Sunday 5 January 2025
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (v. 1)
Background
When I was at school in Cork, Ireland, so many years ago, this Bible passage (the Christmas Gospel) was read by the Bishop of Cork at the annual carol service. Every year, Bishop Gordon would proclaim these words as though he had never read them before, or even heard them. There would be wonder in his voice; he would pause and look up from the text to us, as if to say, "Did you get that? Astonishing, isn’t it?" That wonder lingers in my memory and comes alive every time I hear or read this passage. Thank you, Bishop. (By the way, yes, I have written this before!)
John the Evangelist is indeed proclaiming something utterly astonishing: God has sent his son into the world in human form – in flesh and making his dwelling among us. Some have recognised him, others have not. He is the Word of God and the one who will make God known. John is addressing the questions that those who did not encounter Jesus during his earthly life were starting to ask: Who is this? What is the significance of his life? What does it mean that "the Word became flesh and lived among us"?
The nature of Jesus Christ, Son of God and son of Mary, will come under focus this year as Christians of many traditions commemorate the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea (AD 325). The Council was called by the Emperor Constantine, who was anxious to preserve peace, a peace threatened by different interpretations of the Incarnation, and was also anxious to maintain his own authority and control of the Roman Empire.
Awash with mixed motives and conflicting theologies, the Council nevertheless produced an initial draft, completed at the Council of Constantinople (381 AD), of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, a statement of faith which we to this day affirm in the celebration of Holy Communion.
To Ponder:
- We read "The Word became flesh and lived among us…" but have we beheld God's glory?
- The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins declared "The world is charged with the grandeur of God". Look out for it!
Prayer
Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see your glory, that glory of the only son of God, full of grace and truth. Amen.
Bible notes author: Gillian Kingston
Gillian Kingston is a local preacher on the North Tipperary Circuit of the Methodist Church in Ireland and an ex-Vice President of the World Methodist Council. She was the first lay Leader of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Married to Tom, a retired Methodist minister, and with four adult children, she is also the besotted grandmother of seven beautiful granddaughters and one handsome grandson.