Thomas J Parlette
“Another Creation Story”
John 1: 1-18
1/5/20
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God created all things with the power of words. God said “Let it be done_ - and it was done. And God created all things good.
Now God was especially proud of the man and the woman he had made. For into them, God had breathed a bit of his Holy Spirit. God breathed into them the breath of life, and they became living beings.
Now this did not sit well with the Devil. The Devil was very jealous of the man and woman God had made – so one day, while God was enjoying the company of the man and the woman, the Devil sauntered by and asked God, “What is it that you enjoy so much about these creatures you have made?”
And just as God opened his mouth to answer, the Devil reached out and put a padlock on God’s tongue. God could not speak. God was silenced. And since all God’s creative power was in God’s words – God was powerless.
Well, the Devil enjoyed this tremendously! For many centuries he tortured the man and the woman, and God could do nothing about it. One day, the Devil came to see God, to taunt the silent Divine Being – and as the Devil mocked God, all God did was hold up one finger. Just one finger.
Well, this confused the Devil, he didn’t know what to make of this. “What do you mean? What are you trying to say? Are you saying you just want to say one thing? One word?”
God nodded his head, just one word.
Well, the Devil thought about this for a minute. He had to admit, he was curious what God would say… What harm could one word do? What could God do with just one word? Not much, thought the Devil – so he unlocked God’s tongue.
And God spoke his one word. God spoke the word in a whisper. God spoke the word to the man and the woman, and it brought them great joy. For in this one word was all the love, compassion, grace, mercy and creative power that had been locked up for so long. And that one word was… Jesus.
Or, as John so eloquently writes in the prologue to his Gospel, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Although traditionally we call this passage a prologue, another description might be an overture. Just think of when you attend a Broadway style musical. The show often begins with an overture. As the house lights go down, the stage lights go up and gently warm the curtains, and the orchestra begins to play. And for a few minutes, we hear just a short piece of what is to come, we hear echoes, snippets of all the major musical numbers to come. In the beginning, we get a musical outline of the evening.
That’s what John does here in the beginning. He gives us as outline of what’s coming in the story of Jesus. Jesus was there in the beginning with God. He came as a light to the world. He tells us about John, the witness to the light. Jesus was in the world, but the world did not know him. He came to his own, but was rejected. But for those who believed in his name, he gave them power to become children of God.
So when John writes in this overture, “In the beginning…” he wants us to hear the echo of the ancient story of Genesis that “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters…” and with a word, The Word, God created all that exists.
John wants that story of the seven days of creation to play softly in the background as he tells us another version of the creation story. John’s story puts Jesus right there at creation as The Word. In Jesus, God’s word becomes incarnate, or made real, given life, given flesh and blood and arms and legs so God’s Word can walk around in the world. For John, this is the culmination of Christmas. This is the reason we celebrate Jesus’ birth. For in Jesus, God dwells among us and recreates the world as a place where salvation is possible. God’s law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who has come to dwell among us.
That’s an interesting word “dwell.” In our pew Bibles, it is translated “lived” among us, but it is more commonly rendered “dwelt” among us. It’s a word that comes from the Greek root “skene” from which we also get the word “skins”, as in the skins that tents were made out of. So, if we wanted to get literal with our translation, we might say that The Word was made flesh and “tented” among us. God came to camp out with us, roughing it, so to speak, in this world. God came not to live in a palace, or a castle or the deluxe suite at the Hilton – The Word became flesh and camped out with us. In Jesus Christ, God took a “hands-on” approach to bringing salvation to the world.
People who study leadership and management techniques have long understood the importance of the “hands-on” approach. To be a good leader, you have to be around, you have to have your boots on the ground, people need to trust that you have first-hand knowledge of the situation because you’ve been there.
Marcus Buckingham, in his book First Break All the Rules, asked the question, “What qualities make for good managers?” At the top of everyone’s list was “presence.” Hands-on management was essential. Perhaps most interesting was the notion that any manager who wanted to change an organization must be there even more, have an even greater presence. Change requires trust, and there can be no trust without presence.
Lovett Weems, who has written a book called Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in Churches, agrees. Weems says, “I am coming to believe that all leadership is local. There is a sheer presence required for effective leadership. Leaders must stay close to the people with whom they work and close to the details of what is happening in their setting of leadership. When too much time and emotional energy is being given to endeavors outside that setting, there is almost always the deterioration of the quality of relationship and leadership.”
He goes on to say, “I have noticed how closely great leaders stay connected to their local settings of leadership.”
And so, in the beginning, the Word became flesh and lived among us, the ultimate in “hands-on management”, so that we might know, first hand, who God is and what God is like.
Frank Logue tells the story about a theology professor he once knew. This professor was a man who simply could not express the truth of God in simple language. He didn’t mean to come across as stuffy and obscure – he just couldn’t help it.
This deeply intellectual theology professor had a student from Africa. This African student came to the United States to get a Masters degree at an American seminary, and while he was here, he became good friends with this professor.
Later, when this young man returned to Africa as Pastor, he found himself in a bind. The professor came to visit him. Now this pastor knew what was going to happen. His congregation was going to want to hear this great theologian preach. And even worse, the professor would want to oblige. In the young pastor’s mind – this was going to be a disaster. His professor friend would talk over the heads of his people and they wouldn’t understand a thing.
However, there was no way for him to graciously refuse his old professor. So the professor came to Africa, and sure enough, everyone wanted to hear him preach. So when Sunday arrived, the professor climbed into the pulpit and his former student stood nearby to translate the sermon into his native Swahili.
The professor began by saying – “There are two great epistemological theories in the world today.”
And the young African pastor paused just a beat and translated, saying, “Let me tell you about my friends, Jesus.”
And so the sermon went. The professor expounded on his views about epistemology in deep and ponderous language, and the African pastor told the congregation stories about the flesh and blood Jesus. All present agreed it was an amazing sermon.
When the Word became flesh and lived among us, it was the Divine way of saying, “let me tell you about my friend Jesus. Do you want to know God, let me show you what God is like. Moses gave you the Law – but Jesus will show you grace and truth.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him.
Then one day, God breathed this Word into being, as a baby born in Bethlehem. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth.
So it was in the beginning, and evermore shall be.
May God be praised. Amen.
