In the beginning...of Christmas

Today was one of those Bible studies that I'm still scratching my head over (figuratively speaking, at least :)). At 1:25pm, I was still trying to decide whether to lead the group in John 1, Genesis 1, Revelation 21, Luke 1, or Luke 3. I really wanted to do all of them. :) And my poor students were expecting me to talk about Christmas.

At 1:30pm, looking at the students walking into class, I decided to keep it simple: John 1, focused on the question "Who is Jesus?"

Those of you who know John 1 know that the whole Jesus-question is not easy to answer. The poor students struggled with titles like "the Word," "light," "only Son of the Father," "source of life"--what does that all mean, anyhow? I understood at least part of the looks on their faces--John 1 has never meant a whole lot to me either, mostly because I haven't been able to decipher it.

However, today the Jesus-titles scattered through John's opening description of Jesus led us to Genesis 1 and Revelation, offering pictures of both the living, active, creating Word of God and the glorious, ruling Son of the Father, who is Light for the city of God. And somehow, we ended up talking about our very limited ideas of the Baby born in a manger--how often we forget that the Baby also is the Word and the eternal King and the Light. And somehow, through those discussions, it hit all of us, in different ways: this Jesus is making claims that no other baby has made before. This Baby is claiming to be God.

I love when students are honest, and they tell me, "I can't believe that yet." Even saying that much shows me that they have heard the message, and that they are wrestling with it. And, as we agreed in Bible study today, John's message invites us all to do a little wrestling.

Wrestling is not a bad place to be--I should know, because I'm frequently in that place. How convicting and reassuring it was to be reminded of the spectrum of Christ's existence and rule--from "in the beginning" to "and they shall reign forever and ever."

And knowing the spectrum, how amazing it is to know that this Christ became the Baby in the manger! I pray that your Advent season gives you glimpses into both the glorious hugeness and the amazing smallness of Jesus...and please pray for us, as we study, that faith would grasp the grace of this Word-Light-Baby-King-Jesus.