Entry
David C. Myers
December 30, 2007
John 1:1 - 18
Text: "But to all who received the Word, who believed in the Word, they were empowered to become children of God." . . . John 1:12
Many of you know that when I am asked to describe my sermon style I have responded that it was three stories in search of a point. Not wanting to disappoint, I am going to follow that formula today. This morning I want to try to offer some insights on the passage known as the Prologue to John's Gospel, by having Henry read this favorite passage and placing stories into the reading that hopefully will shed some light on the visual poetry the Gospel writer John wrote.
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, and it was through the Word that all things came into being; apart from the Word, not one thing came to be. In the Word was life, and that life was the light of the world. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There appeared a man named John, sent by God. John came as a witness to testify about the light, in order that all might believe through the light. John was not himself the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens each person was coming into the world.
The light was in the world, but the world did not recognize the One through Whom it was made.
Dr. Halford Luccock, a famous Methodist preacher of New Haven, CT about 60 years ago, once asked his granddaughters what they wanted for Christmas, and they responded quite literally, "We want the world." Now, Halford knew what they meant: they wanted a globe - so he went out and found a nice big one. Christmas morning rolled around, the girls unwrapped the globe, but seemed to be disappointed. They didn't touch the globe all day.
So that night Grandpa tucked them into bed and asked, "I gave you the world, but somehow I missed. Tell me where I missed."
They looked up at him and said, "Grandpa, you gave us a dark world . . . we want a lighted world."
The next morning Luccock returned the globe and looked for one that would light up. He tried one store after another until he finally found one, and brought it home. The girls plugged it in and were ecstatic.
After telling this story, a friend of Dr. Luccock asked him, "What did you learn from all of this?" He replied, "I learned one thing I'll never forget - a lighted world costs more."
The light was in the world, but the world did not recognize the One through Whom it was made.
There is a big cost to bring Jesus' light into the world. It is the cost of discipleship.
Thus the Word entered God's own domain, but was not accepted by God's own people.
Little Susie was almost too small to take part in the Christmas Pageant. But there she was, at the very first rehearsal. Mrs. Perkins, the director of the pageant didn't want to disappoint Susie, yet she knew she would have to plan with care. Because Susie stuttered, her role shouldn't be a speaking part; and because Susie was a restless child, it should come early in the program. Then she could go out and sit with her parents.
Mrs. Perkins devised what seemed the perfect solution: an early walk on part. When the curtain opened, Susie would walk to center stage from the right wing carrying a large cardboard sign on which was written the single word "WELCOME". She would bow, hold up the word for everyone to see, and then gracefully exit on the left.
It seemed simple enough, "Susie, you're going to be a word - a word that will bid everyone welcome." But at the next rehearsal, with the word "WELCOME" neatly painted and Susie decked out in a long dress, it didn't turn out to be simple at all. Everything went wrong. The "WELCOME" end sign was too big; Susie couldn't see over or around it. Her dress was too long, her excitement was too great. There were stumbles, trips and falls, the word held upside down, or at an angle until, finally, Susie dissolved into tears, threw down the sign, stamped her foot in frustration, and said to Mrs. Perkins, "It isn't easy to be a word."
Thus the Word entered God's own domain, but was not accepted by God's own people.
Susie, how right you are. It isn't easy to be a word - for you, or for anyone. It wasn't easy even for our Lord.
But to all who received the Word, and who believed in the Word, they were empowered to become children of God - children who are conceived not from a woman's womb, nor from sexual passion, nor from human desire - but born from God.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw the glory of the Word, such glory as befits the one and only begotten by God, full of grace and truth.
John gave testimony about Jesus, proclaiming, "This is the One of Whom I said, 'The One Who comes after me ranks ahead of me, because before I was born, He already was.'" Because of God's fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For while the Law was given through Moses, . . .
In 1982, a young man named Michael Fagan made international headlines by breaking into Buckingham Palace. He even made his way into Queen Elizabeth's bedroom and woke her up.
Fagan said the Queen "looked astonished" when she realized he was not a servant.
He told her his name and said, "I'm sorry to be here like this but it's the only way I could get anyone to listen to me. I'm not here to hurt or hinder you. Please don't be afraid."
He said the Queen was not nervous and told him, "Please carry on."
Fagan said, "I sat down on the edge of her bed and she pushed herself a bit further up on the pillows to listen."
Fagan said he told the Queen he has four children and that his wife had left him but he could not get any help from welfare workers to look after them.
"People like me are scraping at the bottom of the barrel," he said.
To his great pleasure, Queen Elizabeth gave Michael Fagan a sympathetic ear.
For while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God has been disclosed by God's only begotten, Who is nearest to God's heart.
There was a soldier in the Union Army, a youngest son who had lost his older brother and his father in the war. He went to Washington, D.C. to see President Lincoln to ask for an exemption from military service so he could back and help his sister and his mother with the spring planting on the farm. When he arrived in Washington, after having received a furlough from the military to go and plead his case, he went to the White House, approached the doors and asked to see the President, and he was told, "You can't see the President: Don't you know there's a war on? The President is a very busy man. Now go away son! Get back out there and fight like you're supposed to."
So he left, very disheartened, and was sitting on a little park bench not far from the White House when a little boy came up to him. The lad said, "Soldier, you look unhappy. What's wrong?"
The soldier looked at this young boy and began to spill his heart to this young lad about the situation, about his father having died in the war and his older brother having died in the war, and how he was the only male left in the family and was needed desperately back at the farm for the spring planting. So the little boy took his soldier by the hand and led him around to the back of the White House. They went through the back door, past the guards, went past all the generals and high ranking government officials and they all stood at attention as this little boy took the private through the rooms of the White House. The private didn't understand any of this.
Finally they got to the Presidential office itself and the little boy didn't even knock on the door - he just opened the door and walked in - and there was President Lincoln with his Secretary of State, looking over battle plans on his desk, and President Lincoln looked up and said, "What can I do for you, Todd?"
Todd said, "Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you." And right then and there the soldier has a chance to plead his case to President Lincoln, and he was exempted from military service due to the hardship he was under.
This is the story of Christmas. It is the story of a Child Who came into the ordinary life of us all, giving us access to God. No longer do we have to break in, going through all the red tape of rules and laws, officials and high priests. The Word has come to us, Grace upon Grace. Through a young child, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, giving us access - direct access - to God.
For to all who did receive the Word, . . . they were empowered to become children of God.
Entry is given.
Entry is as near as coming before God with our hearts in the spirit of prayer. Prayer opens all our secrets, discloses our problems, confesses our sins, shortcomings and weaknesses, and is open to being renewed by God's grace.