Sermon Tone Analysis
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Words are Never Enough
There’s a blessing and a curse to being someone whose career has a lot to do with words.
I’ve seen, over and over again, the power that words possess.
A word well spoken can change someone’s life for the better.
A careless word can cause deep wounds.
Words can build up and tear down.
They can inspire and demoralize.
They can provide clarity and cause confusion.
But sometimes - more often than I might like to admit - even the most powerful words spoken in the most powerful way by the most powerful person are not enough to accomplish a goal.
It seems like they barely move the needle.
Of the known Gospels - the four in the Bible and the many others which did not make the cut - the author of John is the most careful with his words.
His grammar is flawless, his logic unassailable, and his imagery well-developed.
He has this way of layering multiple levels of meaning into a single text so that there’s always something new to discover - something deeper to find.
As one commentator puts it, “The Gospel of John is like a magic pool in which an infant can paddle and an elephant can dive in.”
It is at the same time simple and unbelievably deep, thanks in large part to John’s clever use of language.
So I think when John began to write his Gospel - his account of the life of Jesus - he, too, knew something about the power of words, as well as their limitations.
And as he pondered the power and limitations of words, he discovered that was a good place to start his story.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Until John wrote that sentence, the idea of “The Word of God” had a pretty clear meaning: it was, well, the word of God.
You know: the stuff God said.
A lot of which had found its way into Scripture over the years, and become the laws by which the people of Israel lived.
God’s word was God’s instruction to humans.
Sometimes instructions to specific humans, like “Abraham, leave Ur and go to a place I will show you.”
Other times instructions to all humans, like “You shall not kill.”
Generally speaking, if the word of God was directed toward you, it would be in your best interest to obey it.
Thing is, people didn’t.
Time and again, humans strayed away from the word of God.
They listened for a little while, and then wandered off to do their own thing.
Then God had to say more words, many of which were little more than “Hey!
Did you all forget my words already?
You had better start following them again!”
With John’s first sentence, though, the idea of God’s Word takes on a new dimension.
God’s Word isn’t just what God says: God’s Word is who God is.
God’s word isn’t just a road map for people to follow: God’s word is a beacon shining for all to see, and if they go to where that beacon is, they will see the beacon is also God.
As if that shift in thinking is not enough, John then introduces another radical idea.
“The Word became flesh, and took up residence among us.
We saw his glory- the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth; the one who came from the Divine Parent.”
First, the word was God.
Now, the word is Flesh.
It’s a living, breathing, walking, talking, person.
Which forces the question, can a person be a word?
John says he can, and here’s how: if that living, breathing, walking, talking person lives their life as a representation of God’s word.
If by their breathing, walking, and talking, they show God’s word to everyone who sees them.
It’s as if God realized words on their own weren’t powerful enough, so God’s words - God’s instructions and guidance - had to take on a body.
People had to be able to see and feel God’s word just as clearly as they heard it.
And since the Word was God, that meant God would have to be seen and felt just as clearly as God was heard.
In order for God’s Word to do what it was intended to do, God was going to have to be born as a human.
And so God was.
God came and lived among humans, where humans could bear first hand witness to what a life lived in unity with God’s word looked like.
And it changed everything.
It was God’s most profound act of love.
God chose the frailty and suffering of human existence, so that humans could catch a small glimpse of the eternal, and have someone to pattern their lives after.
Many did, and still do.
Because of their attempts to be as similar to the living Word as possible, people began calling them “Christians” - that is to say, “mini-Christs.”
The first Christians saw the power of the living word, and they tried their best to follow suit; to live out God’s word so that others might experience its power.
And so the process continued.
From a manger in Bethlehem, to this very moment in a church in Connecticut, the power of the Living Word is passed from one person to the next, changing lives in the process.
Tonight, we will read the story of the time when God the human was born
As we gather this evening, we will tell again the story of the birth of a baby - a baby whose life would unite humans and God forever.
Because that baby was the Word made flesh, God’s most profound act of love.
And as we tell that story, may we all remember that the best way we can love one another; the best way we can love ourselves; the best way we can live; is for God’s Word to be alive in us as well.
May it be so.
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