Down to Earth: A Christmas Devotional JourneySample

Day 3: Reality Shows

Reflection

Don’t meet your heroes, they say. The people we put on pedestals and gaze at from afar rarely match our expectations in real life. And there are some celebrities who, if we’re honest, could probably do with a reality check. It’s not always like that, of course. I got chatting to a TV celebrity while out walking a little while back, and they were lovely. Very ordinary and – well –down-to-earth. Real, you could say.

John’s description of Jesus in today’s passage is off-the-charts extraordinary. He was the Word of God. The One through whom and for whom everything was made. God Himself. It sounds fabulous and almost too much to be true.

But John knows how important it is that Jesus was real. He was writing fact, not fiction. And he wasn’t writing as a long-distance fan, talking about someone he’s only heard of or seen from afar. John knew Jesus, spent time with Him, was taught by Him. He saw how Jesus lived in His everyday life, and how He died and rose again. In the Gospels, we’ve only got the highlights of Jesus’ Life – the miracles, the healings, the teachings – but John saw all the bits in between as well.

And what was Jesus like? Here, John tells us that he didn’t just see a Wise Rabbi: he saw Jesus’ Glory, the Divine and the Human in perfect harmony, a Being full of Grace and Truth. That’s Jesus, our down-to-earth King, among us and yet totally beyond us: the One we’re called to believe and trust in too.

Prayer

Father, thank You that You sent Jesus to be one of us. Help me to remember how real He is every day. Amen.