Please welcome Andrea Taphorn to our Daily Bible Blast team of devotion writers
Birth stories are the kind of stories that are retold our
whole lives. The same goes for the story of beginning of the world. God’s act
of birthing the world is beautifully written about in Genesis. And here in the
gospel of John, the author takes us back to the beginning to see Jesus, as the Word,
participating in the creation of the world, “without him nothing was made that
has been made.” Humans are created and live in harmony with each other and with
God.
Lots has happened since this beautiful beginning. Humans
fell into sin and disbelieved God. Human suffering followed. The Bible doesn’t mince words about this
suffering with story after story of heartache, rebellion and sin. It says the
earth groans in anticipation of rescue and rebirth. John tells us that Jesus
has come to earth to recreate it. This act of recreation is not outsourced to another.
This work is done on earth.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God enters the mess of human life and makes a home. Our homes name us. We named Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, in his homemaking, sets in motion acts of recreation that both name us and change us. Jesus says, “Sinner, I forgive you.” This word of forgiveness recreates humans into people of faith and in so doing, re-humanizes us. We are set free to no longer strive to be something that we are not, but to be humans who live in faith. That faith set us free to be nothing more, and certainly nothing less than human.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God enters the mess of human life and makes a home. Our homes name us. We named Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, in his homemaking, sets in motion acts of recreation that both name us and change us. Jesus says, “Sinner, I forgive you.” This word of forgiveness recreates humans into people of faith and in so doing, re-humanizes us. We are set free to no longer strive to be something that we are not, but to be humans who live in faith. That faith set us free to be nothing more, and certainly nothing less than human.
What a word of promise to cling to, a new birth story, where
we are given a new name and a new home. As we are named sinners, Christ then
turns around with a promise of forgiveness and sets us free, not by our own
efforts, but in the recreating work of Jesus. Hear Jesus’ words of recreation today,
“I am making all things new, including you. Sinner be reborn in me today. I
have come to make a home with you. I forgive
you. Child of God, you are mine.”
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