Close to God’s Heart
John 1:9-18
January 4, 2026
Rev. Shannon Jordan
I saw a funny Holderness Family video—the Holderness father, Penn, sings parodies of popular songs where the lyrics are true enough that you have to laugh. On New Year’s he did a parody from the movie and play Wicked, and the song Gravity. In this recent one, he sang about how we eat all the things during the holidays and then in January we have to go back to reality (think Wicked “gravity”) because my life has been all depravity…now if I sang like Patrick I might have tried that but nope…not doing it!
I am hoping that all of you had some delicious dish over the holidays that you loved so much that you savored each bite. That each bite was a delicious meld of flavors and textures. One of those special dishes that you don’t get often because of cost or time or skill.
Now as a Bible nerd, that is the prologue of John for me, and I think for many of the other Bible scholars in this congregation! Every time I sit with it I “taste” something new. I want you to taste these amazing verses this morning—either as an old favorite or in a new way. These verses are dense with meaning and images. Each word is to be savored and appreciated.
On Christmas Eve Patrick read the beginning of John which starts with these familiar verses, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
These words in John cover how Jesus, the Word, was there at creation and was the same as God. An early basis for the full divinity and humanity of Jesus. They ended with John the Baptist coming to testify to the light, which the people hearing these verses would know was Jesus.
Our passage this morning picks up where Patrick left off, continuing a beautiful description of Jesus and his role in creation, his relationship with God, and with us.
Hear the word of the Lord:
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
Let us pray: Holy God, let your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Amen.
The first verse of our passage this morning is a delicious appetizer for this meal we will savor together. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. Right off the bat our author is working to take down divisions of who is “in” and who is “out”—the light enlightens everyone. It is present tense, it is not past tense. It was not a light that only was seen by those who were there with Jesus, but the light is presently enlightening everyone, and he was coming into the world. This light, the light that helped create the world, came into the world and the world did now know him.
How could they not know him?
The Greek word for know here is ginōskō. It is a relational, experiential knowing.
You may recognize this knowing in some of your interactions with people you spend a lot of time with.
I was able to sneak away last weekend and spend time with my family of origin and it was great to be with my parents, my siblings and their families. We missed being with our kids, but for me this was a wonderful time with people I love and enjoy being with. I know families are different, but I come from a game playing family. My mom didn’t tell us to bring dishes to eat while we were together, she invited us to bring games. One of the games we played was “Things” which is a wonderful multigenerational game that I strongly recommend! One of the questions we were asked was to write down something that we like to eat during Christmas holidays. The key to the answers was to write down something that fit the answer but did not point to you as an answer giver because if someone guessed that you said your answer, you were out. The goal was to be the last person standing. Now one of the answers for us is my grandmother’s scalloped oysters. Three people put some form of that down as their answers. People submitted this answer three different ways: “oysters,” “oyster casserole”, and “oyster dressing.” I knew immediately that my family of origin would say just oysters or scalloped oysters and the other two were either spouses or grandchildren. It is a nuance that we laughed about at the end of the round. We knew this without it being said. We knew that answer.
I “knew” my family and so I could guess who said what.
This intimate knowing is what it means to know Jesus—it isn’t facts about Jesus—it is knowing Jesus so well that we just KNOW what Jesus knows or wants in a certain circumstance.
Ginōskō is knowing Jesus over time. It is reflecting on life and learning to do it through the lens of Jesus’ life and values. It is a knowing that changes US over time.
The next few verses are our next course of the meal.
11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the word became flesh and lived among us—or as Eugene Peterson translates it, moved into the neighborhood.
I am guessing there are many of you grew up with a children’s table at your big family meals. I have mixed feelings about the children’s table. On one hand, children often have more fun at a children’s table. They can be themselves and not be nit-picked over manners. They can talk about what they want and not hear adults drone on and on like the parents in a Charlie Brown show. On the other hand, I don’t like children’s tables because being included in the wider family is so important. Intentional conversation including children and child-friendly topics is so key. Not using these big meals as a way to teach manners or to have children seen but not heard but inviting them into a conversation that will be meaningful across generations.
