"WHO DO YOU KNOW?"
a message by Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens
Coral Isles Church, U.C.C.
January 5, 2025
John 1:10-18 NRSV
10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own [home], and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a [ or “the” ] father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon [ or “in place of” ] grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
When it comes to knowing things, everyone knows, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” right? Someone says they need something. Someone else replies: “I know a guy.” You get a special ticket to a performance or a party, and someone asks, “Who do you know?” Knowing the right person can be a real benefit. These days, with the internet, one can get tricked into thinking one knows someone, and it can turn out they aren’t that person at all. I think one version of this is called “catfishing,” but I am generally not up on all the lingo of the current digital slang.
The words in John’s Gospel speak to the question of “who do you know.” Speaking of Jesus, he says, the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. Our translation adds, “he came to his own but his own did not accept him.” Some translations say “his own did not know him.” And the part we read ends with, “It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made God known.”
You’ve probably heard me say before that John uses a lot of “code” words in his Gospel. One of the most important is the word “know.” The Gospel writers all felt they had to prove that what they said was true, that Jesus was truly the Son of God. The writer of John’s Gospel put a special emphasis on this “knowing” throughout his writing. For John, those who know are true followers of Christ. Apparently, not unlike today, there was a lot of diversity of beliefs among those who claimed to follow Christ. There were factions and divisions, even then. After all, those followers were human, too. And humans, it seems, have a special affinity for dividing themselves over who they believe is right and who they believe is wrong. I would venture to say that religious believers can be especially strident about who knows the “right stuff.” So, who is this Jesus is that we all claim to know?
The first 9 verses of the Gospel tell us that John “knows” Jesus was with God “in the beginning.” His words echo the first words of Genesis. John “knows” that Jesus was co-creator with God. Echoing the way Genesis tells us God spoke the creation into being, John tells us Jesus was God’s word, or “logos” in the original Greek of the Gospel. And the ultimate claim is that God’s Word became flesh in Jesus. John wants us to “know” that Jesus was not just a spirit that appeared to be flesh and blood. That is important because some believed that Jesus was truly human and truly suffered and died. Others believed that Jesus only appeared to suffer and die because they believed that God is Spirit and would never become flesh and blood, or suffer and die.
What’s important to know about this is two – fold. Some would say, if Jesus didn’t really suffer and die like us, then he cannot really identify with our most human reality: suffering and death. And if he really was “one of us” he has to know what it is like to experience everything we experience as humans. That is the source of his compassion for us. And secondly, if he was in the flesh and now still exists in the spirit, he can still be with us in spirit when we go through human suffering and death, as well as human joy and fulfillment. Ok, so there’s your theological primer for why Christmas really matters. It comes back to that word I mentioned last week: Emmanuel – God with us. God came in the flesh. To me, as Spirit, God comes to us “in the flesh” of others, or perhaps more accurately, we ought to relate to every other person as if they are God “in the flesh.”
Here’s what I wonder about what we think we know: why is it we think “knowing” has only one truth, one point, one way to be or believe to be “right.” Many religions, and human societies [ including, I have read –Native American tribes ], believe that there are many ways to know, experience, and live the truth. In seminary I studied Jewish commentary on Scripture. To me it was interesting that they would include many interpretations by many scholars rather than just one “right” one. This taught me that truth does not always come in a limited edition. The importance of that, it seems to me, comes down to how we treat one another over our differences over “truth.”
More than ever today it seems our differences of experience and perceptions of truth make us feel like enemies. They divide us. I’m right and you’re wrong. Or you’re wrong and I’m right. [ Did you see what I did there? ] It seems to me that the only hope we have as people of flesh and spirit, of truth and falsehoods, of love and hate, is to realize what it means to say God came in the flesh. Because those of us living in the flesh have so many different opinions of the same person we call Jesus, perhaps we can begin to see each other differently. And, to find a way to respect each other’s differentness may be our only hope.
While I admit, we think we have many reasons to hate each other, the question is, do we know that we have as many reasons to love each other? We are all “in the flesh,” as Jesus was. We are all spirit “embodied,” as Jesus was. Can we find a way to put loving each other as children of God ahead of hating each other for thinking differently, believing differently, living differently? Do we KNOW that we have as many reasons to love one another?”
The sacrament of communion still stands as a living witness to the way we can live with each other knowing we are very different and yet very much the same. Sadly, Christians even argue about communion. But here’s what communion says to me: we all need to eat and drink. We are in the flesh, as Jesus was in the flesh. We are also spirits in the flesh, as Jesus was Spirit in flesh. Flesh needs physical food to live. Spirit also needs to be fed by love, by communion with others, as deeply as flesh needs physical food. For me, this table represents the fulfillment of God’s purposes: spirit and body fed in company of one another. So, for me there is room at the table for anyone whether you or I love them or not. It is not for me to decide who qualifies. God has already qualified us all.
I know! You know I’ve gotten too theological, too complicated. Sometimes we have to know when it is time to stop being theological and just praise God, then eat and drink together. So let’s simply sing praises as simply as possible: alleluia, praise to God our Creator who makes all things new, praise to God’s only Son, born for me and for you, praise to God, Holy Spirit, truth’s fires to renew, praise to God of compassion and bringer of peace. Allelu, Alleluia, Alleluia. AMEN.
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