It's Christ From the Beginning
October 1, 2023
John 1:1-18, Colossians 1:15-20
John begins with the end. It’s Jesus. Just Jesus. It’s not that Jesus came and changed everything, but that what we see in him is what God intended from the beginning.
And we’re just catching up, finding the light, experiencing life in its fullness.
John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
The Word was with God in the beginning.
Everything came into being through the Word,
and without the Word
nothing came into being.
What came into being
through the Word was life,
and the life was the light for all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
A man named John was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light. He himself wasn’t the light, but his mission was to testify concerning the light.
The true light that shines on all people
was coming into the world.
The light was in the world,
and the world came into being through the light,
but the world didn’t recognize the light.
The light came to his own people,
and his own people didn’t welcome him.
But those who did welcome him,
those who believed in his name,
he authorized to become God’s children,
born not from blood
nor from human desire or passion,
but born from God.
The Word became flesh
and made his home among us.
We have seen his glory,
glory like that of a father’s only son,
full of grace and truth.
John testified about him, crying out, “This is the one of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than me because he existed before me.’”
From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace;
as the Law was given through Moses,
so grace and truth came into being through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God.
God the only Son,
who is at the Father’s side,
has made God known.
Colossians 1:15-20
The Son is the image of the invisible God,
the one who is first over all creation,
Because all things were created by him:
both in the heavens and on the earth,
the things that are visible and the things that are invisible.
Whether they are thrones or powers,
or rulers or authorities,
all things were created through him and for him.
He existed before all things,
and all things are held together in him.
He is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning,
the one who is firstborn from among the dead
so that he might occupy the first place in everything.
Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him,
and he reconciled all things to himself through him—
whether things on earth or in the heavens.
He brought peace through the blood of his cross.
Prayer
God,
I’m realizing - maybe remembering - just how much of a faith statement it is to believe and say that Jesus is the all-in-all, the beginning and end, the lens through which I should see and know and live concerning everything about you and your intentions for all of creation.
Frankly, the Bible itself and on its own is a lot easier, pragmatically-speaking. Laws are clearer. Boundaries are more easily discernible. Codes and lists of conformities…they just make things more palatable (when they benefit me, at least).
But Jesus…this person you sent…it takes faith and energy and trust to be in relationship with him.
So help me, God. For as easy as strict adherence to codes and laws is, I loathe where they often take us, to the exclusion of others. And I know believe that’s not what you want. For in Christ, I see no such thing.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.