The strangest nativity story

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… John 1:12-13

I picture the apostle John, an old man, shuffling into his study to start writing his account of the good news of Jesus – what today we call the Gospel of John.

He knows that Matthew, Mark and Luke have already written at some length, and has probably read parts at least of their books…

Matthew chose to start with the long family-tree of Jesus – name after name after name! – before putting Joseph and Mary centre-stage.

Mark chose to skip over the events of Jesus’ birth and youth, and to plunge straight into the ministry of John the Baptist by the River Jordan, thirty years on.

Luke chose to begin by introducing the elderly parents of John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth.

So now John picks up his pen; and slowly he writes: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

What’s this! No angels or shepherds? No star or wise men? No Joseph or Mary? No Jesus, indeed (he doesn’t get a mention by name until verse 17, well into Chapter 1). What a strange way to begin his story!

Why does John do this?

The clue is in the first three words: In the beginning. You don’t need to know your Bible by heart for that to ring some pretty loud bells. No: the very first verse of the Bible tells us that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.

It’s as if John is saying something like this to his readers…

We all know the creation story in Genesis 1– what God did before the dawn of time. Well, now in my book I’m going to tell you another creation story, a story of new creation.

That first creation went horribly wrong. The whole of the Old Testament is a record of how that happened - from Adam and Eve in the Garden, through Noah and the flood, to the choosing of a special nation, Israel. They were called to demonstrate the character of a holy and loving God to the whole human race, but they became no better than humanity as a whole.

God could have washed his hands of his entire creation project. But he didn’t; he chose to start again; and the beginning of that new, pure, clean, holy creation is what I and certain others have seen with our own eyes (verse 14) and what we want to tell you about.

When God started that first creation, what instrument did he use? Answer: his Word. Read through Genesis 1 and you see how again and again “God said… and it was so”. The Word of God is truly of awesome power; he spoke, and it happened.

And what I want you to know is that that word was not simply a breath issuing from the mouth of God - though it certainly was that - but was, and is, a person, a he not just an it, a Person who sums up the very essence of God’s being: “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (verses 1-2).

The truly staggering thing I want to get across to you is that this Word-who-is-a-Person “became flesh and made his dwelling among us”. Yes, truly! Still more, “we have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (verse 14)…”

That’s my feeble attempt to grapple with what I think must have been going on in John’s mind when he sat down to write. No doubt I’ve grasped only a millionth part of it, but while I’m sure John loved and valued all the details about Bethlehem, and the star, and Joseph and Mary, and baby Jesus lying in the manger, it’s clear that over his long life he has done some serious praying, thinking and probing.

And out of it all emerges this baffling, dazzling statement: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was [not only] with God… the Word [actually] was God…”

Let’s sum it up…

The Word which banished the darkness at the moment of creation – “Let there be light! And there was light” (Genesis 1:3) – is the same Word who comes to earth as a baby to banish the darkness that ruins our beautiful world, and also the darkness that spoils your heart and mine. He comes offering “grace and truth” (verse 17) – which is all about love, forgiveness, mercy and cleansing. He comes to start a new creation – a new “beginning” – in your life and mine.

But… he can only do that by our invitation. Just as you can’t enjoy a Christmas gift until you receive it, so you can’t enter into that grace and truth until you have received Jesus into your heart by humble, childlike faith (verses 11-13).

Have you yet done that? The invitation still stands. What better time than at Christmas? The Word of God waits not just to speak to you, but to come and live within you. He waits to make you a new person, the person you were always meant to be. Why not receive him now?

Here’s a prayer you might like to pray…

O holy child of Bethlehem,/ Descend to me, I pray./ Cast out my sin, and enter in;/ Be born in me today./ I hear the Christmas angels/ The great glad tidings tell;/ O come to me, abide with me,/ My Lord Immanuel! Amen.