Daily Devotion – December 30, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison

John 1:(1-9), 10-18
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 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.
1:15 (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.'”)
1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18 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.

This opening passage of John speaks of the Word of God as a person, Jesus. Jesus is the walking, living embodiment of whatever God speaks to bring the world into being. Not only that, Jesus is not just new at Christmas. This Word, this living Word of God, has been with God from the beginning of Creation. Look at verse 3: “All things came into being through him” (and doubling the point: “without him, not one thing came into being”!).

So when God spoke the Creation (“And God said, “Let there be light”) God spoke out loud, and God’s Word created everything, and God’s Word, this powerful force that created everything, was actually Jesus, long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

The other metaphor John uses for Jesus, the Word, is light. So when Jesus was born into the world, he was the coming of a certain light (look at verse 9: “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world”).

Lest we forget the hugeness of God coming to live in the world as a human, Jesus had been present at Creation and was the speech that brought things into being. Jesus is the light of the world that enlightens everyone (not just the Jews, but EVERYONE). Jesus is Mary and Joseph’s baby, AND Jesus is God’s Word and light, bringing grace and truth to the world that God loves.

Christmas is God making God’s Word and the enlightening light visible to human beings. True gift.

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending your Word and your Light into the world that you already loved. Thank you for letting us be part of your story. Help us to remember the greatness of it every single day. Amen.