Some Rejected Light, Others Found Transformed Life
Daily Scripture
John 1:6-14
6 A man named John was sent from God. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light. 8 He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light.
9 The true light that shines on all people
was coming into the world.
10 The light was in the world,
and the world came into being through the light,
but the world didn’t recognize the light.
11 The light came to his own people,
and his own people didn’t welcome him.
12 But those who did welcome him,
those who believed in his name,
he authorized to become God’s children,
13 born not from blood
nor from human desire or passion,
but born from God.
14 The Word became flesh
and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
glory like that of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Scholar N. T. Wright concisely expressed the point of John’s powerful claims: “John knows perfectly well he’s making language go beyond what’s normally possible, but it’s Jesus that makes him do it; because verse 14 says that the Word became flesh–that is, became human, became one of us. He became, in fact, the human being we know as Jesus. That’s the theme of this gospel: if you want to know who the true God is, look long and hard at Jesus.” *
- Greek thinkers like Plato said the “logos” was too pure to enter the corrupt material world. Hebrews usually saw God as so awesome and distant that they feared to even say the divine name. John drew on both those thought worlds, but he boldly wrote, “The Word became flesh.” How can it help you realize how much God values you to believe that he “became flesh,” like us, rather than just wishing you well from afar?
- There was tragedy in the story: “his own people didn’t welcome him.” But “the brightest note in the prologue, after the coming of the eternal Word, is that some have accepted the light and become children of God.” ** Into this darkened world, Jesus brought inextinguishable life and light for all who trusted in him, and who trust in him today. When did your spiritual journey start? In what ways has trusting and following Jesus given you a whole new life?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for being born, for becoming flesh, so that you could give me the authority and power to be born anew, as a child of God. Thank you for my new life. Amen.
GPS Insights
Lauren Cook
Lauren Cook, who serves as the Entry Points Program Director at Resurrection, wrote today’s Insight. She is a self-proclaimed foodie, a bookworm, and is always planning her next trip. She has the sweetest (and sassiest) daughter, Carolina Rae, a rockstar husband, Austin, and a cutie pup named Thunder. She loves connecting with others so let her know the best place you've ever eaten, best book you've ever read, or best place you've ever been!
Friends, Merry Christmas! I come to you in the middle of that long (and yet so short) stretch between Christmas and New Years’ when no one is really sure what day it is, when the last time they ate a vegetable was, and everyone is in a hazy kind of post-holiday daze as we come down from the excitement of Christmas and begin to think about a new year ahead.
As we begin the descent from the mountaintop that was Christmas Eve and Christmas, let us not forget. Let us not forget the absolute joy on our six-year-old daughter or granddaughter’s face, backlit by a glowing Christmas tree, as they received a wonderful new game and played with their aunt or cousin. Let us not forget the magical silence on Christmas morning, before any chaos entered in, where we got a glimpse of a “thin space” in the early morning glow as light entered the world. Let us not forget the tears that slid down our cheeks as we gathered around candlelight and sang “Silent Night” and remembered the hope we so desperately need that is and is yet to come. Let us not forget that incredibly good news that came to us so long ago, made its home among us, and saved us for all our days to come.
This year, I was struck anew by the Christmas story. That’s pretty hard to do when you grew up in the church and have heard this retelling so many times… And yet. Something about the Scriptures stuck out and I felt the Holy Spirit move. While each of us will hear from God differently, I want to try to bring you into this moment with me, on this hazy day.
If you aren’t somewhere quiet, go there. Maybe you can still see the glow of Christmas lights on your own house or tree or through a window to a neighbors’. Open your actual Bible and read John 1:1-14 with me, slowly and taking deep breaths. Let go of all you’ve tried to be this year, this past week, come to His feet with all that you really are.
Go back and read it again. Put yourself, your very name, in the places where you see “people.” The true light that shines on ______ was coming into the world. All of who I am came into being through Him. I haven’t always welcomed Him, I have made so many mistakes and missed the mark so many times, and yet. He made His home with us. He made His home with you. He chose you. He lavishes upon you grace and truth.
Let us never forget the absolute glory of it all. That God sent His Son to us, His most precious possession, to make His home among us. To show us how to live and to show us exactly who God is. To choose us in the most loving, sacrificial way we will ever know. To flood our world with light and invite us inside its warm glow—not to be the light but to simply allow it to completely infiltrate our hearts until we are so full of light that it cannot help but overflow from every part of us.
You are more loved than you will ever know, no matter what. Let us not forget. Happy New Year.
© 2024 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Wright, N.T., John for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-10 (The New Testament for Everyone) (p. 5). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
** John Killinger, A Devotional Guide to John: The Gospel of Eternal Life. Word Books, 1984, p. 18.