Reading these verses, the image of Jesus bailing on the grown-up table of Pharisee led rituals and joining us at the children’s table came to mind.
We are welcome at God’s “children’s table” with Christ, not because we have great manners or are great conversationalists, but because we are children of God. We are children of God through the work of God, not our own. God comes to us the way we are now.
Another key flavor of these verses is wonderfully described by Dale Bruner. He explains what it meant in John’s day to believe in the name of Jesus.[1] Bruner explained that to believe in the name of someone meant to believe in the reality of someone, in this case the reality of Jesus and God’s power.
What is that reality?
It would be a reality described in Matthew’s beatitudes where we live as if we believe that the poor are blessed and that those who mourn will be comforted, that the meek will inherit the earth, that the peacemakers would be called children of God.
A reality where people would be healed, the dead would be raised, and sins would be forgiven. That unjust power structures will not stand.
A reality where Jesus would choose to die on a cross so that we can see that he really does have power over life and death, sin and forgiveness. That he has the power of love to bring healing to our broken world. A reality where we KNOW God wins in the end, no matter what things look like now.
When we really can see and know this reality, when we have recognized we are truly children of God, we can learn to live in ways that quietly proclaim we trust that this greater reality is true.
When the news shouts at us otherwise, we can trust in this greater reality. When our lives feel like they are crumbling, we can trust in this greater reality because we are children of God.
God comes to us and sits at the children’s table in the form of Jesus and introduces us to this reality.
The part of the meal I want you to pack up and take with you and enjoy yourself as we start this new year, the part of this meal I want you to take and share with others as children of God, are found in the last few verses of our passage.
There are two phrases that grabbed my heart were “grace upon grace” and “close to the father’s heart.”
As I sat with the phrase grace upon grace, I began to recognize the radical love John is trying to name. It is not limited or constrained. Pastor and author Meda Stamper states that this is where we are invited “into the cosmic love story.”[2] This is God’s love that meets us before we are ready and before we are good enough, while we are still at the children’s table. Because Christ is good enough, because of Christ’s fullness, we receive this grace upon grace.
This grace was evident in God’s creation and the law, but in Jesus it is closer, more intense, more focused, more personal—this grace is overflowing. This grace is abundant and not scarce. All of scripture is about a loving God who pursues imperfect people. Scripture is full of people who don’t get it right, but God works in and through their lives, as imperfect as they may be. This is an inclusive, joy filled grace that we freely receive and are called to freely share—we can take it with us and share it with others.
The other takeout dish for me is the phrase “close to the Father’s heart.” This phrase highlights for me the abide language found in later in John.
When we abide in Christ, when we abide in the love of Christ, we are close to the Father’s heart. It isn’t about doing…it is about recognizing we are already there. It is by being close to the heart of God that we realize, slowly and imperfectly, that we are beloved children of God, that we don’t need to become children of God. It is when we recognize this identity in Christ that we can live as children of God naturally and take God’s reality into a world that needs the hope God offers. We can practice trusting God. We can be kind and generous. We can show compassion and reflect the light of Christ in a dark world. We can do this because we know and trust God whose reality reminds us at the scariest parts of the story that God wins in the end. That in Jesus, God showed his power over corrupt politics and greed and injustice and sickness and death.
We can live with that hope,
we can share it with others,
and we can live our lives differently.
Howard Thurman’s words on the cover of our bulletin remind us that when we rest in God’s love, we have more than enough to take out and share with others.
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.
We are part of the story of Christmas because we are children of God—not because of what we do, but because that is our identity to our core. Jesus came down and moved into our neighborhood–sat at the children’s table–so that we could see the glory of God. It is from Jesus, full of grace and truth, that we receive this grace and come to know the heart of God.
[1] Dale C. Bruner, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012), 30.
[2] Meda Stamper, “Commentary on John 1:[1-9], 10-18,” Working Preacher (Revised Common Lectionary), January 5, 2025, Luther Seminary, accessed January 1, 2026, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-of-christmas-3/commentary-on-john-11-9-10-18-10