John 1:9-18
Flesh and The Word
Today’s sermon title is taken from the 1926 film, “Flesh and The Devil,” starring
Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, though I expect there are no other similarities
between movie and sermon. In fact, we should hope that they are opposites, for
the movie is a tragedy, with Garbo dying at the end, but the sermon should end
with a proclamation of hope. But maybe this is a perfect way to compare the devil
and the Word. One is about death and darkness and lies, and the other is life and
light and truth. In the prologue of John’s gospel there are a number of named and
implied opposites: light and darkness are the most obvious, but look also at the
statement, “his own people did not receive him”- but then, there were those who
did receive him verses (11-12); and the phrase, “the world did not know him,” but
then, there were those “who believed in his name.” So we have the opposites of
welcome and denial, of the limit of knowledge and the limitless power of life
granted to belief. But of course, the greatest opposites are pointed out by the title
of the sermon: for half the title has everything to do with eternity and holiness and
the glory of heaven, and creation- making life and giving life- and grace and truth;
and the other half- well, just think of what “flesh” means: our frailties, our faults,
our short span of years, the commonness of our existence and the substance of our
bodies- made of the dust of the earth- and finally, the darkness of the grave. And
yet, these two opposites are joined together, for verse 14 tells us, “the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us.” One of the most dramatic sentences of
scripture, that emphasizes the profound transformation of the Logos from glorious,
holy existence to the lowliness of this world.
Today is the first Sunday after Epiphany, the season that commemorates the
visit of the Magi who came from afar to see the Baby Jesus; to the churches of the
East, it is the day of Jesus’ baptism. Epiphany means the revealing, and in these
stories, Jesus is the child King manifested to those who came to worship him, or
revealed to us as God’s chosen one when he came up out of the waters of River
Jordan and the Holy Spirit descended and the voice from heaven spoke, “You are
my beloved Son, I am pleased with you.” Epiphany is an appropriate time to
consider these verses from John, for the author wants to prove to us that this
person, and only this person, is the right and ultimate Revealer of God. He is the
Word- with God from before the beginning of time (v. 1); he is the light that comes
from heaven and shines in the darkness (v. 5), the true light that enlightens
humankind (v. 9); he is the light of the world (8:12); he is the life that creates (v.
3), and that recreates- making children of God (v. 12-13); he is God’s only Son
who exhibits the glory of God (v. 14); he is Jesus the Messiah who brings grace
and truth to the human race (v. 17); and he is the only one who has seen God- who
in fact resides “in the bosom” of God the Father- in perfect intimacy with God,
“closest to God’s heart,” someone has written- and who says, “the Father and I are
one” (10:30), who says, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (14:9),
and he has made God known to us (v. 18).
Our author want us to understand that no one else in all the world’s history
could reveal God to humankind as this one can. Moses, from our passage, was a
great man of God, but it was only law and not revelation that came to the people
through Moses; God’s heart, God’s compassion are revealed in Jesus the Messiahjust as the central message of this gospel spells out, “For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life” (3:16). John the Baptist, from our passage, was a great prophet of
Israel, a man Jesus recognized in another scripture as the best man who ever lived
(Luke 7:28), but he was merely a witness to the glory and preeminence of the Son
of God (v. 15). John is representative of the long line of prophets and men of God
who preceded Jesus as witnesses, making ready all who would listen and believe
their testimony about the coming eternal Word, who finally and completely would
reveal God to us.
But maybe we don’t want that revelation, it may be that we don’t really wish
to know that much about God. How else to explain that the light could possibly be
unnoticed or unrecognized in the darkness? Think of your own experience at night
or in a dark room. When a light turns on it is impossible to miss. Yet these first
verses of the gospel talk about the world not knowing the True Light as it comes
into the world, and about the darkness of minds that cannot comprehend the Light
(v. 5). How is this possible? Is it that we intentionally face the wrong way, so that
the light is behind us or, do we refuse to turn and see the light? Do we surround
ourselves with false light so that we don’t recognize true light and so never permit
the True Light to confront us- is this the meaning in verse11 of “those who did not
receive him”? Do we close ourselves in, are we content with the limits of lesser
light- so that we are happy with the Law of Moses- so that all we really want is a
list of rules to keep- and which will help us keep score, a measurement of our
personal goodness; are we happy with the words of John the Baptist and the other
prophets so that we can read their noble teachings, but perhaps only think of God
as a concept- some ultimate ideal we may (or may not!) aspire to, but not truly ever
know? But this True Light is a Person, so what we must realize is that he
demands, and makes possible, a relationship. It begins with seeing what he reveals
and believing the truth about him; it is becoming God’s child, as verse 12 has it; it
means giving up the control of ourselves, yielding what we think about ourselves
to a belief in his name, and yielding our pride to his humility and our will to his
will for us (v. 13). And it means what all relationships mean: it is the promise and
blessing of friendship and love and sharing. It is not always easy, but you know
that about relationships.
It is a relationship with this particular Person, and to take part in the
relationship, we must take part in his kind of life, for just as he is Logos and Light
and Revealer of God, he is also that opposite- he “became flesh,” and in that
negation of his Self, he took part in the darkness of human suffering and rejection.
So that he is revealed to us and reveals God to us, we know him not simply as the
eternal, Holy One, but as the One who loves, whose glory is that he suffered for us,
who displays grace and truth as a man whose flesh was torn and whose blood ran
red onto the very ground he had created in the beginning. And we honor him by
revealing, our part in the relationship is revealing, in our flesh- by the way we live
on this earth- the love of God for all the world.
It seems a battle sometimes to keep sane or to maintain your health, to remember
what you were and what you are. It is a struggle just to stay alive, and sometimes
it takes all we’ve got to keep going: we’re afraid sometimes, we grow weary, or
the numbers don’t add up in the checkbook. It is a war against the weakness of our
flesh, the hurts we have felt, and the things and the people we have lost, the
temptations we face; the darkness is very powerful, and there is so much we do not
know, and often cannot see the way we should go. This is what it means to be
“flesh.”
It is a struggle to keep relationships. Friendships, marriages, partnerships at
work, relationships at school, even the fellowship with other church members- they
are difficult: we are all hard to live with. Verse 12 tells us that he gives to those
who believe in him the power to become God’s children. And while “power” is
not an ideal translation of that Greek word, it seems to mean that we are granted
the power to keep fighting the battle, to keep striving- so long as we are flesh- to
maintain that relationship with God, and our relationships with other people, as
well. Truly, it is an amazing thing to think about, to be God’s child- we’re not
good enough for that. But it is a gift, and with the gift comes strength to battle
against the darkness when it tries to overwhelm us, and power to fight against the
evil that tries to destroy; and the assurance that it is God’s power, after all, God’s
power given to us, the power of selfless and unending love.