John 1:14-18
“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has shown us what God is like." (John 1:18 TEV)
This is a picture of me when I was in my early 30's--I think 32 or 33. (I really haven't changed much, have I?) This was taken at a wedding rehearsal. The invitation said, "Tux not required, but tennis shoes are." The bride's mother couldn't quite figure me out. I had just arrived at Colby, KS as their Pastor.
Anyway, what I want you to look at in this picture is my face, rather than all the other distracting stuff. Now, here's another picture of my son, Ryan, at the same age, 32—the age he is now.
I don't know if you (the person running the computer/projector) can go back and forth between the two pictures, but there is a striking similarity, is there not? They could both be me; or they could both be him when we were 32.
I don't know what you'd learn about me by looking at Ryan. Probably not much. Ryan's intelligence is off the charts. Mine barely makes the charts. We both sound a like. We both love watching college basketball and text back and forth during KU games. We both want to make an impact on the world, and affect people's lives for the better. We are both patient, but about different things and situations. He is thoroughly focused on all he does. I used to be, but have lost that focus in ways, of late.
In many ways, like father, like son. And in just as many other ways, Ryan is his own man. I'm so proud of that fact. Of both those facts, I should say.
What spurred all this musing was verse 18 from John 1, read this morning: "No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known." I was thinking about that in relation to Ryan and me and you and your children. If you had never known me, but you met Ryan, what would you learn about me? If I had never known you, but I met your children, what would I then know about you?
The same with Jesus and God. No one living, past or present, has seen God. That’s what John tells us. But if we believe Jesus is the only Son of God (as verse 14 and 18 state) then what can we see of God in Jesus? John has given us a lot of qualities of God that we get to see in Jesus. That, according to John, if we really know Jesus, we will also know God. And notice, John’s statement assumes we can know Jesus, no matter when you are alive.
So, let’s look at what John tells us about Jesus, so we can get to know God better.
First, John wrote that Jesus is God who became a human being. John doesn’t have a story of Jesus’ birth. John only has this statement, that Jesus is God in the flesh. The big word we use for this is the Incarnation--which means, "in the flesh." It’s the hardest part about Jesus to get your head around. But you have to start there, because everything else John is going to tell us about Jesus uses “God-as-human-being” as it’s foundation. The Incarnation is one of the most bedrock pieces of our faith. It is the biggest leap of faith you will be asked to make about anything you believe. There is nothing you or I can do to prove the truth of this belief that Jesus is God in-the-flesh. You just have to believe it or not: Jesus is God as a human being. Creator become creation. There it is.
Secondly, John tells us that Jesus—God as a human being—lived among us. The Message version of the Bible translates this phrase as “moved into the neighborhood.” Imagine God living in your neighborhood.
It’s an interesting word in the Greek that John wrote. It literally means, “tented.” That Jesus, as God as a human being, tented with us. To understand that you have to go back to the time when the Ark of the Covenant was made by the Jewish people. It was that gold box with a winged angel made out of gold sitting on each end of the box. Inside the box was the Ten Commandments, etched on stone by the finger of God.
The Ark of the Covenant moved around with the people of God as they traveled. There was no Temple built at this time. But the Ark had it’s own tent. That tent was pitched in the center of a circle of all the tents of the people. And it was believed that wherever the Ark was, God was. God “tented” with the people of God.
So when John wrote that Jesus “tents” with us, that’s what John is alluding to—the time when God was with the people wherever they were. It’s a great image, isn’t it? Maybe we should wear little tents on the end of necklace chains, instead of a cross. Because wherever you are, wherever you go, God is with you. What we learn about God through Jesus is that we have a God who wants and desires to be with us in a real and visible and intimate way. Through Jesus, God is tenting with you, putting up His tent wherever you are. Whether it be the hospital or a motel. Whether it be on an airplane or when you’re driving in your car. Whether you are at work or on vacation. Wherever you go, Jesus is God tenting with you.
