This time of year many of us are still trying to find that perfect gift; as one mom said to me this week, the kind of gift that hits a home run with her child. The kind of gift that is perfectly fit for purpose- satisfying desire, need, or both. Of course, it is also nice to receive; have you ever received the perfect gift?
I hope you have been enjoying our Sunday teachings from John 1. I believe it is impossible to overstate what we read in John’s beautifully written prologue (verses 1-18). Theologian Herman Ridderbos wrote of John’s Gospel: “By means of incarnation God has visibly appeared among humankind. And – we may immediately add – the entire Gospel of John is proof of it: proof of that abundant glory, a glory manifested before the eyes of all”.[1] We know John wrote his gospel to present Jesus as the long hoped for Messiah, the Son of God, with the hope that his readers would believe in Jesus and have “life in his name” (20:31). He writes of Christ’s miraculous deeds, and his profound teaching. And yet even such compelling stories and truths, in themselves, are not enough to convince John’s readers – just as it wasn’t enough for those who actually witnessed first hand the works and preaching of Jesus. How does one have eyes to see and ears to hear, and thus receive, Christ? This Sunday in verses 14 – 18 we will be reminded of the need of God’s gift of grace. How have we been privileged to “see his glory, glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)? Verse 16 gives us the answer: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” To see Christ as he is, our perfect gift, requires first the gift of grace. As Paul says: “by grace you have been saved … not your own doing; it is the gift of God. (Eph 2:8) Listen to the strong words from Christ to some Jewish leaders later on in John’s gospel, leaders that knew the Old Testament inside and out: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (8:47).
I trust you will take time over the Christmas season to know Christ and make him known. That your desire would be as John’s was, that those I know would know Christ as Son of God and Messiah, and the giver of true life. Yet this week’s preaching text also reminds us to continue to rely upon God’s gift of grace. Just as we needed his grace to see Christ as he is, so do those who do not yet believe. I pray that you and yours would, by the grace of God, see the light of the Word made flesh, the glory of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Much love,
Pastor Gary
[1] Ridderbos, The Gospel of John, p49