Drew Downs

Make a New Normal

Make a New Normal

The Word became flesh

"The Word became flesh" - a photo from above of many people crossing a street.
"The Word became flesh" - a photo from above of many people crossing a street.
Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

The most powerful truth claim of Christmas.

For Sunday
Christmas Day

Collect

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever.

Amen.

Reading

From John 1:1-14

“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.”

Reflection

And the Word became flesh.

This is a most evocative phrase. Far more alluring than “Jesus is the reason for the season” or any of the attempts at framing the Christmas holiday as important. The evangelist we know as John is telling us something profound, true, and engaging: something that compels us and draws us in.

The Word! It/He became flesh. What does that mean?

From the earliest days, long before doctrine and dogma was written and heresies declared, those first followers saw Jesus as the Word enfleshed. He is the Word of God. This, of course, is a different idea than what we usually think of when we hear “the word of God.” That refers to holy scripture.

Today, we might be tempted to say “it’s both.” Or, if you’re like me, “it’s complicated.” But then, they would not have thought of it as two truths or two sides. It was a truth claim about Jesus. The scripture would certainly be known as “the word of God,” but we declare that Jesus is The Word in the flesh.

They didn’t see this as a puzzle.

It wasn’t complicated. This was the divine presence, manifested among them. Period. It is we who want it to be more complicated than that.

The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory,

Could there be a more profound claim than this? God came among us. Lived among us. And we have seen his glory.

  • Other gods are distant. This one came close.
  • They are perfect. This one became human.
  • We cannot behold them. We behold Jesus!

What we have in Jesus is God’s new thing. When we are taught that gods never change.

Everything about this moment, the Incarnation, is a challenge to the status quo. In the first century and the twenty-first.

And we are witnesses called to behold it!