“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't overcome it. ... The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Merry Christmas.
Matthew and Luke tell you about the stable. John pulls the camera all the way back and starts before the world existed. In the beginning was the Word. The one lying in the feeding trough is the one through whom everything was made.
Then comes the sentence the whole month has been walking toward. The Word became flesh, and lived among us.
Flesh. Skin, hunger, tiredness, a body that could be held and would one day be wounded. God did not send a message about himself or a representative to speak on his behalf. He came in person, as one of us, and stayed.
Twenty-five days ago we started in the dark with Isaiah, with people walking in a land of deep shadow. Today John says the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Present tense. Not the light shone once, long ago, in a country far away. It shines. It is shining today, in whatever you carried into December, and the dark has never once managed to put it out.
Whatever this year cost you, that is still true.
So receive it today. Not as a story you know well, but as something addressed to you. He came, and he came for you, and he is with us still.
And then carry it. The shepherds could not keep quiet, and neither should we. There are people around you today sitting in exactly the dark where this series started. The light has come. Now go be warm to somebody with it.
Talk About It Together
Read this one together, out loud, before anything else today.
- What has changed in you over these twenty-five days?
- What does it mean to you personally that God came in person?
- Who can you carry this light to in the coming year?
Tonight’s Challenge
Before the day gets busy, tell the people in your house one thing you love about each of them.
Prayer
Jesus, You are the Word who made everything, and You became flesh and lived among us. Thank You for coming to us instead of waiting for us to climb to You. Shine into every dark place we brought into this season. Fill our home with grace and truth today, and send us out carrying Your light. Merry Christmas, Lord. Amen.