Sermon - 2020-01-05

John 1:1-15

Today as we gather together, many of us are focused on the new year. The new resolutions, the new hope, and the new opportunities. Yet when we are thinking about our resolutions, many of us are focused on our failures of the past year.  And some of our resolutions, we have been working on for several years. Yes, being healthy and eating healthy is at the top of most people’s lists. Yet when we think about our resolutions, we only think about our lives in the past year. Yet how far back should we go? How far back should we go to know how we should grow but also understand how Christ is calling us to live in the new year. 

In this new year, we are starting with the Gospel of John, and it begins with the Creation story.  Yes all the way back at the beginning in Creation, we hear that Jesus Christ was there with us and for us.  Within our Gospel, we hear a profound word about what God has done in the world. “The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth were given through Jesus Christ.”  For many of us, these words can seem like general information that we would already know. However, it is delivered in such a way and at such a time that we should make note of it.  

The law was given through Moses.  What does this mean? The gospel writer is talking about the Ten Commandments.  The guidance of the people who were brought out of the land of Egypt after being slaves for hundreds of years.  They were used to be told what to do and how to do it. So God delivered to them a means of living that would guide them as a people and throughout generations to follow.  Here within the Ten Commandments, we have an understanding of how to ensure our relationship with God within the first three commandments. I often remember this as the Trinity.  Then the next seven commandments are all about our relationship with others while we are here on Earth. God gives us insights as to how we should act, think and understand the world around us by helping us look at specific aspects of our life.  It was for generations that the Ten Commandments defined the Jewish people and still very much defines who they are today. As Christians, we are adopted into that Family of God through Jesus Christ and still uphold and honor those Ten Commandments.  However, it is not the final message we receive from God.  

When Jesus Christ enters the world, the Gospel of John notes that Jesus is the Word made flesh.  This harkens back to the Genesis creation stories of God speaking creation into being. Jesus was present from that very time.  So when this Word becomes flesh, we can know that this Word has been from the very beginning. However, when Jesus comes, he does not bring a law to the people.  He does not bring power to wipe out all enemies of the Chosen People of God. Rather, Jesus brings Grace and Truth. These are two things the people did not realize that they needed and much like the Law of Moses was given not just for one generation but for generations to come after.  

So what are this Grace and Truth?  For many of us, we feel like we already know the answer.  The Grace is that Jesus came to save the world and bring salvation for all who believe in him.  That is indeed true but it is only part of the Grace. The grace of God goes beyond just what shall happen after we die and extends into how we view the Law and the Law is fulfilled for us.  Now the Law of Moses guides us into understanding that we can not do things all on our own, that we need God within our life. The full Grace of God comes to us when we realize that we need God every single day, in every single struggle and every single breath.  This Grace of God, we then see in every part of our life.  

This Grace that Jesus delivers into the world is so closely tied to the Truth that they can not be separated.  For many of us though today, we are thinking of Truth, in the Enlightenment terms. The Eighteenth-century understanding that we should be skeptical of what it is we know to truly understand an individual’s truth.   However, the Truth that the Gospel writer is speaking of to us is much fuller. A truth that has been present from the beginning of Creation. A truth that Jesus Christ is present in all things because he was there from the beginning.  This means that by knowing and understanding Christ, we may more fully understand the Creation, the Creator and all the mysteries that we are faced with.  

This complete message of both the Law and the gift of Jesus Christ ensures that we would fully understand and finally be able to live as a people of God.  However, the reality is that for so many of us, we struggle in this simple understanding. We want it to be more complex, we want to know all the details, even when there are no details to be explored.  We want to be God who is in control of the whole world rather than being Creatures within the creation. As we continue in this Christmas season, may we go forth from it, understanding more of who God is, what gifts God has truly given to us and realize the fullness that God is calling us to be apart of within this world?  Amen.