John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,[a] and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.[b] He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,[c] and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,[d] full of grace and truth. John 1:1-14 (NRSVUE)
Footnotes
a. 1.4 Or . . . through him. And without him not one thing came into being that has come into being. In him was life
b. 1.9 Or He was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into the world
c 1.11 Or to his own home
d. 1.14 Or the Father’s only Son
Who is Jesus?
John’s explanation to this question, all word-play and poetry, opens with what from one perspective is an almost parodic history of Israel from the first words of Genesis, “In the beginning. . .”, to Exodus where Moses is commissioned by the light of the burning bush to lead God’s people out of slavery. In Exodus Moses asks for God’s name and receives the reply,“I am [who I am.]” and we can hear John’s echo when he says of Jesus, “He was. . . .”
John continues and by verse 11 is accusing the Jews first of not recognizing Jesus as creator, then of willfully refusing to accept Jesus once he’d been revealed. John’s taunting allusion to the loss of the Temple in verses 13-14 (“the Word became flesh and lived among us”) and his bold claim of “power to become children of God” convey a strong whiff of what would become “replacement theology” in which Christians would replace Jews as the Chosen People.
We, living long after John’s gospel has been dulled, tamed, even entombed, by regular repetition of creedal statements, often miss the wild radical nature of John’s claims. The other gospels explain Jesus in far more modest terms. For all their announcements of Jesus as Messiah and “Son of God” their claims are nowhere near so grandiose as John’s. Matthew begins his story of Jesus with a genealogy that starts with Abraham and moves forward. Luke provides a similar but different genealogy, one that starts with Jesus and goes back to Adam. Mark takes no cognizance of Jesus’s biography until his baptism when he portrays God addressing Jesus as his son as Jesus rises out of the water.
John, on the other hand, knows no bounds in his claims about Jesus. He would have his understanding of Jesus, his imagery of light and truth, and his placement of Jesus with God “before all worlds” overpower the views of the other Gospels. Nevertheless, where John would make “belief” the basis of becoming the children of God (another slap at the Jews) there are other Biblical perspectives that emphasize trust as the basis for our relationship with God.
So how do we answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” Yes, we have John’s Gospel in today’s lesson, but we also have three other Gospels, Paul’s seven undisputed letters and sixteen more books ascribed to Paul or others, each differing in their understanding. How do we decide?
Questions for Reflection:
- John’s gospel begins with a series of assertions and ‘closes’ with “Jesus said to him [Thomas], “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue [e] to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” [e] 20.31 Or may come How do we understand the phrase ‘life in his name’?
- How do we square John’s emphasis on ‘belief’ with, for example, Matthew’s summary of Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount where the emphasis is on repentance (turning to God) and following the spirit of the law?
- It is a truism frequently preached in our congregation that faith is not about belief, but about trust in a God of mercy and grace. How does our trust in God’s mercy and grace free us to consider seriously just who Jesus is, the nature of his relationship with God, and our relationship with him? How does it free us to risk being wrong?
Prayer:
Lord, we describe you in many ways—”Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes.” Then, even when you do make yourself known through Jesus it turns out that he is just like you: inscrutable, paradoxical, and sometimes so sly. What are we to make of all this? Faith? Hope? Love? It is for these we pray,
Amen
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