Year B Christmas 1 2017 Grace Upon Grace

Year B Christmas 1, 31 December 2017 

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA 

“Grace Upon Grace” 

John 1:1-18 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.  And 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. (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.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. 

If you pushed me and I had to pick, I would say that this Gospel reading is my favorite passage of Scripture. John’s poetic beginning harkens back to the very beginning by its first words echoing Genesis 1, “In the beginning…” 

But here, John takes a different tack. While Genesis starts with the beginning of time, as time is a creation, John goes to the period before time, when the pre-existent word set about creating. The Logos, the Divine Word, took it upon itself to set about Creation. “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” Here we see the Centrality of this Logos, this Divine Word, as the central hub of all Creation. All the spokes lead back to here. And to what purpose? What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

And like all great mythos, we set up the struggle here, from the very beginning. The Word brings light into Darkness. And think on that. Light and Darkness are not opposites, as some of you heard me speak about on previously. Love and hate are not opposites. Love and apathy are opposites. Light is the substance, darkness is the absence of the Light. 

And it goes on, speaking of John the Baptizer pointing to the Light. Then the Light came and some saw and believed, and others did not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And there it is. We have been invited into the Light, by the Light. 

It goes on to what I find to be one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, descriptions of the Christian life.  From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  

Grace upon grace… χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος (in the Greek- karin anti karitos). So pivotal in my understanding of what Grace is, I have a very hard time spelling it without a Capital “G.” I can think of no greater word to describe what God has given, and this phrase Grace upon Grace tries to envision and embody what is being said here. The word upon is an okay translation, and in English, I can think of no better. The problem is that the Greek word Anti can mean a few things. We still use anti- as a prefix meaning against. And it can mean that, but in this context, Grace against Grace makes no sense. The meaning that does, however, is when Anti is seen as “in place of.” So when one Grace is removed, Grace appears. So this phrase is going after something like this.  

From his fullness we have all received, grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace after grace…  

Peel away God’s Grace and only Grace remains. For from his fullness we have Grace in place of Grace, forever. 

And what does that Grace look like? This prologue to John ends with just that: 

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.  

If you want to know this Light, this Divine Word, this Grace Upon Grace, start with and look no further than Jesus. That is why this poetic opening is called the Prologue. John the Gospeler uses the opening to setup the rest of the story he aims to tell about Jesus. He is “the Author and Perfecter of our faith.” [Hebrews 12:2] He came that we “might have life and have it more abundantly.” [John 10:10b] Jesus is the Word made flesh, the Incarnation.  

And the miracle of the Incarnation, according to John here, is not that Jesus is like God, but that we finally get an accurate image of what God is like when we look to the actions and the words of this Beloved Son. We kept confusing, and misinterpreting, and confounding what or who God is, but now we have a face. Now we have a name, a name that is above all names.[Philippians 2:9] Jesus the Christ. Merry Christmas! Amen