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John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace
and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father.
This is why we are here tonight, to celebrate the Word become flesh
in the person of Jesus. Most of us are not philosophers or theologians; we
prefer examples to theories. Our understanding of God is limited. We think
of God as shrouded in mystery or as a presence too bright to be looked at
directly. It is only through Jesus that we can understand what God is like.
Jesus was the embodiment of kindness and love and gentleness and
service. God is not a terrifying presence, waiting for us to disappoint Him so
that He can smite us. Jesus allows us to meet God and to understand that
it is possible for us to become children of God. This doesnt mean that God
changed somewhere between the Old and New Testaments; it is mans
understanding of God that has changed. Jesus lived life as God would
have lived it had he been a man.
In John 1:14, we are told that Jesus showed us grace, truth, and
glory. The fact that Jesus was persecuted and killed shows us the darkness
of human nature and the limitless goodness of God. Jesus was sent as one
of Gods chosen people. They should have been expecting him. He should
have been welcomed. Instead, the religious leaders did everything in their
power to discredit him and preserve the status quo. The fact that God stood
by and let this happen shows the true meaning of grace.
Jesus is the embodiment of the truth. Just as we can point at
something beautiful and say that it is beauty, so we can point at Jesus and
say this is what God is like. Jesus did not come to talk to men about God,
He came to show men what God is like, so that even the dimmest among
us would be able to understand. It is often said that truth is relative,
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subjective, or situational. If I believe something to be true, it is true to me.

This is not the truth in the sense that Jesus is the truth. John is talking
about the kind of truth that must be known with the mind, accepted with the
heart, and enacted in life.
That leaves us with glory. We tend to think of glory as acclamation,
and Jesus had almost none of that during his ministry. The glory of the Lord
is quite simply the presence of God. When Jesus came, men saw that
Gods glory and Gods love were one and the same thing. Instead of the
cloud and pillar of fire that guided the Israelites, we have Jesus.
Without Jesus, the darkness overcomes us. The distractions of our
everyday lives combine with our sinful human nature to hide God from us.
Without Jesus, we are lost, but Jesus makes the way clear. Because the
writers of scripture knew Jesus, they were able to pass the light on to us.
However, the light that is Christ means something only when we use it to
dispel the darkness around us. On this night, at all times and in all places,
let us shine the light of God so that others might see the path. AMEN