“In the Beginning” John 1:1-18
Introduction
Today is one of those “in the beginning” Sundays, the first Sunday of the New Year. I wonder what 2009 has in store for us? I wonder how many of us have made and unmade New Year resolutions. What plans have we made for the year ahead?
For us as a church the year 2009 marks the start of our centenary celebrations, it was July 1909 when the foundation stone of this magnificent building was laid. There will be a number of events throughout the year and in to March 2010 – the centenary of the church’s dedication. Our theme covering these celebrations will be: “learning from the past, living in the present, looking to the future”.
Learning from the past
As part of the celebration we are hoping to produce a little booklet giving a brief history of the church and a guide to the building. In particular I want to research what happened during the first ten years in the life of the church and see what lessons we can learn as we plan for the first decade of the next century. In undertaking this little project I am already struggling with a dilemma faced by any would-be author – how do you begin? For a start there is the problem of when does the story of this church begin – for much must have happened prior to the date in 1909 when the foundation stone was laid. Then there is the detail of the wording. There are no “Once upon a time” formulae for the start of such works.
The four evangelists faced a similar problem when setting about writing their gospels. How far back should they go in starting their accounts and what should the opening words be? Matthew and Luke make the birth of Jesus their starting point, Mark takes as his the start of Jesus’ public ministry, uniquely John takes us back to the start of all things “In the beginning was the Word”. He places his account of the life of Jesus firmly in the much bigger story of God and his dealing with people.
The focus for all four gospel writers is the person and work of Jesus. In their encounters with Him they had experienced something unique and life-changing and they wanted others to know about this. In his gospel John writes so that others might have the same life-changing experience of coming to believe in Jesus and share in eternal life.
Over the next few weeks we are going to be looking in some detail at this opening passage in John’s gospel as we think about foundational Christian doctrine. (I am responsible for delivering a 10 week doctrine course aimed at Readers in training during this term – all welcome).
What does this passage, especially vv10-18, teach us about Jesus?
He was in the world
He made the world
He was rejected by many
He adopts those who receive him into his family
He became flesh but full of glory, grace and truth
He was God
Just by highlighting these themes I hope you can see what a wealth of material is contained within these few verses. Rather than try to dissect all of this I want to simplify it into two great truths:
Jesus is both God and man
This God-man Jesus is intimately involved in our concrete world
Jesus is both God and man
This is the truth we have been celebrating at Christmas. “Veiled in flesh the godhead see, hail the incarnate deity”. This opening to John’s gospel is a full-on declaration of the truth that Jesus, the Word, is God. At the same time it is written by the “beloved disciple” who leaned against the chest of Jesus at the last supper. He knew that as well as being fully God, Jesus was fully human. “Tears and smiles like us he knew”.
Jesus is intimately involved in our concrete world
We read several times in this passage that Jesus made all things – through him all things were made, he made the world. This tiny baby we worship at the manger was there “At the beginning” John deliberately evokes the opening words of the creation story when telling us about Jesus because Jesus was there as part of the godhead. He is intimately involved in the world he has made. He is involved not only as creator but also as saviour. It is through Jesus that we receive the right to become children of God
Application
As we begin 2009 together I pray that at the centre of all that we do will be a deepening understanding of who Jesus is and all that he has done for us. May we “Know him more clearly, love him more dearly and follow him more nearly”.