C is for Cueball

This crossing of John 1:1-18 is based on and incorporates a previous analysis by Ed Schroeder in which he explains: "One of St. John's key terms in this text is MONOGENES (4 syllables, MO-NO-GE-NES, hard 'g' in the third syllable), the word John uses for Jesus being God's 'only begotten, uniquely begotten' Son. The notion of 'genes,' as we now use that word in English, is indeed there in the Greek term, I'm told. Jesus's genetics, his genes, are 'one of a kind.'"

For two weeks we've been immersed in the dramatic recounting of the birth of Jesus complete with a baby in a manger, shepherds on a hill, a bad king throwing a fit, kindly, poor, and gentle parents, and spectacular angel messengers. In stark contrast, the Gospel writer John makes no attempt whatsoever to give us the same historic accounting. Instead, he takes a cosmic approach giving us a "behind-the scenes" explanation of what happened in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

DIAGNOSIS: The Consequences of Defective Genes

Step 1 -- Initial Diagnosis: Dark deeds
John invites us to look behind the manger set, to see not only the child, but many children, the children God created "in the beginning," including us all. His deliberate allusion to Genesis 1 reminds us that we kids were made in God's image, we were genetically wired to reflect his glory. But something dreadful happened (sin), and now instead of reflecting God's glory (glowing) we are completely dark! In fact, we prefer darkness to light. As John says we "did not recognize him....did not accept him," (v. 10,11) the way he arrives.

Step 2 -- Advanced Diagnosis: Defective Genes
The sorry thing is, we can't even help it! That's the way we were born. We can't help it, John explains, because our lives were generated by defective genes. We were "born of blood, will of flesh, will of a man" (v. 13). We lost the genetic wiring God gave us so that we no longer can reflect His glory. Our alternate "fathers" (such as Moses and the law) seek to fix our genetic deficit by offering their own special remedies, but nothing works. We can't change our genes, they're in us, they determine us. And they're defective.

Step 3 -- Final Diagnosis: Destroyed life
The catastrophe about defective genes is that they destroy life. They cannot produce light and life, instead, they end up killing us. On Judgment Day -- the Ultimate Paternity Test-- when genetic analysis is performed on us all, it will be determined that our genes simply don't match up to the heavenly Father's. We're not his children after all, we've belonged to some other "father." Not only are we not his, but we also miss out on the inheritance that His kids get -- the inheritance we sense we were originally "birthed for," which includes the perks God's kids get to enjoy.

PROGNOSIS: Divine Gene Therapy

Step 4 -- Initial Prognosis: The Beloved Donor's Intervention
Defective genes are helpless to change themselves. If there's any hope at all, it has to come from outside intervention, with radical therapy involving gene splicing, and for that, "perfect" donor genes are needed. John proclaims the good news that the monogenes (only begotten) Son of God choose to leave his privileged spot (on the Father's lap-- "close to the Father's heart" (v. 18)) in order to bring us back into the family by offering to be our gene donor. That's the cosmic marvel that occurred in Bethlehem! Jesus becomes the donor who saves us. But this divine transplant doesn't happen in a test tube but rather on the cross -- a therapy that cost the donor his life!

Step 5 -- Advanced Prognosis: Altered "Glow"-riously
When gene transplants "take," old cells get a new genetic makeup and are marvelously transformed. When we "believe in his name," faith, the transplant becomes ours! John tells us we get the right (a better translation for the word exousia than "power") to become children of God! (v. 12) Transformed, or "born of the Spirit," we are recognized as having the same genetic makeup as the Beloved Donor (monogenes), and we are accepted as family. We shouldn't however, conclude that the transplant doesn't have an affect on us recipients. We do die to our old selves, willingly giving up that old genetic makeup-- something that can be mighty hard considering how comfortable those old genes were.

Step 6 -- Final Prognosis: All A-"Glow"
Our transformed lives can now do that which we were "wired" to do in the first place -- glow! We "children of God" reflect the glory of the "Father's only Son, full of grace and truth," (v. 14) not just for our own sake, but to lighten the paths of those who are still in the dark, "so that all might believe through --" us! (John 20:31) And that, John says, is what Christmas was all about! Talk about good news! Glory to God in the Highest!

[Editor's note: Just a reminder that this Gospel crossing can be found on the Crossings website along with completed crossings of other Gospel and Epistle lessons for the A, B, and C Lectionary Series at http://www.crossings.org]