Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Recently, among about<br />
30 clergy and trainee<br />
clergy, I was asked the<br />
following: “Imagine you<br />
are on a desert island<br />
and the pages of your Bible<br />
are slowly being washed away.<br />
Which two chapters of the Bible<br />
would you save and why?” There<br />
are 1,189 chapters in the Bible<br />
so, understandably, there were<br />
a range of responses. But one<br />
chapter proved to be the most<br />
popular: John chapter one.<br />
John’s Prologue (John 1:1-18)<br />
will be familiar to carol service<br />
goers. Unlike modern books, the<br />
Prologue is not set<br />
apart from the main<br />
body of the book but<br />
is included within it.<br />
John’s Prologue not<br />
only introduces us to<br />
Jesus, but indicates<br />
how we should read<br />
the rest of his Gospel.<br />
The ‘Christmas<br />
story’ we often tell is<br />
usually a combination<br />
of Matthew’s and<br />
Luke’s Gospel<br />
accounts. For<br />
example, Matthew<br />
tells us about Herod<br />
and wise men,<br />
Luke tells us about<br />
shepherds and a<br />
census. Each Gospel tells the<br />
Christmas story in a different way.<br />
John’s Prologue is John’s<br />
Christmas story. Unlike Matthew<br />
and Luke, who talk about Jesus’<br />
birth on earth, John soars to great<br />
heights to explain who Jesus is<br />
and his origins with rich, elaborate<br />
and poetic language.<br />
John talks about Jesus as ‘the<br />
Word’ and starts off by pointing<br />
his readers back to Genesis<br />
‘The Word<br />
became flesh<br />
and made<br />
his dwelling<br />
among us.<br />
We have seen<br />
his glory, the<br />
glory of the one<br />
and only Son,<br />
who came from<br />
the Father,<br />
full of grace<br />
and truth.<br />
JOHN 1: 14<br />
chapter one by using the phrase<br />
‘in the beginning.’ The Word<br />
has always been around, since<br />
the beginning of time, the Word<br />
was not only with God in the<br />
beginning, but is God. John<br />
goes on to talk about Jesus, ‘the<br />
Word became flesh’ coming to<br />
be with humanity, to overcome<br />
the darkness of the world with his<br />
light, to show us who God is, and<br />
reunite us with God.<br />
Apart from telling us who Jesus<br />
is, John’s Prologue has a strong<br />
focus on belief, a key theme of<br />
the whole Gospel. John prepares<br />
his reader by saying that some<br />
will believe in Jesus<br />
and some will not.<br />
John’s Gospel clearly<br />
contains so much<br />
about who Jesus is<br />
and his purpose, but<br />
arguably the Gospel<br />
is more concerned<br />
with how people will<br />
respond to Jesus.<br />
Indeed, near the<br />
end of his book John<br />
tells his readers his<br />
’<br />
purpose for writing:<br />
so those who read<br />
it may believe and<br />
have life with God<br />
(John 20:30-31).<br />
John’s Christmas<br />
story (his Prologue)<br />
focuses on the reasons and the<br />
meaning behind Jesus’ coming.<br />
It is about the Light of the World,<br />
coming to dwell with us, revealing<br />
God’s glory and granting life with<br />
him.<br />
But John’s Prologue also raises<br />
the question that will appear again<br />
and again in the coming chapters:<br />
‘will you believe?’<br />
Rev James Norris<br />
John’s Christmas Story<br />
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats<br />
Church Office: Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA<br />
Tel: (0114) 274 5086<br />
Page 11<br />
email: office@stchads.org<br />
website: www.stchads.org
Change language