Grace Upon Grace

John 1: 10-18 (January 2, 2011)

1) The Text

10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

2) The Context

Each of the four gospels related more effectively to different sets of people. For example, the Gospel of Matthew related better to Jewish people with Jewish language and Jewish thought patterns. As the Christian religion spread away from its geographic basis in Israel, new vocabulary and new thought patterns were called for. The Gospel of Luke adapted its message to the needs of non-Jewish people called Gentiles.

Meanwhile, the Gospel of John was much more philosophical. The philosophy of Hellenism was in vogue, and so the language of Hellenism (logic, light, life) was employed in order to tell the story of Jesus to another set of people. In the Jewish Gospel of Matthew, the central category is the kingdom of God which was familiar to the Jews. In the Gospel of John, the kingdom of God is mentioned only twice; rather, we hear about finding life and finding life abundantly. This spoke to non-Jewish people who were Greek speaking and thinking.

John’s Gospel emphasizes certain key themes over and over again. These themes are captured in the following keywords: Light or See; Knowledge or Wisdom; Believe; Witness or Testify; Truth; Abide or Rest; and Glory. These words or themes are in the first 14 verses of John.

Verses 10 to 13 introduce the theme of inner circle - "those who received him" - and everyone else - "the world did not know him." To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. The phrase “become children of God" means becoming members of a new family. Since family defined one's entire social reality in Jesus' time, "becoming children of God" also means having an entirely new way of being in the world - having life in Jesus' name.

Verse 14 is a foundational text for linking Word-Son-Jesus: Just as the Word was God's original means of self-revelation through the creation of all things; so, in John, the Son is the revelation of God's heart - of God's sight, insight, choosing, loving, valuing, etc. Bonding with Jesus means loving whom God loves, the way God loves.

3) Interpretation

Although this week’s reading picks up in the middle of the prologue to John's Gospel, it is an appropriate place to begin on the second Sunday of Christmas: "He was in the world" (1:10). This simple statement is a profound declaration of God's incarnation. The season following Christmas invites us to reflect on the significance of this event: how it shapes the way we understand God, our relationship with God, and our relationship to one another.

Our passage falls into two parts: verses 10-13 and 14-18. The first is spoken from the perspective of the omniscient narrator. The narrator identifies three responses to the one who has come into the world. First, there are those who did not know him, suggesting lack of knowledge. Next, there are those ("his own people") who did not accept him. The focus of verses 10-13, however, is not on those who do not receive, but those who do. These "children of God" are not designated by their flesh (i.e., their race, gender, or any other physical characteristics) but by their complete trust in the one whom God has sent into the world and who faithfully reveals the nature of God.

In verses 14-18, the voice shifts from that of the narrator to the collective "we." We, the children of God, have received from God's fullness grace upon grace. In the Christmas season, it is easy for us to turn God into a cosmic Santa Claus who dispatches toy upon toy. This tendency is not what John has in mind. The word "grace" occurs only in 1:14, 16, and 17 in the Gospel of John. Grace, therefore, describes the gift of Christ, who makes God known. In these verses, "we" are reminded of how God has chosen to disclose God's self in flesh and blood so that we, who are flesh and blood, might recognize ourselves as children of God.

John identifies that which has become flesh and blood as the "Word." Here he draws on language closely associated with the figure 'Wisdom'. In a first century CE Jewish text, the Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom is described as "she who knows your [God's] works and was present when you made the world." Jesus, like Wisdom, is described in John's Gospel as the one through whom the world came into being (1:3, 10) and who does the works of God (5:36; 10:32; 14:10).

John also draws on the language of "Wisdom" found in another Jewish text from the second century BCE, Sirach. Here, Wisdom is said to make her dwelling (kataskēnō) in Jacob (Sirach 24:8). John uses the same verb root (from skēnoō) in 1:14. A more literal translation might render this verse, "The Word pitched its tent among us," giving the phrase a wonderfully earthy feel. This alternate translation also provides a sense of God's intentionality. God has chosen this place, a place identified not by physical characteristics or geographic boundaries, but by reference to relationship ("among us").

4) Thought Exercise

How would you characterize your relationship with God?

How does this influence your relationships with others?