Jesus in the flesh: part one
by Pastor Stephen Abraham
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
This is the one who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth (1 John 5:6).
Read 1 John 5:1–12
Earlier this year, I was talking to some faithful Christian friends. They mentioned their next-door neighbours who deny one part of the Trinity being God but still fervently call themselves Christians. My theological ears pricked up when I heard that! What do you make of it? How would you respond? In our pluralistic society, these kinds of breakaway beliefs seem to be on the rise.
If the season of Epiphany celebrates the Son of God – God in human form coming and living among us, teaching, guiding and ultimately redeeming us – I find it fascinating that these subsequent two Bible readings are from 1 John. Why? Because John’s letters were written directly to combat a breakaway group in the early church that thought the Jesus who appeared wasn’t really a human being! As I learnt in seminary, this breakaway group were followers of Docetism (Greek for ‘appearance’ because to them, Jesus only appeared to be human – see 1 John 4:1–3).
In today’s reading, John doubles down on what makes a true Christian; it’s someone who believes in both Jesus’ divinity and Jesus’ humanity. In my youth, when I was teaching a confirmation course, and I read these verses out of context, I thought, ‘Wow – blood and water and Holy Spirit – what a great verse affirming the means of grace (baptism and holy communion)’. However, it’s not really our baptism and receiving communion that John is talking about here. It’s Jesus’ physical life, born of a human mother, the start of his ministry at his baptism in the muddy Jordan River, his actual human lifeblood flowing out at his crucifixion – that’s the point being made. For John, being a Christian means holding both that Jesus is fully human and fully God at the same time. And, as John shares, this is the winning formula that overcomes all that the world can throw at us, the formula that leads to eternal life.
Lord Jesus, we are grateful that you know what it is like to be truly human with its joys, hardships, aches and pains. Thank you for coming to experience our life and giving your life for us so that we may experience eternal life. Amen.
Stephen Abraham is a musician and Lutheran pastor who retired early due to a spinal injury that leaves him largely housebound with chronic pain (documented by Lutheran Media on its Messages of hope YouTube channel and radio program). As his condition allows, Stephen still preaches, takes chapel and serves his local church and school. He also writes and records personal songs, worship songs and Christian meditations, which he shares on his YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/StephenAbrahamMusic
- Click here to read previous devotions.
- We are also posting them on LCA Facebook, making it easy for you to share them with family and friends.
- Sign up to receive Daily Devotion in your inbox every morning. If you’re already doing that, please encourage others to sign up. Click here for the link.
