Gift after gift after gift
by Kathy Matuschka
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No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known (John 1:18).
Read John 1:1–18
And now we are back where we started the week: with Jesus! After hearing God’s promise through Isaiah: ‘I will heal’, we reflect on the source of all light and healing: Jesus Christ. The NIV translation of verse 16 reads: ‘Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given’ while The Message puts verses 16 and 17 this way:
We all live off his generous abundance,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding –
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
Sometimes I hear people talk of the Old Testament times as though they were the ‘bad old days’ which Jesus came to earth to fix, but God’s grace has been there from the start (even before the start). It’s just that in Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection we see all the grace, all the hope, all the light stacked up together – ‘gift after gift after gift’ – and we see that God has been and continues to be present in every moment.
As believers, most of us would struggle to express or even to understand God’s mysteries in the way John does, but God’s Spirit enables us each to reflect Jesus Christ, God’s life and light, in our unique ways. As John pointed not to himself, but to Jesus the Messiah, the ‘light of all humankind’, may our lives and our words always point to God’s ultimate gift of life and light.
Jesus Christ – our life and light – we cannot thank you enough for all you have done for us. And yet we ask for something more: for the grace to reflect your life and light in our daily lives. Thank you that you hear us and that you desire to bless us, Amen.
For most of her life, Kathy Matuschka has preferred to give witness to her Christian faith using her ears and her hands. As a person for whom writing has not come easily, she now delights in learning to share her gospel hope using words as well. Kathy serves within the LCA Queensland District as Assistant Director for Ministry & Mission.
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