Full of Grace and Truth
John 1:14
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
A working mother wasn't able to attend her daughter's evening Christmas program, so she made arrangements to attend the school's dress rehearsal earlier that day. She found herself sitting on the floor of the school gym, along with a few other parents and children from all of the classes except for the one performing at that time. This mother had come prepared for the fact that the program would present a typical fare of bland, non-religious poems and songs about snow, jingle bells, reindeer and holly - nothing would be included concerning Jesus. However, she was in for a surprise. The first group up, the kindergarten class, had chosen "Christmas Love" for their theme. Each child held high a poster displaying a large block letter, so that across the stage the phrase "Christmas Love" could be seen by the audience. Each letter then was used as the first letter for a memorized line the child would recite. However, the children in the upper grade classes began to snicker as they noticed that one little girl was holding her letter "M" upside down. She was oblivious of the giggles, and being restless, wandered a bit to the left, causing a gap to exist between her and the child to her right. Suddenly the room became strangely quite as everyone in the audience seemed to see it at the same moment. The letters spread across the platform had inadvertently brought in the unwanted Christ, for now the message had become, "CHRIST WAS LOVE". Certainly everyone here would agree that it is very important that we do everything we can to keep Christ as the Centerpiece of Christmas. Let everyone else talk about mistletoe, Santa and his elves, tree ornaments, and "what did you get for Christmas." We will keep Christ at the center of it all. When we look in the Bible for accounts of Christmas, we quickly go either to Luke and learn about shepherds, or to Matthew to learn about the Magi. It may surprise you to know that the Fourth Gospel also has a lesson for Christmas. It's found in John 1:14: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is John's "Christmas Story" - God has taken on human form. Leave the details of the narrative for others to tell. Three words is all it takes, "Word became flesh." Earlier in the chapter, John had explained "Word" - it is God. "Flesh" means "human", so the message, simply put, is "God became human." I. John makes a powerful point when he tells us that God, in Jesus, came to "dwell" among us. He uses a word which would have been very well understood by his first readers. He said that this expression of God, the Word, "tabernacled among us", or as we might say, "He pitched His tent among us." There are several ideas suggested by this word:
Second, a tent is made of flimsy material, leaving its occupants vulnerable to severe weather conditions. Jesus "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15) Third, Matthew Henry points out that it was as though He were among us in a military mode. Soldiers dwell in tents. He had previously declared war with the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), and now He "takes the field in person, sets up his standard, and pitches his tent, to prosecute this war." Fourth, His stay was not to be long-lasting. He dwelt here as in a tent, not as in a house. The patriarchs, by dwelling in tents, confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth, and sought a better country, and so did Christ, leaving us an example. (Hebrews 13:13,14) Fifth, tents are also used for celebration as in a wedding reception out on the lawn - "Can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them?" (Mark 2:19) Sixth, to dwell in a tent suggests closeness and familiarity. Bible commentator Albert Barnes writes, "When John says he tabernacled with them, he means that he was with them as a friend and as one of a family." (The other night someone told about an article in National Geographic concerning the tents they still use at Ocean Grove. A wife complained to her husband about his snoring, but he wasn't even sleeping, it was the man in the next tent!) This is a word only hinted at in the Bible, but was used by Jewish writers as one of the several expressions for God which allowed the Jews to talk about Him without using His Name. The closest the Bible comes to using this word is at the end of the book of Exodus after Moses has completed the construction of the Tabernacle, or Meeting Tent. "And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode As noted, the word "abode" is the Hebrew word "shakan", and conveys this idea, "dwelt". For Jewish writers, the "Shekina" is closely associated with "glory", although not to be confused by it; the "Shekinah" is not the glory, but rather its source. In addition, it's interesting to note that this word also has the same root as the word for tabernacle, "mishkan."
So even as the cloud, the expression of the presence of Jehovah, "dwelt" in the tabernacle, so Jesus dwelt among us as the "Shekinah Glory", the presence of God dwelling in the tabernacle of flesh.
Paul helps us understand that it is glory that we lost because of sin: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) However, Paul also teaches us that the glory will ultimately be regained through salvation:
"the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18);
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthians 3:18);
"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (II Corinthians 4:6)
III. Then John goes on to say, this "Shekinah" was "full of grace and truth."
In the Old Testament, the Shekina was seen in the fire and the cloud, so we might say that the Tabernacle was "full of fire and cloud". Jesus, the personalized manifestation of the glory of God, was also full - He was "full of grace and truth". As the presence of the Shekina in The tabernacle of Moses was seen in the fire and cloud, so also the presence of the Glory in Jesus can be seen in the grace and truth.
The Glory of God in Jesus was not seen in the luxury and splendor of worldly grandeur, but displayed in grace and truth. (Contrast this to the Taliban religious pawn of Bin Laden who lived in luxury while his followers suffered in squalor.)
The fire of the Old Testament Tabernacle represents the judgment of the law, which is contrasted with grace and truth, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
So then, what does it mean, "full of grace and truth"? Albert Barnes writes, "The word grace means favors, gifts, acts of beneficence. He was kind, merciful, gracious, doing good to all, and seeking man's welfare by great sacrifices and love."
"Grace and truth" means unearned forgiveness, that is, forgiveness provided for to those who truly do not deserve it. Of this phrase, John Wesley wrote, "He was himself most benevolent and upright; made those ample discoveries of pardon to sinners."
It was Jesus, "full of grace and truth" who said to the paralyzed man brought by four friends, "Son, be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee." (Matthew 9:2)
When the multitude had sat all day listening to His teaching, it was Jesus, "full of grace and truth" who said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. . . ." (Matthew 15:32)
It was Jesus, "full of grace and truth" who said of the widow woman, "this poor widow hath cast in more than they all." (Luke 21:3)
It was Jesus, "full of grace and truth" who said to the thief hanging on the cross, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)
Truth reveals the sinful condition of the woman at the well - "you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband." (John 4:18) On the other hand, grace tells us, "he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word." (John 4:40,41)
You see, when "grace" is accompanied by "truth", then forgiveness is not based on a denial of sin, as if to say, "it was nothing". Truth reveals the sin, grace forgives it.
From the beginning, in both the Law and the Prophets, God promised to be with His people.
"And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you." (Leviticus 26:11)
"My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (Ezekiel 37:27)
This then is the meaning of Christmas: for a short period of time, God, the Word, became human. We may feel that we are like the people of Israel wandering through the wilderness of this world, we have no permanent dwelling, we are poor, vulnerable, under attack, but on a journey toward the promised land of eternal life. But here is the Gospel - we are not left alone, He has come to us, He has pitched His tent among us.
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