They stand there in utter astonishment as their eyes continue to behold the sight foretold to them earlier that night by the angel and the angelic choir. Their jaws are dropped, as their wide open mouths initially struggle to find adequate words to say. Smiles mixed with tears fill up their eyes as they could barely hold back the emotions that flooded their souls. These humble, Judean shepherds were finally seeing, with their own eyes, the long anticipated Messiah, the Christ, the very Savior of the world, as a little Baby lying in a lowly Bethlehem manger. The best word to probably capture what they experienced is wonder. This is the same wonder Mary experienced as she heard the report of the angel’s announcement from the shepherds and kept it all in her heart; pondering over it often. This is the same wonder that those who heard the news about the Christ Child had as they marveled over the things the shepherds told them. This wonder gave way to the shepherds glorifying and praising God for the things they had seen and heard; the things they had personally experienced concerning the Christ. And as we’ll see today, this is the same wonder that captivated the apostle John as he personally experienced the life of Jesus for 3 1/2 years.
The Gospel of John was the last Gospel to be written and yet stands out among the other three Gospel’s because most of its content is not found in the others. While being in complete harmony with the other Gospels, it’s as if John was saying the other biographies of Jesus were missing some very important details, scenes and conversations, so he decided to write a 4th one. Also the apostle John captures very deep, up close and personal insights into the divine character and identity of Jesus Messiah in his telling of the Good News story that is frankly breathtaking. This is one of the reasons it’s my favorite book in the entire Bible. Yet as John was getting quite old in age and carrying strong pastoral concerns for the church, especially the churches in Asia Minor like Ephesus, which he personally pastored, he decided to write 3 letters which also bear his name. These 3 letters often take some of the same pictures of Jesus and His teachings found in the Gospel of John and reapplies them to the local context of the church he was addressing. For example, he doesn’t introduce Jesus by telling a birth story like Matthew and Luke do, but rather takes us back to the beginning, in eternity past, and introduces Jesus to us as the Word who was with God, was God and yet became flesh and dwelt among us. So therefore, when he begins his first of three letters, he again begins by taking us back to the beginning and presents Jesus to us as the Word of Life. And in verse 1 you can immediately hear the utter astonishment and awesome wonder in John’s voice as he recaptures the experience he and the other apostles had in personally hearing Jesus, seeing Him with their own eyes, and having handled or touched Him with their own hands. As a matter of fact John, who starts out as a hot tempered disciple, later in his Gospel describes himself as being loved by Jesus, to the point he even rested his head upon the bosom of Jesus at the Last Supper. Can you image what it must have been like to hear the heartbeat of the Almighty God of the universe veiled in a human body?
So, when was the last time, like the apostle John, you have been awe struck by Jesus? And especially as we’re in this Christmas season, reflecting again on the birth story of Christ, maybe the wonder of experiencing Jesus is something you need to recapture as if for the first time. Which then begs the question: What is the result of recapturing the wonder of experiencing Jesus? Well, I believe the Holy Spirit is inviting us to open up our hearts to being captivated by Jesus again and to what He’s going to do through us as a result. And so He’s inviting us to take a journey into 1st John chapter 1 beginning in verse 2, which says…
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2
