The Word that Created Everything Becomes Flesh - The Word, Wisdom and Order - Christmas Day

Genesis 1:1-13

Psalm 148

John 1:1-14

You probably know well the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke. How Mary the virgin and her fiance Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem and ended up giving birth in a manger when there was no room for them anywhere else. Yet, there is another version of this story that we just read in the book of John. It doesn’t tell us of the physical events, in poetry John tells us of the spiritual reality that has become physically true as well. 

In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God. The word for the Hebrew people was the very voice of God that went out from God’s speaking immediately accomplishing God’s purpose and intent. It was the word that brought order out of the chaos in creation, that separated the light and darkness, that separated the land and the seas, that established the planets in their order and gave life to all creatures. For the Greeks the word was logos, logic, wisdom, judgment and reason itself. This should remind us of the personified wisdom in proverbs that leads us to life and bounty. 

So John begins by reminding us that logic, wisdom, creative potential, order, and life is a central part of who God is from the very beginning of time, but this wisdom both exists as part of God and yet separate as an essential part of God that was an essential part of creation.

From the very beginning as God speaks, his word is sent out into world to do the work of creation. When we speak we breath out. It is the same for God, as the word goes out he also carries with him the breath of God. Even after creation and the fall, when chaos threatens to take over, as the waters once again threaten to cover the earth, as evil tries to hide in darkness, as ignorence and stupidity become common place, God’s word and wisdom keeps working to bring order, to separate and bring about consistent creation. 

On top of that, throughout history, God’s distinct voice has spoken to guide, protect, warn, empower, save and more. His word has become present through angels, prophets, leaders, judges and more. 

What John the gospel writer is recognizing when he says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, is not just that Jesus is God, that he is God’s present potential for creation, order and wisdom, but that God’s word has been consistantly present and active preparing us for the day when we would meet him face to face. Wisdom was always trying to show us the reality of who he is. The word was Jesus being a precursor for Himself. 

John goes further though. If this is the same word that brought about creation and ordered the cosmos to create light and life, that means that the very source of our life and light now has entered into humanity. Just to have God’s creative potential with us is always an amazing thing to comprehend, but then to image that he has become a part of us, indisolubly linked with humanity is increasingly more astounding thing to think of. 

Go one step further. If this word separated the light and darkness it means that at the worst chaos has ever been, God’s order could always overcome it, God’s light, life and order will always perceveire, but more than that it will always accomplish its purpose. 

It is surprising that our belief becomes a parallel important reality in this understanding of God’s word, wisdom and order. Belief means to consider something true, to accept it and make it a part of who we are. It doesn’t mean to hold onto something with no proof. Instead, belief is about accepting and recognizing God’s order and wisdom that is beyond our ignorance, beyond the chaos, beyond the darkness and death of this world - that overcomes it all. 

As the word of God is born among us, when we believe the word lives in us, and we have the opportunity to become Children of God, truly changed, created and inspired by the very order and presence of God. 

John is very theological and spiritual, so he often presents ideas and truths that are harder for us to comprehend. Already, I have tried to explore some transcendent ideas that we need to take time and meditate on. But the amazing thing, is that the more you spend time in God’s word, the more you take time meditating on it, the more God’s word, his logic, order, light and life will walk through our brain, flow through our heart and settle in. Taking in his word, as difficult as it is sometimes is taking him in. 

We already know what this word becoming flesh has meant for humanity as light and life has overcome even the worst evil, death and sin could throw at it, but only imagine what it can mean for your life and for those around you and what you will begin to realize is that it is potential itself, it is hope and life that we are welcoming this day and everyday we welcome Christ into our hearts and minds. 

Hebrew - Animus - creative potential, created order, divine reason

Greek - logos - Logic, Wisdom itself, reason, personified wisdom or Lady Wisdom in Proverbs