Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  January 11, 2026

John 1:1-18

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, …, full of grace and truth. 

16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law …was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God…, who has made him known.

Reflection/Sermon:

I. We have been told, or warned, in the Old Testament that we will never comprehend or understand God.  

God says, through the prophet Isaiah:

8 

My thoughts are not your thoughts,

    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

9 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (55:8-9)

And Ecclesiastes says it this way (3:11):

“God made everything beautiful in its time—but has left us in the dark, so we don’t know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going.”

II. There is an arrogance in many churches — and in many who read the Bible — when they interpret it with such certainty.  Often people will use the Bible like a nuclear bomb and destroy whole populations with their misinterpretations. Gays, lesbians, transgender, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists.  They think:  “I will use the Bible and send people to hell if they are not like me — if they don’t believe as I do.”  TV and radio evangelists have made fortunes through Biblical misinterpretation.

III. LAST WEEK WE HEARD JESUS BOIL IT ALL DOWN FOR US.  “DON’T WORRY about the ten commandments, he said.  Don’t worry about Noah and the Ark — or the story of creation.  It doesn’t matter if you believe the six-day version or the science version — neither of those will save you.  And Jesus says, “You can believe my mother was a virgin — or not.  It doesn’t matter.  And did I really walk on water?  IT’S NOT IMPORTANT.   Even following all the commandments of Moses won’t save you — EXCEPT ONE.  Only one:  Love God; love your neighbor as yourself.”  That’s where our salvation is (Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5).

IV. IN THE READING THIS MORNING from John — that Gospel begins saying that God became a person, a human being who was born in Israel 2000 years ago.

We’re told that God came here as one of us AND WE DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM.  But eventually some did.  The big clue that the Gospel of John gives us — THE SIGN WE HAVE COME INTO GOD’S PRESENCE — “glory.”  

In Webster’s Dictionary, “glory” is “a state of great gratification or exaltation….a height of prosperity or achievement…..great beauty and splendor….beatific happiness.”

V. Maybe the clearest sign that we are walking with Jesus, and he is growing in us, is we will see and feel this glory more often, and probably in some of the most common of things and experiences which, in the past we barely noticed.  Now, the smell of the earth after a rain will feel — glorious.   Or a child smiling at us with sleepy eyes saying, “Well….hello.”  Or the smile of a stranger, or an enemy.  And every animal and living thing.  MORE OF LIFE BECOMES “GLORY” TO US.

Paul said:  

"All of us … seeing the glory of the Lord … are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit."

God’s glory — that lived on this earth as Jesus — now lives and grows in us.   It spreads where God sends us.  GOD HAS MADE US CHRIST’S COMPASSION DELIVERY VEHICLES.  We are LIKE DOORDASH —- but free — and we just deliver one item:  God’s love.