Sermon: John 1:1-18 The Light of All People
Presbyterian Church of Easton
January 3, 2021
Today is the tenth day of Christmas. Christmas is a season of twelve days beginning on December 25, when we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here in the United States, we like to get the jump on Christmas, starting the celebration long before it comes. Then Christmas arrives and suddenly we put the decorations away. We then forget about Christ for a week and focus our attention on New Year’s Eve Parties, parades, and Bowl games.
But for much of the world Christmas starts on December 25th and continues for twelve days to the great feast of Epiphany on January 6. So with “ten drummers drumming” echoing our ears let us continue our celebration of Christmas and prepare for the great feast of Epiphany. But first, let’s pray
Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate your birth on Christmas and the manifestation of God’s glory through you on the Feast of Epiphany. We believe that you are God because though you God’s glory shines to the world. Bring us from darkness into the light. Amen.
John 1:1-18 NRS John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
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.
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.'") 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 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.
When the Jews arrived back in Jerusalem after their Babylonian captivity they saw a terrible sight. Their once beautiful city was in ruins. What amounted to the government was horribly corrupt. The beautiful temple of God erected by Solomon had been burned to the ground.
The preacher who wrote the last few chapters of Isaiah assembled his people and gave them a message of hope that the glory of God would one day return to Jerusalem. One day, the paying of tribute to the Assyrians, the Babylonians and now the Persians would end and other countries would bring gifts to Mount Zion. One day their children would return from being dispersed all over the world. This was a vision of great hope for a generation that had walked in darkness for so long. This hope was that one day the light of the glory of God would pierce through the darkness.
That hope was fulfilled when wise men from the east came to Jerusalem following the light of a star. They were searching for a new king of the Jews. They found they found him in Bethlehem and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All countries were bringing tribute to the King who had brought light into the world.
Years ago I knew a homeless man who liked to sit on the wall in front of my apartment building. His name was Mark. I talked with Mark and his wife almost every day.
For several years Mark had walked in darkness. After his son died, the light of Mark’s life seemed to be extinguished. Mark lived in the shadows of homelessness and alcoholism overwhelmed by the darkness until one day when too many pills and too much vodka finally put Mark’s darkness to an end.
What can we say to people who have lost all hope of living in the light and are consumed by the darkness of their lives?
After Mark died his wife asked me to do his memorial service. I said yes and started to prepare. I didn’t expect many people to come to Mark’s funeral, after all, he was just a homeless guy. But the church was packed for Mark’s funeral. Homeless people from all over the city came to pay their respects to Mark. And my prayer that day was that through me they would experience some of the light and love of Christ.
The opening of the Gospel of John gives hope to all who walk in the darkness. This hope is in the form of a gift that empowers us to be the children of God. This gift comes from God and is transmitted to those living in darkness by John the Baptist and others who witness Jesus Christ. What they saw and what gives us great hope is the light of the Glory of God that pierces through the darkness of our lives. And the source of this light is Jesus, from whom emanates the glory of God.
Whenever we are in a dark room our pupils dilate. So when the light comes on we have trouble seeing. Gradually our seeing improves and we are given the choice either to believe what we see or not. This is what happens when Christ comes into our lives. At first, our eyes have to adjust to the light. Gradually we see Jesus clearly and begin to realize that we are seeing God. We realize that this is the light of God’s glory coming out of Jesus and bringing us out of our darkness into new light. Once we see clearly that it is in Jesus Christ that the glory of God fills our lives we are given a choice to believe that Jesus is God or not.
If we choose not to believe that Jesus is God then we return to the darkness of Jesus’ death on the cross. But if we make the other choice, if we choose to believe that Jesus is God then Jesus’ death becomes for us not a return to darkness, but rebirth in the glorious light of God. The choice to believe that Jesus is God is a leap of faith. To make that leap we have to trust that what Jesus says is true; that God chose to live on this planet as a human being. So that’s the choice we have. To hold back and stay in the darkness of unbelief, or take a bold step into the light and believe that Jesus and God are one.
If we step into the light and truly believe then we are empowered by God for great things. We become God’s own children, able to point to the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Accepting the light means also accepting the responsibility of sharing the light, reflecting the light to others who still walk in darkness. This is our mission as Christians to be people of the light who shine the light of Christ wherever darkness remains. This is the purpose of evangelism, to bring people from darkness to the light of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. So when you talk to your friends and neighbors about your faith tell them your story of coming from darkness to light through your belief in Jesus Christ.
There is a church in California that meets in an old YMCA. It is called Victory Outreach. For 35 years this church has gone into the streets of North East LA to find people in darkness. They go to the most dangerous places to meet the most hardened gang members. The message they bring is the light of God in Jesus Christ. To gang members living in darkness, the light of Christ is offered as a choice. And for those who make the choice to accept the light and believe in Jesus Christ, the darkness is pushed out and they experience rebirth as the children of God. Most of the members of Victory Outreach are former gang members who were once in darkness but through the work of faithful Christians and the Holy Spirit, they have experienced the transforming effects of being in the light.
And that is what this church should be doing. We should be helping people who have been living in the darkness come into the light of Jesus Christ. As we bring people to Christ, their eyes will slowly adjust to the brightness of the light. And many of them will begin to believe that what they see is true, that the light this church points them to is none other than the glory of God. And our hope is that the people of Easton will embrace the light and choose to believe that what they see in Jesus is an Epiphany, the glory of God manifest on earth.
In a few moments, we will gather around this table and eat this bread and drink from this cup. These are signs of the light that is coming into your lives. As you eat the bread and drink from the cup our eyes will need time to adjust to the light but eventually, we will see the glory of God in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. If you choose not to believe this you will return to darkness and the light you have glimpsed will fade. But if you choose to believe that the glory of God is present in the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus then you will remain in the light and beginning today you will be blessed as the children of God. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we asked that the glory of God be in this sacrament today. Help us to see you as God in the bread and the wine. Bring us into the light of God’s glory. And receive us as God’s children. Amen.
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