Friday, December 7, 2012
John 1:1-18 [3-4] All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ... [17] For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
THE INCARNATION ACCORDING TO JOHN: THE LIFE OF MEN
In John, the first miracle of Christ is a gift given for the earthly enjoyment of men (John 2). It is thus a vivid picture of chapter one verse seventeen: "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
What a difference this Christ is to the rigid law giver or the pure utilitarian. Man is his creation. Beauty is His creation. Joy is His creation. John says "in Him was life," "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly," "that your joy may be full."
There is no denying that the life given by the Word is far more than the physical. When Jesus tells us to pray that "our joy may be full," He does not want us to pray for cars, toys, and dresses. He wants us to pray for the joy that comes from above. But there is also no denying that it includes the physical.
The Word rejoices at the wedding and cries at the funeral. He does not despise the emotional nor the social aspect of men. The Word is a man who meets us as a man and blesses all aspects of that humanity, except that of sin.
To thus rejoice with a heart of worship and faith in God would be impossible without the incarnate God. For everything we do is so full of sin that we would have no choice but to reject God or turn to our own self-righteousness. Yet Jesus teaches us daily repentance. Repentance that never makes light of sin, always acknowledges its continual presence, and seeks to remove, but at the same time grasps in faith the promise of God and lives rejoicing in His forgiveness. And because we live in His forgiveness we can rejoice also in all the gifts He gives to us.
