Monday after the 1st Sunday after Epiphany: John 1:1-18

The Set-Up

John opens his Gospel by going all the way back: “In the beginning was the Word.”

The Greek is Logos. John is saying: Before the world was a thing, God was a Conversation.

Light is a powerful force. The darkness can’t extinguish it, can’t understand it, and can’t stop it. It’s a rebellion that never dies.

Then enters John the Baptist, there to set the stage and make sure nobody misses the coming Messiah.

And once He does arrive: The gatekeepers and religious elite miss it completely.

And to those who did receive Him (the marginalized), He gave “power to become children of God.”

And the best part of this passage: God moved into the neighborhood, got hungry, tired, and dirty, eating and living with us.

This is the Incarnation - matter matters. Your body, pain, and physical reality are holy because God inhabited them.

The Takeaways

God Has Skin.

God isn't distant energy - God became human. 

Darkness Loses.

The system tries to snuff out the Light, but the Light is undefeated.

Grace > Law.

Rules regulate behavior; Grace transforms existence. 

You Are Adopted.

Status isn't about your bloodline or your resume; it's about receiving the Light.

The Tent is Pitched.

God moved out of the Temple and into the streets.

The Good News: 

You don't have to climb a spiritual ladder to find God. You don't have to try and transcend your body to be holy.

The Good News is that God came down. The direction of the Gospel is always down—into the flesh, into our mess, into the neighborhood. The Creator of the stars became a human being so that you could know, with absolute certainty, that you are not alone in the dark.

(Artwork: Through Him, All Things, Lauren Wright Pittman.)