Focus
Turn off your cell phone, TV, or radio. Listen to the silence that is around you. Listen for God to speak to you.
Read
John 1:14-18 (NRSV)
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. (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.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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.
Reflect
My wife has long declared that John is her favorite Gospel; I am inclined to agree. Certainly, John’s approach is less biographical and more interpretive than the other accounts of the story of Jesus. The tone of John’s Gospel is clearly set in chapter 1.
Look carefully at verses 14-18. The Word, of course, is the person we call Jesus, meaning Savior. In Jesus, God became one of us, though always different from any other human. John, Jesus’ cousin known as the Baptist, recognized the miracle of the Word made flesh and “leaped for joy” in his mother’s womb (Luke 2:44). Later, John’s ministry would alert people to prepare for the coming Messiah.
In Jesus, we all receive forgiveness, “grace and truth.” What will we do with this amazing gift? John the Gospel writer could not keep the truth to himself, and so he wrote this story. John the Baptizer dared speak the truth to all who would listen and died a martyr’s death before Jesus was crucified. The question still burns in our ears? What will we do with the “grace upon grace” that we daily claim?
Pray
God of grace and truth, thank you for the amazing gift of Jesus, for the life he lived, the death he died, and his Spirit, which continues to infuse us with joy and hope. Help us to trust Jesus with our lives, whatever the cost may be. Help us to meet you in our Lord. Amen.
Go with God.
Leave a Reply
Your email is safe with us.