Title The Only Begotten God
Contents
Hymn: 94 “Who Is Jesus?”
Meditation: What is the precious gift given to us through Jesus?
Confession of Faith: Apostles' Creed
Text: John 1:14-18
Word: At a time when there were many Gnostics who had the dichotomous idea that ‘the spirit is holy and the flesh is unclean’, the expression in the Gospel of John that “the Word became flesh” was a revolutionary. The reason that the Word became flesh is because God affirmed the flesh. Jesus Christ showed the affirmation of the flesh through the Incarnation. The body itself is not evil. What you put in your body is important. When the Spirit of God dwells, the body is sanctified. A Christian must achieve the Embodiment that contains the Word of God in the body.
When the word of God ‘dwells’ in the flesh, it means ‘to pitch a tent’. In the Old Testament, the idea of a place presence that distinguishes the place where God dwells and distinguishes it as a tabernacle or a temple appears, but in the New Testament, it is extended to the idea of personal presence. The church is better understood as the person in which God dwells, going beyond the buildings or areas of tabernacles and temples. Our body is the holy temple in which God dwells.
When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, it means that we did not go up to seek God, but that God came down to find us. This is God's humiliation, or 'kenosis'. It is consistent with Paul's Christology of humility and obedience (Philippians 2:6-8).
In the first part, Jesus was spoken of as ‘life and light’, but in the latter part, it was expressed as ‘grace and truth’. Grace and truth are not expressed conceptually as possessive, but as a personal existence. In other words, ‘Jesus has grace and truth’, not ‘Jesus has grace and truth’. The Word, Life, Light, Grace, Truth are all other names of Jesus. Jesus is grace and truth. Pilate asked conceptually, “What is truth?” Jesus said, “I am the truth.” Because truth is personal. Truth is revealed through character. Because of this, you have to live and show with your body.
God's best gifts are packaged and delivered as people. It is packaged and delivered to us by family, friends, teachers, and colleagues of the faith. Among them, the most precious gift is the truth of the grace of life that came through Jesus Christ.
Prayer: May the incarnation of the Word also occur in me. Let the word of truth appear in my body and into my life. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Lord's Prayer