Thirdly, John says we see God’s glory in Jesus. And then, as if anticipating our question, John tells us what that glory of God is that we see in Jesus: grace and truth. Glory has to do with God's grace and truth. They are two great words. And he uses the two words twice, so we know they are important for John in describing who Jesus is.
Grace is a two directional kind of word. The first and foremost direction is God’s loving, forgiving, embracing activity on our hearts. God’s actions are always primary. As John will write later in his first letter, “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We don’t love God or love others because we are naturally capable of that kind of loving. We needed a model. We needed to know what it is like to be loved—to be really loved—before we can love back. The only true model of that love and grace is from God through Jesus.
Then comes the other direction. Once we have been loved and received grace from God through Jesus Christ, we respond with devotion, obedience and gratitude. Our responsive gratitude is the sure sign we have received and understood Jesus’ loving grace. By experiencing this grace from Jesus we find out what God is like and what God really wants our relationship to be like with him and with each other.
The second great word that shows us the glory of God in Jesus Christ is truth. This is a special word in the Greek language John wrote in. It means what is always true. It doesn’t mean something that is true only in certain circumstances. As Mark Twain once said, “Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.” Not so with Jesus. The truth of Jesus is always true in every situation and circumstance of life. That “always truth” is part of what God’s glory is all about.
One profile on a dating site read, “I am 32, 6 feet tall, handsome, well-built, athletic, intelligent, absolutely amazing and completely perfect in every way. I’d like to meet a woman who will humor me when I get like this.” When you experience the glory of God in Jesus, what you are facing and dealing with is the truth. Jesus will humor you only with the truth. So you have to be ready to face the truth when you give yourself to Jesus.
When we experience Jesus’ grace and truth, what we are actually experiencing is the glory of God. Only in Jesus can we see and know what God’s glory is all about.
And lastly, Jesus is about “fullness.” John used this word twice in these verses in describing Jesus, so it must be an important word for John in relation to who Jesus is. There are a couple of nuances to this word. First, fullness means that which has been filled. Whatever the container is, it doesn’t come full; it is filled. And secondly, whatever is filled is full to the amount equal to the container. The glass, in this case isn’t half full or half empty. If it experiences fullness, it is totally full to the brim.
Maybe you’ve heard the example of the science teacher who took out a big jar and set it on the table in front of her. She put in some big rocks up to the top of the jar. She asked the class if the jar was full. Many said yes.
Then the teacher poured in some gravel that fell in-between the larger rocks. The gravel came to the top of the jar. She asked, “Is the jar now full?” Now, more of the students said yes.
Out came a container of sand and the teacher poured the sand slowly into the jar. It made its way between the smaller spaces left by the gravel. When it was full to the top, she asked, “Is the jar full?” Every student replied, Yes.
But then she took out a pitcher of water and poured that in the jar all the way to the top. “Now is it full?” she asked. And, yes, agreed the students. Now it is full.
That’s what John is telling us about Jesus. When we look at Jesus, we are seeing someone who is totally and completely full of God. God to the brim. Not just a bit of God. But absolutely full of God with no space left over.
But that’s not all. Jesus’ fullness of God keeps getting filled. The reason that is so, says John, is because, “From Jesus’ fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (vs. 16). Jesus is filled with the grace of God that we talked about in relation to God’s glory. Jesus shares that grace with us out of his fullness. We receive that grace.
The word for “receive” literally means in the Greek, “keep on receiving.” It’s a continual act of receiving. We keep receiving from Jesus because he keeps giving out of his fullness. Jesus can keep on giving out of his fulness because he is God, and God is never emptied of himself. God never runs out of himself, his grace, his fullness. We receive all that from Jesus because Jesus is God.
And so it is: Like Father, like Son. God has never been seen nor even close to be comprehended by the human mind and heart. Only through Jesus can we get a glimpse of what God is like. May this New Year be a year that you draw close to Jesus, and thereby draw close to God.
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