John does not tell the Christmas story.
Instead, he provides a brief meditation on the meaning of the Incarnation, the fundamental mystery of the Jesus Story. The world is always ready to hear another story about a fine young man ahead of his times, misunderstood by his contemporaries, and cut down in his prime by the ignorant, uncaring mob. That is not the Jesus Story. This story is one of intentionality. Jesus was on a mission to save the world. So much entertainment today concerns itself with superheroes who save an imaginary, computer-generated movie world. Forget that nonsense. This story is real. This eternal Word, present and active at Creation and ruling from the Throne of Heaven, had come to do both a cosmic and personal work:
- Jesus will personally defeat the powers of evil.
- Jesus will provide true forgiveness for our sins and open up a “new and living way” for us to walk with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
John’s description here. and a few verses later brings these lofty concepts into real life.
“The Word Became Flesh”
Oh, the wonder of this, the mystery of the Incarnation! It wasn’t enough for God to raise up another prophet. This mission was more than even the highest angels could achieve. This required the Second Person of the Godhead, eternally existent with the Father and the Spirit, to travel across the impossible divide between heaven and earth, between the human and the Divine. Only Jesus could do this. We can taste John’s wonder at this in his words.
“…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John’s testimony towers above the other remarkable, amazing confessions found in the Jesus Story.
- John the Baptist would proclaim that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
- Peter would confess that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
- Only John the Beloved called Him the Word, and not just the Word, remote and mysterious, to be believed but not understood, but the Word made flesh and dwelling among us
These testimonies are not academic conclusions drawn from careful observation or from the obedient study of accepted scholars. These accounts are the very breath of God, the same breath that God breathed into Adam to give mankind life. This is real, spiritual, invisible yet full of power and effect.
The Nativity
Even without the narrative of Christ’s birth, John tells us more about Christmas than any of the other evangelists. When the old, old story unfolds before us,
- We wonder at the plan of God with Mary and Joseph,
- We hear the angel choir singing over the shepherds, and
- We join the Wise Men in their journey of adoration,
Yet all the while, this is the wonder that draws us in—the Incarnation—the Eternal Word made flesh and dwelling among us.
- The Eternal One entered into Time.
- The Omniscient One emptied Himself of all knowledge except what an infant knows.
- The Omnipotent One laid aside His divine power to depend on the Holy Spirit.
- The Omnipresent One abandoned heaven to dwell in the earth, to be only there and only then.
John the Baptist declared that grace and truth came into the world through Jesus and it is so. May we never lose the wonder of Jesus, the Living Word, who was and is and is to come.
Scriptures:
John 1: 14-18
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Hebrews 10:19-25 NKJV
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 8:10-12 NKJV
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Colossians 2:13-15 NKJV
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I am so amazed at Your journey from eternity to time, from heaven to earth, from omnipotence to infantile weakness, from omnipresence to a manger in Bethlehem, and from the source of all knowledge to the dim light of a baby’s knowledge, emotions, and feelings alone. May I never lose the wonder of the Incarnation. May I never confuse it with tinsel or twinkling lights or sugar cookies. This journey is the real “Joy to the World!” Amen and amen.
Song:
Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
Words: E. S. Elliot; Music: Timothy R. Mattews
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest
In the shade of the forest tree;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn, and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.
When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home, saying “Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee.”
My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.
THE JESUS STORY SERIES
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