  John is like a mystic who looks into the heart of things.  He is like a poet who speaks in metaphors.  He is like a symphony conductor who decides to begin the piece by pulling out all the stops.  Everyone hits those first notes as loudly and powerfully as they can.  Boom!

            It is no accident that John’s Gospel begins with the same wording as the Old Testament book of Genesis…”In the beginning”.  Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  John begins his account of the new creation …John 1:1: ”In the beginning was the Word.”  Yes, John is talking about a new creation, but this new creation existed, John says, even before the original creation.  This Word (capital W) was with God, was God, and this Word (capital W) was in the beginning with God before there were mountains and rivers and lakes, before there were animals, humans, wind or rain. 

            I like to picture the beginnings of John’s Gospel like the scene in a movie.  Picture the camera focusing upon something on earth such as a tree or a person.  And then the scene speeds up, moves with blinding speed backward in time, above the tree or human, beyond earth, before there were space and time, back to the place where there was nothing but God and this Word who was a part of God, who was God.  God spoke a word, and when God spoke, creation was birthed.  Words brought creation into being.  John tells us that this Word (capital W) was in the beginning with God and all things came into being through this Word (capital W).

            Now, suddenly, John reverses the scene.  With blinding speed we leave the eternal presence of God and fly back toward the earth that is now created, back toward the place where there are people and places, back into time and space where there is now a history of a people and the promises of God.  With blinding speed we fly from the massive expanse of creation to get smaller and smaller until this Word (capital W) focuses on one individual among the population of the world, one person, and that Word (capital W) becomes a seed that is planted in the tiny womb of a tiny girl in a tiny spot in history.  Now, if John is conducting this symphony, his arms are flying and flailing now as Word (capital W) moves from macro to micro, moving from above and beyond creation, moving from eternity to earth, from the Creator into creation, from the heavenly to the earthly, from God to human.  And here it comes, folks, here is John’s Christmas story … verse 14 … “And the Word became flesh and lived among us…”  There it is: Joy to the world, the Lord is come!  John’s Gospel announces from the beginning --- a new creation.

            Our text talks about light and life, and again the prose of the Gospel is almost poetic, rhythmic.  “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”  God said in creation, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).  John is trying to tell us that Jesus is the Light.  God said in creation, “Let there be life” (Genesis 1:11, 20), and John is trying to tell us that Jesus is the Life.  God spoke creation into being through words.  John says that Jesus is the Word. And John wants to be clear.  Yes, there is a baby, a real beautiful human baby, but this baby has the eyes, the heart of God.  And make no mistake, the reason Word (capital W) became flesh, says John, was for us. It was for our enlightenment, for our life, and for our life to come.

            This God is With Us.  There is new creation, for He came to bring light into our darkened lives, He came to bring life, more life than simply existing, to souls hungering for purpose, for a meaningful connection to and with the Holy. 

            When John wrote his Gospel it was 50 or 60 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  John could remind his readers of the truth.  Through Jesus we have seen God’s glory (vs. 14b); through Jesus we have received grace and truth (v. 14b and 16).  We may have received a bit of understanding about God from Moses or even John the Baptist, John the Gospel writer tells us, but from Jesus we have received grace upon grace, grace and truth … love … that is as big as God Himself.  We have been given this God-gift directly from God.  It is God’s very own, very personal Gift for us.