Modeled Generosity

Sacred Gifts and Holy Gatherings
What We Bring to God

A Generous Gift

John 1:10-18 The Message

^9-13 The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

¹⁵ John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

^16-18 We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.
    We got the basics from Moses,
        and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
    This endless knowing and understanding—
        all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
    No one has ever seen God,
        not so much as a glimpse.
    This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
        who exists at the very heart of the Father,
        has made him plain as day.

For Reflection 

I like Peterson's translation of this passage.  It is so direct and straight forward.  Jesus, God in the world; invisible, and yet, present moving people into God-centered lives.  The most high God, mysterious, generous, trustworthy, compassionate, and forgiving became flesh, not merely a divine illusion of a human, but human in every way and at the same time divine; God made plain as day, the heart of the Father exposed.

Pray

Praise God for the gift of God's son.  Sing with joy.  Dance with Glee,  Celebrate extravagantly the divine teacher.  Bathe in the light of His justice.  Rest in the grace of His forgiveness.  Walk in His steps, obedient to God's will.