John’s Gospel, chapter 1 verses 6 to 18
Responding to the Light
Christmas preparations.
Three words that strike terror in the heart of any sane person!
Christmas is coming.
Shopping for presents, food, decorations, and it all starts earlier each year.
The witness of the light: John 1:6-9
John the Baptist. John the street sign: not the street, but pointing to where it is.
What he is not: not Christ.
What he is. “The voice of him who cries in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord.” God sends a man. He sends John.
The response to the light: John 1:10-13
His own nation of Israel did not receive him. When their God turned up, they did not know him, and would not accept him. Same today – people say “Why doesn’t God turn up and do something about….?”
But He has turned up, and He has done something about “it”, and they ignored him. Yet “he became the son of man, who was God’s own son, in order that the sons of men might become the children of God.” John Chrysostom (4th Century AD).
God’s Christmas present:
Source is in God Himself.
Scope is all who will receive him, regardless of race, gender, ability.
Status is breathtakingly wonderful. God with us and for us.