John 1:1-13 (NRSV)
Read John 1:1-13 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Verse 2He was in the beginning with God. Verse 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being Verse 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
Verse 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Verse 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. Verse 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. Verse 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. Verse 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. Verse 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. Verse 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. Verse 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, Verse 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
Devotion
Smack dab in the middle of a cosmic, out of this world, beyond time and space beginning of the Gospel of John is John, not John the Baptist, but John the witness. This is not the "Elijah" John from the Gospel of Mark. This is the John that points to Jesus and says, "Behold, did you see him? It's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" For John's Gospel, sin is not our moral laxity or the various transgressions we have committed and that we so easily count up on a daily basis. Sin is unbelief which translates into separation from God. God calls us to be witnesses like John who point to Jesus and say, "Look!," so that all might know God's pastures of peace.
Prayer
God of peace, you became us so that we might never be without you. Give us the strength to believe that in your coming again, our sin is taken away forever. Amen.