John 1:(1-9), 10-18 (NRSV)
Read John 1:(1-9), 10-18 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 2He was in the beginning with God. Verse 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being Verse 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
Verse 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Verse 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. Verse 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. Verse 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. Verse 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. Verse 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. Verse 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. Verse 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, Verse 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. Verse 14And 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.
Verse 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.'") Verse 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. Verse 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Verse 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
Devotion
For many years my home congregation celebrated Christmas with the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service, originated in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England. Before I was ordained, I was often honored to read this text from the Gospel of John, as the last of the nine lessons. In the service order the reading began with the introduction: “St. John Unfolds the Great Mystery of the Incarnation.” It is as true an introduction as could be imagined—for John does begin his story of Jesus with a tangle of mysteries: Who is the Word? When did this Word begin? What did the Word do? What is the Light? Who will receive it? How? What will it take or cost? And most mysteriously, Is it for me? This tangle will take quite a lot of unfolding, but when we stay in the story, if we watch and listen and learn the story, we can know, be known by it, and come out of the dark and into the Light of Word made flesh.
Prayer
Holy Word come among us, help us unfold who you are, what you did, how it all happened, and what it means for us. We can’t see or understand or know, except that you live among us and make yourself known. Keep us in your story, that we might believe. Amen.
Interested in digging deeper into today’s text?
Read more here.