This document contains a prayer, excerpts from the Gospel of John, and commentary on the concepts of transcendence and immanence in relation to God. The Gospel of John describes Jesus as the Word (Logos) who was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were created. As the Word, Jesus reveals God and gives grace and truth to those who believe in him. The commentators discuss how Jesus, as both fully God and fully human, reveals both the transcendence and immanence of God.

1. Prayer
O God,
who wonderfully created, and yet more
wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature:
Grant that we may share the divine life of him who
humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son
Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

2. The Church Calendar
1.2.22 – 2nd Sunday After Christmas

3. John 1:1-18
GOD of the BIG and the LITTLE

4. ATTENTION
Scott
Erickson

5. MIGHTY
GOD
Scott
Erickson

6. In the beginning was the Word
(Λόγος),
and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was with God in
the beginning. Through him all
things were made; without him
nothing was made
that has been made. In him was life,
and that life was the light of all
mankind. The light shines in the
JOHN 1:1-5

7. In Jewish thought, theWord of God
was the way God communicated
(Godself.) In Greek thought,
theWord was the central idea
that holds the universe together.
AFRICA BIBLE COMMENTARY

8. By calling Jesus ”theWord,”
John calls him the embodiment
of all God’s revelation in the
Scriptures…Jewish people considered
Wisdom/Word
divine yet distinct from
God the Father, so it was
the closest available term
John had to describe Jesus.
CRAIG S. KEENER

9. The Logos described in John’s Gospel
was not absent from the created order until
the Incarnation. All of creation
was imbued with the Logos. And it is not
as though the coming of Christ drained the
Logos out of creation. Rather, the Incarnation
was the completion of
a process that was begun in creation…
the Incarnation was a sign of what
the created order was intended to be.
J. B. STUMP

10. There was a man sent from God whose
name was John. He came as a witness
to testify concerning that light, so that
through him all might believe. He
himself was not the light; he came only
as a
witness to the light. The true light
that gives light to everyone was
coming
into the world. He was in the world,
JOHN 1:6-10

11. He came to that which was his own,
but his own did not receive him.
Yet to all who did receive him,
to those who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children
of God— children born not of natural
descent, nor of human decision
or a husband’s will,
but born of God.
JOHN 1:11-13

12. Neither Greek philosophers nor
Jewish teachers could conceive of
theWord becoming flesh. Since the time of
Plato, Greek philosophers had emphasized
that the ideal was what
was invisible and eternal; most Jews
so heavily emphasized that a human being
could not become a god
that they never considered God
might become human.
CRAIG S. KEENER

13. The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen
his glory, the glory of the one and
only Son, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth. (John testified
concerning him. He cried out, saying,
“This is
the one I spoke about when I said,
‘He who comes after me has
surpassed me because he was before
JOHN 1:14-15

14. Out of his fullness we have all
received grace in place of grace
already given.
For the law was given through
Moses; grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ. No one has
ever seen God,
but the one and only Son, who is
himself God and is in closest
relationship with the Father,
JOHN 1:16-18

15. If Jesus were not God, he would not
reveal God to us for only through God
may we know God; and if he were not
man, he would not be our Savior for
only as one with us would God be
savingly at work within our actual human
existence…If he was not really God,
then there was no divine reality in
anything he said or did, and if he was not
really man then what God did in him had
no saving relevance for human beings.
THOMAS F. TORRANCE

16. John 1:1-18
GOD of the BIG and the LITTLE

17. existence or experience beyond
the normal or physical level
TRANSCENDENCE (BIG)

18. existence or experience beyond
the normal or physical level
TRANSCENDENCE (BIG)
being within the limits of possible
experience or knowledge
immanence (little)

19. The doctrines of transcendence
and immanence are both
half-truths in need of the
tension of each other to give
the more inclusive truth.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

20. Is grand enough to handle it all,
including your fear, your doubt,
your hesitancy, your uncertainty…
THE GOD OF THE BIG
Is familiar with the specifics of the
human experience, knows what
its like to be one of us, and can
truly empathize with us…
THE GOD OF THE little

21. BOOMERANG NEBULA

22. ANTENNAE GALAXY

23. COSMIC SHROUD

24. GALAXY NGC 3344

25. THE LAGOON NEBULAR

26. Look at any picture taken by
the HubbleTelescope and
ask yourself: is it likely that
a God who created all this,
and holds it together through
the power of self-giving love,
is going to be thrown off guard
or taken aback by anything
you’re facing, or is going to be
easily offended when you have
questions, express your doubts,
or just aren’t sure about something?

27. Benediction
Light of life, you came in flesh,
born into human pain and joy,
and gave us power to be your children.
Grant us faith, O Christ, to see
your presence among us,
so that all of creation may sing
new songs of gladness
and walk in the way of peace.
Amen.