John 1: 1-18 (Common English Bible)

The Word was already there at the very beginning. Unfortunately many Christians get confused about this. Many think the Word is the Bible. They are very wrong about this. The Word is the Eternal Christ. What John is saying is, it’s not about created things because the Word was there before creation. The Word is not part of the world, the earth became a reality much later. John is writing about the preexistence of Christ before Christ became Jesus in the flesh billions of years later.

In many ways the idea of preexistence is hard to mentally digest. If the Word was with God before time began, it means God was always like Jesus. Sometimes we tend to think of God as stern and avenging, and some believe that Jesus changed God’s anger into love and changed God’s attitude toward humans. That is wrong.

Now what about the passages which speak about the wrath of God destroying whole cities and killing women, children and men? What about the anger and jealousy of God that we sometimes read in the Old Testament? And finally what about Psalm 137, verse nine which tells the Hebrews in exile in Babylon says, “Happy shall they be who take little ones and dash them against the rock!” If you believe that was inspired, you’ve got some problems.

Do you really believe God commanded this? The answer is this. The ancient Hebrew writers wrote these violent things based on their pagan neighbors and using the examples they had with their gods of war and violence. This is one of the many reasons Christ came to earth through Jesus to tell them what God is really like. Does that make the Old Testament irrelevant, like the Christian writer and minister Marcion in 144 AD tried to do? Of course not! There are important books in the Old Testament. And the most important ones in the Old Testament are the books of the Prophets which Jesus read and the early chapters of the book of Exodus. Just remember not all biblical books were created equal in value.

John is saying that Christ was always a part of God. Jesus is the one person who was able to speak the truth about what God is and can do. When John says the Word was God, God itself is Spirit but for 30 years God became a human. Now some ask, did God close heaven for 30 years while on earth. Nope. Because a Spirit can divide itself in a billion places.

In what way can human beings be said to be made into the image of God. The image is not a physical human but having the ability to reason, think and love. However, since ancient times only males were considered made in the image of God and not women or animals. That was a very terrible theology to believe in. I mean God did not have a gender.

While there are some Christian conservatives and fundamentalist churches who still hold to female subordination controlled males, it doesn’t make it right, or

something God commanded. Even Saul of Tarsus (“Paul”) wrote this in 1st Corinthians 11:7, “A man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection of God, but women are the reflection of men and must have a covering over her head.” I’ve got news for Paul, women make the best preachers. There is a difference between opinion and inspiration.

We are indeed made from dust, star dust and so is everything else in the universe. Astrophysicists tell us this is billions-of-years-old stardust. But human beings who come from dust can reply just as the biblical God.

The identification of Jesus is the very essence of our Creator. Throughout the Gospel of John, Christ identifies itself as the great “I AM” who spoke to Abraham, the first real person in the Bible.

Yet perhaps the most powerful identification of Christ with the Word, I AM, is in the book of Revelation. “I AM the Alpha and the Omega,” who is and is to come. God and Christ together, The First and the Last.” Mission accomplished.

In the meantime, what are we supposed to do? Well Jesus gave his instructions. And there are usually two responses. In the first, we got serious and Jesus made a good start. Let us build spiritually God’s kingdom on earth. Feed the hungry, keep children safe, oppose evil people who control our present government and fight for social justice everywhere.  

But some Christians only want to turn their spirituality inward to be safe. They believe only personal piety is the only thing they need and close their heart and minds to the current evil around us.

It is important for church leaders to not only speak out but also put their own bodies between the ICE terrorists who remind me of Hitler’s Brownshirts. Some Presbyterian Church leaders have been assaulted by ICE while these ministers were trying to help immigrants. The Middle Ages did have some virtues, like giving sanctuary in a church building to nonviolent people.

If we cannot accept this or at least try to help these oppressed people whether here in America, Gaza, Palestine or elsewhere, churches will remain what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “those churches are just social clubs.”

That said, not everyone has the desire to physically stop ICE with their vans full of terrified immigrants going to parts unknown facing detention and violence. Some Christian mainliners like Presbyterians, Episcopalians, the United Church of Christ (not to be confused with the church of Christ), the United Methodist Church. The Disciples of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church (not fundamentalists) are worried about direct action. If that is the case, they can still agitate and raise hell with their political leaders. AMEN.