Walking With Christ

13 days until Christmas.

John 1:14-17 (14)And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (15)(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) (16)For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (17)For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.(ESV)

For those who don’t know, Jesus is one third of the Holy Trinity. We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (or ghost). These three unique persons create the one being we call God. They cannot exist apart from each other, yet they are also each unique in that they have roles that each fills. In the beginning of Genesis when God said, “Let there be light”, that was Jesus speaking. He was the speaker of the words. It was Him who knelt in the dirt to form Adam. It was Him who breathed life into Adam’s nostrils. Jesus is God. Jesus is divine. John starts his writings by showing that Jesus has always existed. He connects Jesus to the very beginning of existence and gives Him proper credit for all of creation. Note that John starts his book with the same three words as Genesis.

John 1:1-4 (1)In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2)He was in the beginning with God. (3)All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (4)In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (5)The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.(ESV)

The beginning of Genesis was viewed as historical. The beginning of John changes those words. It turns the beginning from simple history into a plan for the future. The coming of Christ was planned from the very beginning. This anticipation would build throughout the narrative in the old testament. Even the laws given to Moses were a setup for the coming of Christ. The bar was set so high that no human other than Jesus could completely fulfill the requirements of the law. The law comes to convict, but the ministry of Jesus focused on love and saving grace.

The purpose of the laws given to Moses were to show us that we are flawed, broken. The narrative we see in the old testament includes a lot of examples of how poorly humanity is able to follow those laws. We can see through the Sadducees and Pharisees what happens when we get close. That strict focus on the law causes us to become blind to anything else. It becomes so bad that in our attempt to fulfill the law we lose our love and grace for others. The closer we get to fulfilling the letter of the law, the farther we get from the spirit of the law. The old testament is a string of examples of our failures, but more importantly, it is a list of examples of God’s love and grace when we fail.

Enter Jesus.

Jesus is the one person who was able to truly fulfill both the letter and the spirit of the law without sacrificing His love or grace. The fact that this was planned before the earth was made is the proof of God’s perfect love. It is evidence of God’s amazing grace upon grace. This is the real gift that we get to enjoy in this life. By recognizing the reality of human flaws we understand that we cannot be perfect. We are not meant to completely fulfill the law. Mistakes will be made. God is forgiving of those mistakes so we should forgive ourselves and others when they make mistakes. This is the path to having the relationship with God that saves us. That is the path to reconciliation with God and each other.

Father,
Your name is holy. We thank You for sending Your only son to earth to pay for our sins. We thank You for making a way for us to still have a relationship with You. We ask, Father, that You help us each of us to grow into a deeper understanding of the reality of Jesus coming to earth. Open our eyes to the truth of Your love for us and this was Your plan from the very beginning. The coming celebration of the birth of Christ should be a time of reflection about the hope that we have in this life and the reason why we are filled with an illogical joy that surpasses understanding. Help us lean into Your word, Lord. Open our hearts, eyes, and ears to Your depth of love. Help us grow together as a community, family, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ. Let us lift our voices as one to sing praises to Your name.

In Jesus name we pray, amen.