Grace upon Grace

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

Not your typical Christmas story huh? This really isn’t the picturesque nativity epic or Christmas pageant we see children perform every year. There aren’t any wise men, sheep or shepherds. There isn’t a pregnant virgin, a worried husband, or a donkey treading through the streets of Bethlehem looking for a room. And most obviously, there is no baby Jesus recently brought into the world laying in a manger, asleep on the hay.

This story is about God choosing to become flesh among us, to come to us on our level. Here this story of Jesus shows us that the point wasn’t the manger, it wasn’t the wise men’s gifts, or even the miraculous virgin birth. The point is not the human yet divine way that Jesus came into contact with our world, but that God sent himself to change our world.

At the beginning of John the author gives us a quick summary of creation. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people”(v.1-4) This not only serves to us as a reminder that we are God’s creation but shifts our view to the living Christ, the living, breathing, out of the cattle stall Christ. And very quickly, the author brings us to John the Baptist to direct us to the purpose. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (v.5-8).

A new light has come, an enlightenment that God has breathed into a man to show us our potential. I have said it before on this blog and I will say it again. I believe that the reason that God came to us in Christ was not to offer us a new box to try and fit ourselves into, to wrap up nicely with a pretty red bow. Christ came to break the mold. Jesus didn’t stay in the stable for very long because there wasn’t enough room for what he was about to do.

The church at the time of Jesus was different than what we know sitting in our pews on Sunday mornings today. It had been a way for people to connect to God through tradition, temple, laws, and gave a model for how Jews should think, talk, act and live. Hmm, wait… I guess it doesn’t sound so different than some of the churches we attend. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a tradition type of girl. I like my liturgy and my prewritten prayers, I like the movement and the ease of it all. But its an easy box to keep yourself in if you’re not careful. It’s easy to get set in your ways and to continue forcing yourself into a set of beliefs that spoon feeds you, gives you a step by step program to live your life, and never question or wrestle with any of it.

Jesus didn’t come to reinforce the law, or even to bring a new conformity. I know this could be argued, its kind of a controversial thought to think. But I don’t think Jesus strayed away from controversy. Because look at the purpose of Jesus that the author of John gives us starting in verse 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. (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.’ ") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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.”

Wait… What was that? “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace?” (v. 16). We have ALL received. This is the purpose, this is the meaning of Jesus, this is the reason. Jesus came to enlighten us to the gift, not given to us in the manger but the gift given to us through grace of God and shown to us on the cross.

Yeah I know this is mind boggling, its scandalous, and its tough to wrap your brain around. But I believe that God came into flesh to show us that he is meeting us where we are. And that it is at this place, just as we are, that we meet Jesus. The living, the breathing, out of the manger Christ. If we come to Jesus this Christmas just as we are, just as we were created to be, the potential is life changing, its freeing.

Or wait… even greater: what if we came to others just as they are, just as they were created to be, with the love and the grace that Jesus showed us is not only possible, but has been given for us all? It’s freeing, the potential is life changing, its its mind boggling, scandalous, its tough to wrap our brains around, its grace upon grace.