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John 1:1-14

 

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 were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

 

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(ESV)

 

  

Opaque?

Samuel

20 August 2013

Increasingly the church has in its pews many people who do not know the faith of the church and have very little context into which to place the preaching of the church. Today, there are many people who do not know or understand the basic Bible stories. They may be unaware of who Adam, Abraham, or John the apostle might be. When I was first in the ministry and served as the first pastor of a small, struggling mission in Canada, I was amazed to find out, when speaking about original sin with children in my catechism class, that the children had no idea who Adam (yes, that Adam!) was. They had not been brought to Sunday School, they had seldom been taken to church services of any kind, and their families had not done devotions at home with them. They just didn't know and it wasn't their fault, because their parents had neglected their spiritual instruction. This is also true of the majority of the uninstructed in our pews today. They are no longer perniciously ignorant like the previous (my!) generation that had been taken to church and Sunday School, and had hated it and what was taught there. My generation could scoff eloquently about Adam, Abraham, John, or Jesus because they were living on the literary legacy of the Christian church. This present generation has no basis for scoffing, because it doesn't know enough for mockery.

 

How do we communicate with this generation? How can we break through their ignorance? Of course, there are those who claim that the simplification of the Christian proclamation is what is necessary to reach them: "Don't burden such neophytes with any hard theology. Let them play doctrinal t-ball first, before they face real pitching." Dumbing down is certainly the order of the day. However, this dumb-down approach also often presumes that we are the first generation of Christians to face this kind of challenge, as though no one has faced so many ignorant people sitting in the presence of Christian preachers before. Not so fast! This was the condition of the ancient church before the western world was presumed to be solidly Christian. Christianity was a minority, even a persecuted, religion well into the fifth century of our era. Yet she proclaimed the deep truths of the gospel to audiences including many pagans.

 

At the outset of a sermon series on John's Gospel, Augustine of Hippo mentioned the difficulty of the subject matter at the beginning of the Gospel and the numbers of unbelievers that stood to hear him preach. How could he speak of such deep things with them listening? On the other hand, how would he satisfy the faithful, if he simplified the truth too much? He did not opt for the dumb-down approach. He did not shrink from giving them a full-throated proclamation of the incarnation of God's Son, the Word who had become flesh. The truth of John's Gospel was a truth, though inspired, mediated through a human servant of God. It was a revelation to John as much as it is to us, or any fallen human being, including the pagan. This is the beauty of God's gracious self-revelation; it is mediated to us by humble humans just like us in human language like our own. They deliver it in the common human speech which they understood. It is not opaque to the human; Christian or not. Just preach it; to pagan and Christian alike.

 

Augustine of Hippo

 

"When I consider what we have just read from the apostolic (epistle) lesson, that 'The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God' (1Co 2:14) and consider that in the present assembly there must necessarily be many natural persons who know only according to the flesh, and cannot yet raise themselves to spiritual understanding, I am in great difficulty how I may be able to express, or in my small measure explain, what has been read from the Gospel, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (Jn 1:1). For this the natural man does not understand. What then shall we do, brothers? Shall we be silent for this reason? Why then is it read, if we are to be silent about it? Or why is it heard, if it is not explained? And why is it explained, if it is not understood (Rm 10:13-14)?

 

"On the other hand, since I do not doubt that there are some here who can not only receive it when explained, but even understand it before it is explained, I shall not defraud those who are able to receive it, from fear of my words being wasted on the ears of those who are not able to receive it.

 

"Finally, the compassion of God will be with us, so that perhaps there will be enough for all, and each receive what he is able, while he who speaks says what he is able. For to speak, the matter being as difficult as it is, who is able? I venture to say perhaps John himself did not speak of the matter as it is, but even he spoke only as he was able. For it was man that spoke about God, indeed inspired by God, but still man. Because John was inspired he said something; if he had not been inspired, he would have said nothing; but because he was a man inspired, he spoke not the whole, but he spoke what a man could speak." 
 
Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 1.1 
 
Prayer

Almighty God, You saw to it that we had a revelation of Your love and compassion in Your Son and You sent the apostles and prophets to convey that revelation to us in the holy Word. Grant us in our day both to proclaim that truth, that Your Son would be made manifest both to believers and unbelievers; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

For Robert Frerking, that the Lord Jesus would grant him strength and peace

 

For Joyce Backs, that her heavenly Father would watch over her

 

For Pastor Sagar Pilli, that the Lord would bless the mission to those who speak Telugu and need to know that they have a gracious God in Christ Jesus 
Art: D�rer, Albrecht  The Adoration of the Trinity (1515) 

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