Life is Light

My Sunday Scripture 2011.12.25


The Text: John 1:1-18.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.

All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

A man named John was sent from God.

He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.

He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

John testified to him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'"

From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace,
because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him.

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My Reading Notes:
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It is always a puzzle to me, how can a "word' become God. However,
I can understand there are limitation to the human understanding, so I will not argue about this. With my limited brain power, I know I can not understand all things.

And the second difficult point is: life is light. And the still more interesting part is that darkness can not overcome life. That gives us hope.

It is important to have hope, as hope produces strength. And with strength, we can do what God commanded us to do.

You are to conceive a son by God

My Sunday Scripture 2011.12.18

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The Text: Luke 1:26-38
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26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.'

29 She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean,

30 but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour.

31 Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David;

33 he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.'

34 Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?'

35 The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.

36 And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,

37 for nothing is impossible to God.'

38 Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.

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My Reading Notes:
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No matter how strange this story is, that we must believe, that indeed everything was from God. If there is no God, there will be no nothing. This is the real meaning of the Scripture here.

Now that God had sent us Jesus by Mary.

It meant that God had sent us LOVE. That was the major teaching from Jesus, which is quite different from the Old Testaments.

God's will did change through the ages. It must be different in the Old Testaments and the New.

But the beauty did not change.

It was so beautiful that Mary answered God: 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.'

(King James Version: And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the Angel departed from her.)